Posted by Cairo on April 26, 2006, at 7:21:11
In reply to Neurontin vs. Lyrica, posted by Caedmon on April 25, 2006, at 23:48:57
I'll share my Neurontin and Lyrica experiences with you.
With Neurontin, I had no trouble ramping up the dose very quickly. I am increasing Lyrica much slower as unsteadiness is a problem.
Both cause blurred vision in me, especially in the afternoons, but I also have very dry eyes which can cause blurred vision.
No euphoria with Neurontin, but there's the hint of it with Lyrica.
Neurontin overall caused more fatigue, though Lyrica had very noticeable fatigue at first, but now it almost seems energizing at a higher dose.
Weight gain with both, with Lyrica a little faster and with each dosage increase :(
Both have a mild calming, anti-anxiety effect.
No blood pressure problems with Neurontin, but I'm needing to decrease my atenolol dose with Lyrica, as blood pressure is getting too low, thus the unsteadiness, I guess. I will say that my BP is a little more labile nowadays anyway, so this may be due to other factors than the Lyrica.
Neurontin seemed to act very quickly in terms of muscle relaxation, Lyrica takes a week or so before I experienced this effect or others (also with dosage increases).
Both improve sleep when taken along with Desyrel. Neurontin's sleep seemed better as I'm still waking up tired with Lyrica/Desyrel, but it may be due to the fact that my symptoms are more severe now in general.
Both cause a degree of numbness in the extremeties and some edema (again, maybe causing weight gain).
I'm currently on 100mg Lyrica in the AM and 150mg at night, with 450mg per day being my goal (for chronic pain).
I was able to eliminate Klonopin for panic attacks while ramping up the Lyrica, but I'm experiencing flushing again a bit, but I think we need to look at other factors here such as oversensitive beta receptors or something. All in all, I like the Lyrica, but I don't think it's the whole answer for me.
Cairo
poster:Cairo
thread:637104
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060423/msgs/637141.html