Listened to Jeremy Vine yesterday and a doctor on there was saying pregabalin and gabapentin are now classed as being addictive. Plus I have learnt from next month they will be classed as controlled drugs and will have to be collected from a doctors. I have been on pregabalin for 12 years 300m twice a day, I was told when I started it was a non addictive drug. Not really bothered like as I can’t see me ever wanting to come off it, bit of an inconvenience having to collect it from the doctors every month though.
My GP started early and decided not to send it to my Chemist when I last asked for a repeat. I turned up at the chemist after three days only for them to tell me they didn’t have it. A quick call to my GP and they tell me (as you’ve already stated) that it needs to be picked up and signed for. It would have been helpful if somebody had told me this in advance but that would be stupid because it would have meant I wouldn’t have been inconvenienced, something the bureaucracy of the NHS seem to take great delight in. In the end my chemist has told me that the next time I order my repeat online I then need to ring them and tell them there is a green prescription that needs to be signed for in my name for collection from my GP. It seems to completely negate the online repeat ordering system but that would mean not inconveniencing a patient.
You are right cheetah, if there is a way to make it awkward then they will find it. I did my repeat electronic prescription last Friday so it will be interesting to see if it’s there and if it is will they warn me that next time I will need to do it differently. God knows why when I have been on it this long they need to change ho I collect it. It’s not like I abuse the drug, if I did I would run out of it early and I wouldn’t want that.
Street drug users like it, apparently, and it can be dangerous when taken with all the rest of the nameless witch’s brew of substances they are likely to be taking at the same time. I assume the change of classification is in the hope of limiting the amount of legitimately prescribed stuff finding its way into the street drug market and being combined into a deadly brew by mistake by poor souls too far down the pipes to know or care what they’re ingesting.
Alison
I didn’t know this thank you for the news flash. I’m not sure of I’m addicted but I get very panicked and upset at the thought of missing a tablet or being without them … Now I’ve written that down I see I may be !
Fluttery - yeh, I didn’t realise I was addicted until the doctor on the radio told me I am, I am now fretting that Brexit may delay the delivery of my pregabalin. In all seriousness though, if I don’t take my tablet at my usual time my burning leg pain tells me I need to take it, not some longing for it. Bit concerned I am up to the max dose now, I think my body has got use to it and it is not as effective. Might have to speak to my neuro and see what else I can take as this constant burning crushing pain is getting to me.
Oh no! I hope they sort something out for you belly1! I know what you mean my body tells me really quite quickly if I’ve forgotten a dose. I’m at 500mg at the moment and the pharmacy tried to charge me twice for my prescription for goodness sake. How did you come by your name?
I’ve got a huge belly. I have heard that some neuro’s will go beyond the maximum 600m a day and prescribe 400m x 2 a day. Tbh though I feel a bit zonked out on what I am on now.
I am glad it is classified it is a foul drug. I did research on it several years ago as my daughter is on it, and totally addicted to it on highest dose. they were trying to classify it ages ago. In america there were calls to take it off the market.
She finally managed with help to come off it last year it was a struggle. she doesnt have MS.
Doctors leave patients on tablets for way too long they never assess them.
When you are on something long term, if you come off your body cries out for it so it will make whatever pain worse, so you will feel you have to take it again . Its how it works.
My husband was addicted to codeine 500 i think or 300 cant remember which. as soon as he stopped his pain got worse and worse. Yet there was no physical cause for his pain.
Yes i have burning legs horrible always made worse with things i eat weirdly enough. Like gluten. If i dont eat gluten my legs are better if i eat stuff with gluten burning like my body is on fire.
I read up about all these drugs, and even my pain management doctor who I went to see said he would prefer not to prescribe me on EITHER of them, this was in 2015 i think. He went through other options and discussed therapy and diet.
They call Preglabin the new valium, and people are dying with the abuse of it.
IF you want to come off it you must do so with the doctor.
But sadly people with addictions have found it and are abusing it and ruining it for genuine people who take it for a reason for their health.
xxx
I just spoke to my daughter about it. 07.09. 06/03/2019 I had it wrong. No she wasnt addicted to it. She wanted to come off it as she too had been reading about its affects. This is what she said to me i have copied it over. it changes Ur brain chemistry so the reason u have to come off it slowly cause Ur brain has to get used to being remapped if I’d understood that at the time I’d never have taken it. They don’t explain it prop I only know how it works cause I looked into it. //////////////////////////// Those are her words. she did get off it, another reason was her memory was terrible and its slowly getting better, but it took time. she wasnt addicted she wanted to come off it but she had to remapped her brain.
I previously took gabapentin but struggled with brain fog as a side effect. However, the side effects of coming off the tablets were much worse! I’m now on pregabalin.
A friend of mine takes pregabalin for fibromyalgia. She told me she’s been inundated with requests from others to buy her pregabalin off her, as apparently it’s a common recreational drug. I had no idea until she told me.
Just to clarify, she hasn’t sold it to anyone obviously!
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Hi amy i couldnt take gabapentin either made me feel awful. My daughter is on 480mg of lyrica (preglabin). I told her not to take it several years ago as it had a bad press in FDA. she wished she had been told the truth about it before she started as the trouble is it changes your brain chemistry and trying to come off it is a nightmare. She is seeing her GP to try, as she feels it is responsible for her bad memory which is a side effect.
Now the trouble with our system, is you get repeat prescriptions. You can just ring in and say can i order my lyrica or whatever and they send it up to pharmacy. The doctors have no idea if we are using these drugs.
Some people are selling them, and this is the problem. They just get the repeat prescription without hassle and sell them they may have never started them or came off them quickly.
So by classifying these dangerous drugs as they are dangerous it means a doctor has to physically sign the prescription and it has to be collected.
I think its lazy to be honest so many people on really bad drugs and no one checks how they are. I have been prescribed Levetiracetam as they thought i had Transient Epileptic Amnesia., I have been prescribed these since 2015 and never been reviewed. Never been retested. I am hoping to see my neuro soon about my MS and i want to come off them. After 65 years there could be risk of renal problems.
BUT its disgusting they can just prescribe me such a drug without even checking me.
So i can see how many people could potentially be being prescribed gabapentin or preglabin. My daughter has been on it years and never been reassessed. But she is going to do it herself sensibly and see the doctor and go on a proper withdrawal programme. she has known about the C classification for a while now, but wants to come off them as they can affect your memory and hers is getting really scary.
Good for your friend, but if someone is really desperate you can see how it can happen.
What the F**k next?
So one minute they suggest cannabis based medicines ‘might’ be allowed, the next they make it bloody difficult to get neuropathic pain meds!
I’m with you HellMS, what the Fog next?
Sue
I think that is a difficulty…anyone else find it hard to distinguish what is an MS symptom vs what is a side effect of meds? I struggle with fatigue now, which I never had before. Which makes it likely it’s medication related. It’s especially challenging as I’m a primary school teacher. At the moment I find that I hold it together during my working week but often ‘lose’ weekends due to the fatigue. Makes me wonder how I’d possibly cope in the future when I have my own family etc x
Ah! The age old question is it the drugs or the disease? I tried years back and came off the drugs, I quickly found out it didn’t matter as without the drugs I couldn’t stand the pain. Thanks Sue, what the Fog next is far more polite! Sometimes however only an expletive will do. Be safe, take card M x
Trouble is it wasnt the government. My daughter was warned about this a while back now. she wants to come off lyrica and will need to see her gp and go on a withdrawal programme that is how bad the stuff is. Her memory is totally usueless one of the side effects. I know its difficult but again the people who need these drugs are penalised by the people who are bloody misusing it. Following a public consultation and advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, gabapentinoids are to be reclassified following concerns over misuse. There have been several deaths over this mixture of lyrica and opiods. I am surprised they lumped gabapentin into it i had no idea it was that dangerous if mixed. god i am so glad my pain med doctor told me to go without and that was in 2015. Its a really bad situation made worse by greed. All though i was told by a friend they are classed as C drugs in usa, and only cost 1 dollar so no one makes money they were classed as they are deemed dangerous. That is what i read from the FDA several years ago and i tried to stop my daughter taking them. (Lyrica). She didnt now she wishes she had listened. AMY142. Regardless about the classification of these drugs, the truth is i was told by my pain med doctor try to live without them as all they do is turn you into zombies. They are designed to slow you right down and keep your body quiet. Or words to that effect. He told me they are designed to make you sleepy and calm. they are physch drugs. Its time the government now releases cannabis for medical use. They have to do something. Cannabis seems to be the better thing for nerve pain. and weirdly enough as long as taken correctly is safer then all these pysch drugs.
to come off either, you just step back the amount you are taking gradually over the course of a week or two maybe three depending on the dose you are on, thats it. you don’t need a withdrawal program, you just can’t stop cold turkey. this is what my GP told me when i had to stop to go on something else. yes it can be addictive, but its been overblown how addictive it can be
they are not designed to turn you into zombies, they were anti epilepsy meds originally and can work on nerves so that is why they are used. A LOT of the info out there is just scare mongering and the sad thing is, some GPS/pain drs believe it. Cannabis could help people yes, but that can be just as addictive and make people drowsy. its not safer, I would say the risks are the same (I grew up surrounded by old hippies, so…cannabis was around)(I’m all for people using cannabis if it helps, but it too can cause problems with memory etc) its a case of finding what works best for the person. it is the people not using the drugs correctly that ruin it for the people that do.
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My daughter tried to come off them exactly as you described she was on highest dose and it made her really ill. not everyone can just step down. its the fact it changes your brain chemistry its not so much addiction. Lyrica was was found to control nerve pain in patients with diabetes and fibromyalgia. Actually she was put on it for her IBS and it controlled that but a much lower dose.
Lyrica is a nonnarcotic prescription drug that is somewhat habit forming and can trigger depression in some patients. If your doctor feels that Lyrica is right for your medical condition, discuss its potential side effects and how your doctor feels you should deal with them on a warning.
They say lyrica works the same as VALUIM.or diazepam. Now i am only on 2mg diazepam for my nerve pain at night, and my doctor reviews me every time. my daughter for example is on the highest dose of lyrica allowed 450mg. She has been on it for years with no reviews. Which i think is disgusting.
This is one of the better informative pages about lyrica.
I am talking lyrica not gabapentin i have no idea why that is classified as a class C. In America lyrica has been a C for a long time, as there are addiction issues, so who is right and who is wrong. The point is too these drugs on their own taken correctly are not dangerous. the issue is people buying them illegally and MIXING them. However in Scotland they have had 150 deaths attributed to Lyrica. Pretty shocking isnt it?
You say they dont turn you into a zombie. well hey i was on gabapentin slowly moving up and i couldnt even get out of bed, i was knackered and felt high like i was drunk or on a bad hangover. the same when I tried for amitriptyline. i can show you loads of people who take them and others who struggle waking up. They amitriptyline is a class in case. The doctor even warned me i might find it hard to get up. so to me zombie is a good word for how i felt lol.
Some people have no effect but others do. Its not one fit for all no drug is. I can only take one paracetamol it makes me sleep. I am a light weight.
Like you said i agree its other people spoiling it for genuine people. But Lyrica can be addictive enough professional people say this as fact.
weirdly enough i cant find one web site which says its good for people with MS, it is always Fibromyalgia and diabetes. Now i thought fibro was muscle skeletal pain so have they changed that now?
Its time repeat prescriptions were more regulated. Its like lazy prescribing, as doctors cant be bothered to review or dont have the time, and some of the unscrupulous people sadly still get the drug and sell them. In scotland they are taken it seriously as people are dying through it.
it wont change anything you can still get the drug but now its controlled which is not a bad thing surely. ?
Hi I have been taking pregabalin for nerve pain for 5 years it works I wouldn’t like to go back to the way I was pre pregabilin
The only side effect I notice is it encourages wieght gain but I am told all off this type off drug does much the same
I am not going to knock the meds that allow me to live nearly normal I also take tramadol another controlled drug
Nobody tries to buy any off it from me nobody know what meds I take around me .
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