Switching from Neurontin to Lyrica???

[sesmith 10]

I am interested in hearing from anyone who has made this transition, successfully or not, and how you did it. I've been taking neurontin for several months and have been less than thrilled with the results. My condition is peripheral neuropathy giving me a lot of pain in my feet, legs and sometimes fingers. I take 300mg in both the morning and afternoon then 900mg at bedtime for a total of 1500/day. I took lyrica briefly before taking neurontin and thought it was better but stopped due to cost issues. Now that there is no cost issue, I have lyrica that I can take but am not sure how to make the transition since I've been taking the neurontin for a few months. The new lyrica dosage is 150mg twice daily.

[sesmith 10]

really... i find it hard to believe that nobody here has ever gone through this. there has to be someone who can answer my query since the doc i was seeing is clueless.

[janice21475 11,151]

My husband has taken most all of the drugs they prescribe for the same thing you have. The Lyrica helps the most (if help is the right word). I think Neurontin gave him some weird reaction not sure of details, they all have merged together in our memory. Lyrica will eventually disrupt his balance and he will have to cut back on the dose (currently 100 mg 2x's a day). He also gets what they call a narcotic pain reliever. It just barely manages to take the edge off the pain. They keep telling him how addictive the stuff is but I think if you are in as much pain as my husband is it is better to be addicted (as long as you can get the medication). Because without the pills he would be immobilized. He has always been a 'doer' and can not stand to not be fixing something or other.

 

Did your Dr. tell you to taper off of the Neurontin? One time Hubby was on Gabapentin and stopped cold and got strange symptoms. His eyes crossed and he couldn't balance, but that only lasted for an evening. They are nasty things and can really mess you up. At least the pain pills have been around for a long time and the effects of taking them are well documented, most of these other pills are practically experimental.

 

I will get off my soap box, don't know if I answered your question. The thing that helped him the most was to get his Blood Glucose numbers down below 90.

 

Regards,

Janice & Husband

[GrammaBear 1,392]

sesmith - I have to be honest and say I've never taken either of the medications you've mentioned. However if you have a pharmacy in the town where you live, could you call there and ask to speak with the pharmacist? Explain your situation re: the two medicines and ask him/her about how to transition from one to the other. Tell them that your doctor is unavailable and you want to know how to do it properly. Having pain is definitely not fun. I also have neuropathy and I'm trying to hold off on taking 'yet another medication'. Good Luck to you.

[notme 2,898]

I have taken both and I do much better on neurontin. Lyric made me so dizzy I couldn't drive. I don't remember the transition as I made it under a doctors care and advice. You need to discuss the transition with your doctor. It might be different for you depending on what other medical conditions you have or medications you are taking. These are powerful anti seizure meds and taking them or stopping them should only be done on the advice of your doctor.

[Daddy's Girl 10]

really... i find it hard to believe that nobody here has ever gone through this. there has to be someone who can answer my query since the doc i was seeing is clueless.