Lyrica Weight Gain Does It Stop (Top voted first)

I have neuropathy due to collapsed C2-C6 leaving me with horrible pain. Finally went to a pain dr. He put me on lyrica and oxycontin. I eventually went off the oxy. cause I was afraid of addiction.
1. should I be taking a pain killer with the Lyrica? for it to be working as it should?
2. Just how much weight can be gained with this Lyrica? Does it have a cut-off time? like 3 months or 6 months or do I just keep on gaining th 50lbs, 100 lbs when will it stop?
Hope to receiv e some replies.
mar

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I was on Lyrica for a number of years for Neurolgia in my mouth, still have it 6yrs on, I came of the Lyrica lately but I must tell you it never caused me to gain weight, if I put my mind to it and cut out the sweet foods as I love it all, I was able to loose weight while being on it, and yes I was able to take pain meds while on it also, as I have prolapsed discs in my lower spine and took 500mg/30mg of Solpodol Capsules they worked okay together for me., Hope this helps.

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I too had weight gain on Lyrica. It was slowly increased from 100mg to 600mg per day with great success. I was able to stop Oxycontin XR and my afternoon breakthrough meds. The PAWS (post opiate withdrawal syndrome) took 6 months to resolve. But I love being opiate free!!!

I've always been thin, so weight has never been a problem. Like many of the posts, I started gaining weight immediately. Only on my belly, so I looked like a bowling ball with pins for arms & legs (ha, ha!). Going off Lyrica was/is not an option. MD suggested a diet consult. I went, even though I felt it was not needed, because I've always eaten organic/health food. He was right.

I stopped carbohydrates and lost 25lbs in 8 weeks! Not kidding, it was that simple. Then we slowly started adding carbs back into my diet until my weight was stable. Ended up at 300 carbs per day.

But for 8 weeks no bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, or sweets, and lots of chicken, fish, salad, veggies and fruit. I said simple, but it was not easy. My stomach was irritable, my breath smelled odd, and I craved carbs. But it was worth it all, being able to have pain control, take Lyrica, and stop opiates has always been a goal.

My peripheral neuropathy has advanced over 17 years. I now have muscle wasting and 24/7 pain that isn't relieved by opiates. Prior to Lyrica it started affecting my Central Nervous System causing "fainting spells", constipation, loss of coordination, loss of libido, and difficulty emptying my bladder. What I wouldn't do to go back to the days of just foot pain. The neurologist will not give me a answer to "where is my neuropathy going?". He just says I won't end up in a wheelchair. Thats great news doc, but "how long have I got?"

He suggested a new mind set: Get up, get going, put one foot in front of the other, take lyrica, and live in today.

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Lyrica, which contains the active ingredient Pregabalin is an anticonvulsant drug that is also used to help certain types of nerve pain.

It does work fine for some people, by itself, without any other medications.

The weight gain is a very common side effect of using these types of medications, and as was mentioned by Tom, it doesn't always stop, some people do continue to gain while using it, however for some others, the side effects do taper off in severity as their bodies adjust to the medication.

You can read more here:

https:/­/­rxchat.com/­wiki/­Lyrica/­

Is there anything else I can help you with?

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Does anyone know anything about Narcolepsy?

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Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder, most sufferers experience excessive daytime sleepiness/fatigue and have been known to unpredictably fall asleep.

You can read more about it here:

http:/­/­en.wikipedia.org/­wiki/­Narcolepsy

A lot of cases can be helped with the use of prescription stimulants, such as Amphetamines like Adderall.

https:/­/­rxchat.com/­wiki/­Adderall/­

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I have been on Lyrcia for three years now for fibromyagia < I gained weight right off so I went to a heart healthy diet ! no help, so I went to eating one time a day and a small amount at that and still having a really hard time lising weight . I dont know what else to do without the lyrcir i hurt so bad with it i can not lose a pound and ideas

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Lyrica caused me to gain almost as much as I started out weighing! I was very underweight and now I'm overweight and I never was before Lyrica. I barely eat anything and walk around starving and I did recently lose 20 pounds but regained 5 because I had been dehydrated. But I'm still way overweight. People keep telling me I "have to be" overeating because I wouldn't be fat otherwise, and of course society judges fat people, and add to that the fact I'm not as young as I used to be! It's hard to lose the weight and I exercise intensely when I can; the arthritis makes it much harder. The Lyrica makes me retain fluids (EDEMA) too.

I've been on Lyrica for 5 years; I know some other people who are taking it and finding similar problems. This is NOT a rare problem. I'm afraid Lyrica really messes with the metabolism.

That's not ALL it does, either! No: It Is HABIT-FORMING! With the Lyrica: it took me months and months to finally accept that I had acquired a Lyrica HABIT. Admitting it was emotionally devastating. But it was necessary.

NOTHING is a substitute for LYRICA (pregabalin); Lyrica WITHDRAWAL is literally and figuratively a HELL ON EARTH and I just went through it!!! NEVER AGAIN! I survived it (BARELY) but I cannot allow my addiction to Lyrica to drive me to use too much of it and wind up enduring eight-plus days of withdrawal again; NOOOO WAAAAY!!!!

So: Lyrica helps me, true; but LYRICA CAN BE A DEMANDING TASKMISTRESS; it has drawn me inexorably into its steely clutches as its helpless slave, a dark seduction worthy of Faustian figures in Gothic tales. Oh, yes, my friends. The Pfizer company has repeated the history made a century before by the Bayer corporation when they, too, introduced a drug to the public that bore a feminine heroic name which, like Lyrica, connotes both seduction and implied mercy: H.

YES, I AM COMPARING LYRICA TO H. My Gentleman friend used to be hooked on H (Horse), he mainlined it. I can't imagine using needles to IV; I take Lyrica orally. Anyway, he no longer is a slave of narcotics. He's fully clean and free of H now; I'm proud of him.

But when he saw me in the throes of pregabalin withdrawal, he said it was worse than H withdrawal, that it had some things in common with Delerium Tremens experienced by hard-core alcoholics during withdrawal, and that he can tell clearly that this mysterious young drug is indeed the H of our new age!

So: well, to synopsize: Bayer gave the world H just over 100 years ago and she changed the world forever; now, a century later, from the similar but updated mercy of Pfizer, we have another imperious goddess: the "gift" of Lyrica, the H of the 21st Century!

So, BEWARE of LYRICA! I can't live with it ~ BUT I CANNOT POSSIBLY LIVE WITHOUT IT! Lyrica has hold of my very SOUL. I am fighting to free myself but after five years I ponder the weighty question of whether there can possibly be a shred of HOPE for the wretched likes of ME: the Pregabalin Goblin!!!

IF YOU MUST TAKE LYRICA, IT WILL VERY LIKELY BECOME THE UTTERLY IRREVOCABLE MISTRESS OF YOUR DESTINY, NO MATTER YOUR WILLPOWER. It makes H look like iced tea!

O sweet LYRICA! ~ It quietly soothes your brain and it kindly takes your pain and it makes you want to sweetly, sadly, GENTLY love it forevermore; and when your sparkling crystal fountainhead of pregabalin runs dry, and you are bereft of the wonder drug of our Brave New World, the "Soma" of Aldous Huxley's classic dystopian vision, which can be none other than Lyrica ~ and O Horrors! ~ you are denied this dear, precious peace in the form of the luminous snowy white powder that is Lyrica, and ~ WITHDRAWAL ~ O Torment of Stygian Depths! ~ you will endure the dreaded humiliation and mortification and agony of full withdrawal from Lyrica; and when it hits, you will die a thousand times every hour of every day, in torture beyond any and all attempts at description. YOU WILL BURN AWAY IN DESPERATE FEVER FROM THE INSIDE OUT.

Drenched in sweat, shivering uncontrollably, vomiting, weeping, hallucinating, gasping for breath, staggering from one room to the next, barely sleeping, even suffering sudden and dangerously violent convulsive seizures! Pregabalin withdrawal is beyond HELL!

And then ~ O Joy! YOU FINALLY SCORE! As I did yesterday morning, finally obtaining my Lyrica refill from the pharmacy. (I bought some milk and cereal too whilst I was there) ~ so, okay, okay, guys; I know that isn't exactly like buying H or blow or crystal meth from a shady Dealer in a rat-infested back alley in the seamier portions of town, but bear with me, okay? Allow me a wee bit of poetic license, because scoring is scoring, no matter how low-key and "legit". ~~~

So, likewise, my unknown colleague: when Lyrica again opens her loving, cold arms to you, to alleviate your desperate need, to cool your frantic fever: she will give you that special ice-kiss that sets her utterly alone on a highest crystal mountaintop away from all other addictive drugs. THERE IS SIMPLY NOTHING LIKE LYRICA. Even Gabapentin, its much milder chemical cousin, can't hold a proverbial candle to Pregabalin!

The longer one takes it, the tighter the hold it will gain upon one.

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Yes you can take painkillers with Lyrica. The Lyrica and the painkillers work for differing types of pain. I have been taking Lyrica for 1.5 years. When I began taking Lyrica I gained a bit of weight but everything evened out for me. I really did need to gain weight so for me it was a good thing.

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I'm on Gabapentin which doesn't help much. I don't think I want to go on Lyrica! I just have to try and deal with the pain for now. Praying.

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Regarding the weight gain on Lyrica has anybody started eating different or eating more? I saw one girl say that she looked like the bowling ball in the stomach with spindly arms and legs that's how I look. Been to the doctors and I'm not actually gaining weight I just seem to be having my stomach bloat.

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Actually, in some cases it never stops, better switch on Effexor or other stuff. Read more on Lyrica Details, scroll down to Adverse Effects.

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