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Now I'm fretting about Lyrica. (Any of you use it?) It's also called pregabalin. It's an anti-seizure medication, recently approved for use in the US to treat peripheral nerve pain. It seems to have been shown to be effective for fairly specific kinds of peripheral nerve damage (from diabetes and shingles). I don't know if they were just trying to do a relatively controlled study, or if it does *not* work where nerves have been damaged mechanically. Oh well. It's all trial and error, at that level.
My big concern is about using Lyrica with migraines, or chronic daily headache. Not being able to separate my peripheral nerve pain from my chronic daily headache (or at least not without causing other problems...probably phantom pain, with my luck), makes me extremely cautious about avoiding anything that might make my headaches worse. My dr just gave me what she considers a "low dose of lyrica to start with," and I'm wondering if I should start with that or try to go even lower and taper up. When I started taking Topamax, I had to start with a lower dose than is customary to start with, and taper up more slowly. My dr told me Lyrica did not interact with Topamax, but I don't know if the side effect behavior is at all similar.
My big concern is about using Lyrica with migraines, or chronic daily headache. Not being able to separate my peripheral nerve pain from my chronic daily headache (or at least not without causing other problems...probably phantom pain, with my luck), makes me extremely cautious about avoiding anything that might make my headaches worse. My dr just gave me what she considers a "low dose of lyrica to start with," and I'm wondering if I should start with that or try to go even lower and taper up. When I started taking Topamax, I had to start with a lower dose than is customary to start with, and taper up more slowly. My dr told me Lyrica did not interact with Topamax, but I don't know if the side effect behavior is at all similar.