Lyrica / pregabalin for withdrawal anxiety?

So...it's been 10 months since I got off zopiclone and I haven't improved at all, the fear and anxiety got so severe after the first few months that I became completely unable to leave the house. My family are worried sick and keep calling doctors who all say the same thing - withdrawal can't last this long, I'm depressed, I need to be on Paxil etc. The latest doctor's visit has left me with a box of Lyrica which is supposed to help with the anxiety and the burning pain but I really don't know what to do, I haven't taken any because I'm too afraid that it will stop me from healing, set me back or just leave me facing another withdrawal nightmare. Does it work at all on withdrawal anxiety? If it does, is it possible to just use it now and again on the worst days? I'm such a mess...just wondering if anyone could share their thoughts with me to help me work out what to do.

I do not personally have experience with this drug but there is plenty of discussion about it in other groups and the advice is to steer clear of it. 

Lyrica - noooooooooooooooooo!!!! I can only speak for myself but anyone I know including myself got yueickly addicted and had to taper it like a benzo  and the results are the same.

I know 10 months may seem much. But it really gets better.

And you know - if withdrawal did not exist or only be short - we all were not here. how many members does this board has?

So sorry you have to be here, too

Thank you for the advice - it looks like Lyrica would be a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. I'll have to think things over but it looks like my best bet is to give it a miss...I'm damaged enough as it is.

good decision..

So...it's been 10 months since I got off zopiclone and I haven't improved at all, the fear and anxiety got so severe after the first few months that I became completely unable to leave the house. My family are worried sick and keep calling doctors who all say the same thing - withdrawal can't last this long, I'm depressed, I need to be on Paxil etc. The latest doctor's visit has left me with a box of Lyrica which is supposed to help with the anxiety and the burning pain but I really don't know what to do, I haven't taken any because I'm too afraid that it will stop me from healing, set me back or just leave me facing another withdrawal nightmare. Does it work at all on withdrawal anxiety? If it does, is it possible to just use it now and again on the worst days? I'm such a mess...just wondering if anyone could share their thoughts with me to help me work out what to do.

 

If you’re still taking Tegretol, it should help you a lot with the anxiety. Before my first BZD taper, I used tiny amounts of Tegretol in stressful situations instead of the BZD. Then I had to stop Tegretol because of a med interaction. You could ask your pdoc about such use. Lyrica helps the anxiety, but it’s addictive. I found it easier to quit than the BZD, though.

Hi Estee,

 

Yes, I'm still on the 600mg of Tegretol a day - last year I had plans to taper it slowly then stop, however when the zop withdrawal hit I became too afraid to try reducing the Tegretol in case it just made me even worse. Unfortunately the Tegretol doesn't seem to be doing much for the horrific anxiety which hit me when I got off the zop, maybe raising the dose could help but I'd need to ask the doctor. On that point, in the last couple of days I found out that a psychiatrist is being sent round to see me - this has come about because my family don't believe that zop withdrawal can last this long, therefore their explanation is that I've just gone insane. I really don't know what good a psychiatrist can do...they'll probably just tell me that zop withdrawal only lasts a month and that I need to be in the hospital. The anxiety is massively out of control (I've been housebound for just over 6 months now) but so far as I know, there isn't anything I can take for it which won't stop me from healing 

Hi Estee,

 

Yes, I'm still on the 600mg of Tegretol a day - last year I had plans to taper it slowly then stop, however when the zop withdrawal hit I became too afraid to try reducing the Tegretol in case it just made me even worse. Unfortunately the Tegretol doesn't seem to be doing much for the horrific anxiety which hit me when I got off the zop, maybe raising the dose could help but I'd need to ask the doctor. On that point, in the last couple of days I found out that a psychiatrist is being sent round to see me - this has come about because my family don't believe that zop withdrawal can last this long, therefore their explanation is that I've just gone insane. I really don't know what good a psychiatrist can do...they'll probably just tell me that zop withdrawal only lasts a month and that I need to be in the hospital. The anxiety is massively out of control (I've been housebound for just over 6 months now) but so far as I know, there isn't anything I can take for it which won't stop me from healing 

 

There is plenty on articles on the net that Tegretol is effective for anxiety, like this one. I guess it’s probable that this extremely short use of zopiclone has done some damage to your GABA receptors. But remember, you started taking it for insomnia. So you already had the anxiety before the zopiclone. What condition were you diagnosed with? Maybe an AD wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I personally couldn’t tolerate Paxil. I had better experience with Lexapro.

 

Were you able to leave the home more or less normally before this incident with the zopiclone? Not leaving the home for 6 months is a long time.

 

I found this interesting abstract about the role of anticonvulsant drugs in anxiety disorders. If what you’re suffering from is unipolar depression and anxiety disorder. If you’re suffering from any type of bipolar disorder, pdocs use ADs in conjunction with mood stabilizers/APs. The most important thing is that you have a proper diagnosis, specified by a competent pdoc. Who then defines the best possible treatment for you.

 

I understand you don’t want to be in hospital. I hate hospitals, too. The point is, it would be easier for them to determine your condition and suggest an appropriate treatment. I think you should have a therapist who would cooperate with the pdoc. Maybe something happened that caused the onset of insomnia. Did you feel more or less okay during those eight years on Tegretol? It’s a really long time.

Well, going back a year, my life was quite normal; I felt good, I had a great job and the only real problem was the terrible insomnia which I'd somehow developed towards the middle of the year. I'd experienced problems with depression in the past but when I look back, they were a walk in the park compared to what I'm stuck with now. Anyway, my doctor referred me to a psychiatrist who decided that, other than the insomnia, I didn't seem to have any problems. She suggested zopiclone and I, unaware of the nightmare which I was about to unleash upon myself, went along with it. Days after stopping it I developed all of these awful symptoms, none of which have improved any in the 10 months which have since passed. I could cope with all of the pain and sweating but this anxiety is just torture, there's no other word for it...and I can't withstand much more of it. I used to keep telling myself "Give it another month, things will improve" but it's impossible for me to have any hope now - if I can go 10 months with no improvement then why would anything change next month, or the month after, or the month after that? 

 

Well, going back a year, my life was quite normal; I felt good, I had a great job and the only real problem was the terrible insomnia which I'd somehow developed towards the middle of the year. I'd experienced problems with depression in the past but when I look back, they were a walk in the park compared to what I'm stuck with now. Anyway, my doctor referred me to a psychiatrist who decided that, other than the insomnia, I didn't seem to have any problems. She suggested zopiclone and I, unaware of the nightmare which I was about to unleash upon myself, went along with it. Days after stopping it I developed all of these awful symptoms, none of which have improved any in the 10 months which have since passed. I could cope with all of the pain and sweating but this anxiety is just torture, there's no other word for it...and I can't withstand much more of it. I used to keep telling myself "Give it another month, things will improve" but it's impossible for me to have any hope now - if I can go 10 months with no improvement then why would anything change next month, or the month after, or the month after that? 

 

I suppose Lyrica would be a better option than what you’re going through. The question I’m asking myself is whether it would alleviate all those symptoms. Another question is. Are they the zopiclone WD or an underlying condition. Which was aggravated by the zopiclone WD.

 

There certainly has been a damage to your GABA receptors. Here is an article about pregabalin, which you could find interesting. The authors say that it doesn’t bind to the BZD receptors but increses the levels of GABA over time. Most probably a lesser evil than the BZD.

 

Did pdocs suggest any other SSRI/SNRI besides Paxil? I know someone who was switched from Tegretol to Paxil and felt well. I don’t think I ever took more than 200 mg of Tegretol XR during the day. In divided doses, for anxiety. I found it effective for anxiety. It was great as a mood stabilizer.

 

From what I have been seeing on this site, ppl have less problems with tapering pregabalin then the BZD. But it’s no fun either. The fundamental question is. Would it be more helpful than an AD?

It left me with electrical sensations running down my teeth.

Ive been on lyrica for about 6 months now after not having much luck with benzo healing after 18 months. It is addictive in the senee that I want to take more cause its relaxing. Stopping CT has proved difficult so I think a taper is the way to go. I havent noticed manycwd symptoms after halving my dose. The last bit will probably be hard though.

Estee,

 

I've had doctors suggest both paroxetine and mirtazapine to me but I'd previously tried both of these drugs some 18 years ago when I was dealing with a spot of depression - paroxetine just made me feel ill while mirtazapine gave me awful nightmares. I did try citalopram a few months ago because I was getting more and more desperate, my family were losing their patience with me and the doctor insisted that citalopram was great for anxiety. I took it for a few months but it did nothing so I just started cutting down the dose and then stopped. You're right that Lyrica might be better than what I'm dealing with now, the fear and anxiety are so extreme that I can't go anywhere or do anything other than sit here all day sweating, crying and reflecting on how good life used to be. I'm just hoping that the psychiatrist who's meant to be turning up is knowledgeable about benzos and z-drugs...

 

 

Shamo3,

 

Sorry to hear that you aren't making any headway either in this awful struggle. I'm a little over 10 months now and I haven't seen any improvement at all, I can't imagine anything ever changing and I see so many people still suffering at 18 months, 24 months and beyond. In the early days I somehow managed to convince myself that I'd be feeling a lot better by the end of 2018 and I'd be able to have a normal Christmas...well, that bubble has been well and truly burst. Anyway, onto Lyrica. I'm still wondering if it could be used on an occasional basis to help the anxiety on the worst days but I'm afraid that it might stop or even reverse any healing which is going on (not that there's been any so far.) I tried to ask the doctor about this but I didn't get anywhere, as far as he's concerned withdrawal doesn't last more than a month. I wonder about the Tegretol as well, for all I know it could be stopping me from healing but I'm too afraid to try tapering it off because I just can't handle anything which might make me feel even worse right now. I'd rather be in prison than deal with this crap...at least if you're in prison you know when your ordeal is going to end

Did you take citalopram after zopiclone? Stopping it may have caused an additional setback. Some people need to be on SSRIs for a long time before they improve. Celexa’s chemical structure is similar to Lexapro. I never tried Celexa. Lexapro was good for anxiety. Here is the comparison of Celexa and Lexapro.

 

Shamo is right. Lyrica makes one so relaxed, one wants to increase the dose. And it does not make one as depressed as the BZD. At least my experience. It is safer than the BZD, including the z-drugs. But it is also quite addictive. I saw many people on BB who managed to taper it, though.

 

I suppose it’s possible to take Lyrica p.r.n. People talk about it on many forums. I think it’s best to take it regularly, though. No scientific articles about the p.r.n. use of Lyrica. Shamo has a good experience with Lyrica post-BZD WD. You may always ask him questions if you decide to take it.

 

I stopped Lyrica CT cause of weight gain. I was taking 300 mg at the time. I started taking 75 mg for sleep at the beginning of 2014. Ended up on 300 mg and also on Valium. But 2014 was a very difficult year for me. I was trying to stop Prozac. When the 75 mg capsules were no longer available in my country, I happily switched to 300 mg. Lyrica makes one "feel good"... Too good. I don’t know how I would have stopped it without that weight gain.

 

Mirt is a very good anti-anxiety AD. If the cost of taking mirt were nightmares "only", maybe it’s worth to reconsider it. I couldn’t take it cause of weight gain. I have an Eating Disorder. Prozac often gives me nightmares. However, they are lesser evil than what I was going through prior to Prozac. Nightmares may also be a sign of some prior emotional trauma. An experience that was way more hurtful than we realized. The unconscious tries to tell us about it by the means of nightmares.

 

An interesting question is why Tegretol no longer helps you with the anxiety. You need a good, benzo-wise pdoc, who will be able to understand all this. Maybe a therapist as well.

I took all of this stuff. Any med I took made me sicker. Any med had side effects.

 

Today I am healed from depression. From anxiety. Panic attacks. And. So. On.

 

I would give anyone the advice not to take a so called medicine. There are so many other things out there that can help. Especially in withdrawal any additional chemical is another burden and you would never know if a sypmtom is withdrawal from med number 1 or a side effect from nr. 2 - or the combination of both.

 

I find it dangerous to give advice, like "some people need to be on SSRIS for a long time before they improve". Yes! And others take them for half a year and never can taper them, get liver problems and others. This thread seems to be a comparison of meds, and you wonder well what could I try next.

I totally can understand how much you must suffer. But I really dont want you to go the road I have to go. Meds did not help at all. Now I am invalid, lost job, relationship, apartment.. - the only good thing is: From the moment I wanted to get rid of all meds, I healed. From anxiety and depression.

 

Last thought of mine:

I suffered from a real PTSD. I got a special therapy and each therapist told me that we couldn't treat that trauma fully because of the meds. There is a reason why we have fears, disorders and so on. To take meds to take down symptoms does not help to heal.

 

zopvictim,

although 10 months seem to be a long time - I am 2 years off now. In comparison to 1o months out the progress is so huge. I would really not fall back on a med again. You just let your receptors start to heal. Hang in there! This chemical, pure anxiety is withdrawal and gets better. I was so afraid at 10 months off that I hardly could leave the house, I could not connect to people - all I felt was numbness and FEAR. And panic.

Its gone. Its really gone now! Hugs to you... Marigold