Captaincrunch

Yes the "lexpro lightening!" I sometimes get that with effexor, that's a great description that's just how it feels! I use to just call it electric shocks! And people not on it thought I was crazy.... but they usually do anyway.

goe

I called my doctor when I started feeling too sick to work and he wrote me a script for a few more days of lyrica to see if what I am experiencing is withdrawal or something else. He thinks it is strange that a medication that has so little effect on me would have such a bad "discontinuation syndrome". That is the drug companies new and nicer term for withdrawal.

One of the hardest parts of getting clean is giving up meds that work quickly and effectively and replacing them with meds that you cant tell you're on but are every bit as hard to stop. Anti depressants are the worst. They say it takes 8 weeks to start working which conveniently is the same amount of time that is needed to develop a dependency and having to go through a painful withdrawal to stop. It's genious. You end up taking a med for six months even if it doesnt work. Im a 32 year old, I should have learnt a lesson by now. Doctors are incented to medicate and it isnt them that have to go through withdrawal. Its interesting, in england, where im from, they medicate far less. I never took any meds before I moved to the US.

noanxtime

I too cannot believe how easy it is to perscribe things to us that we must taper, withdraw, lower etc just to 'get off' of it.
I had a short relationship with pax-hell and when telling my Dr after about 3 months of being on it that I actually felt worse than better (running crazy thoughts, no sleep, feeling generally weird etc) she asked me to stay on the drug for at least a couple more months much to my dissapointment. She suggested I might be bi-polar because paxil was not 'working' for me.???
I did go against her advice and googled how to taper off by myself. When I told her a few months later, she was kind of mad. I also did not tell her how much I drank at the time and in retrospect, I think it was at the root of all my problems and not generalized anxiety.
I did hate the 'brain jags', coming off but I will never do that again.

susanmj

I know this is a "dead" thread, but I was hoping the OP would come back and say whether or not she/he had any luck with coming off Lyrica. I became dependent on opiates after a car accident, and coming off of them was easier than kicking Lyrica. It took time but once it was over it was over. Lyrica however seems to be infinite withdrawal, even tapering does not work. I finally just went back on it, as I just couldn't stand the symptoms anymore, shooting pains, body temperature all messed up, I would have to change my shirt 3-4 times a day from sweating until it would be soaked then shaking and freezing at the same time, nightmares, depression, ugh, it was awful. Until I can find someone who can say "Ok, I did it and THIS is how" I'll keep taking it I guess.