Anyone else taking Pregabalin and gaining weight?

[CTyankee]

I really, really need it for my PHN (bad case of Shingles a while back) but I have gained quite a bit of weight (for me). I'm pissed off! If I complain to my doctor he'll just tell me to stop taking it but then I have considerable nerve pain.

Or maybe I'm wrong. I wonder if anyone else had this unfortunate turn of events with Pregabalin...

[hlthe2b]

1. It is a known side effect (along with its older "sister" drug, gabapentin)

I'm sorry you are experiencing this. Shingles is a bear.

[CTyankee]

2. I will try a little harder to eat much less food (altho I don't eat that much now).

I'll see if that works. Also I'll get back to swimming when my college pool opens up again...should count for something...

[Tech]

3. Yes. And they kept upping the dose. And then I had some pretty wicked withdrawals when

I got off of it. I stopped gaining weight, but am having a tough time losing what I had gained. It helped with my pain at first, but my body would adjust, thus the dose upping. Then my kidneys got wacko so the only thing I can take now is tylenol. I caution everyone about taking it. I have warned a few people here, just an fyi because I had such extreme reactions. Good luck!

[CTyankee]

4. My nerve pain is too intense so I can't stop taking it.

Did you try eating less? I am thinking of just eating two meals a day and cutting out dinner, not entirely but to a tiny amount.

[Tech]

5. I understand pain, it's why I was taking it. I have cut out carbs, done the intermittent, and

Cut down on portions. Because of pain, I cannot exercise like I used to. I used to have success with a recumbent bike. I use a cane and can do no stairs. It has stopped the gain, now I need to go the next step. When I was on it, I could not get full. I was always hungry. So we keep a lot of veggies for grazing. I do lots of puzzles, games on my kindle, and books to keep me busy and my mind off pain. It's good you caught it early. Have you tried gaba instead? Some people find relief without the extreme side effects. But others seem to have the same side effects. It also made me loopy. I am so sorry about your pain and the weight gain.

[CTyankee]

6. Yeah, the Pregabalin makes me somewhat sleepy so I have to time my car driving accordingly.

Upside is that I sleep very soundly at night.

I will start swimming again (good exercise for us oldies) as soon as my pool opens up again.

I do the veggie grazing thing, plus a cup of cottage cheese for lunch. That's good.

I stopped drinking wine (or any alcohol for that matter) over a year ago, so no calories from alcohol which is good and a useless waste of calories.

Maybe I can knock this weight gain down again.

I am writing a book so I have enough to keep my mind busy but I simply can't do that with this pain as it stabs me suddenly and that's not in my control.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. I had a massive case of shingles a few years ago.

front of my chest, along the side, around and back to my spine So there was quite a bit of nerve damage went it ...I wanna say healed, but now with the post attack nerve pain, not really healed.

My doc respects my prescription rules,,,the oldest most effective drug. 99% of the time it is a cheaper generic dos, by far.

She gave me Amitriptyline ( Used to be called Elavil ).
Seems it stops nerve pain. And it does. Took a few days for it to fully kick in, but it works.

[CTyankee]

8. I've heard of that. I thought it was a mood enhancer for depression...

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. There are quite a few drugs design for one thing but can be used as another

Depression can cause aches and pains, one generally does not hear much about that.

the term "off label drug" means it was approved of ( hopefully) and marketed for one thing, like anti-depression, but then was discovered to help with something else. The FDA has generally allowed it be prescribed for the "something else" meaning it is legal to prescribe it to "non-depressed" people.
Roughly speaking.
Luckily, in my case, it works very well, but I do not take a high dose, so have avoided some of the more common side effects of anti-depressants.
If I had been already on an anti-depressant, I'm sure my doc would work with me to avoid a problem.

[in2herbs]

10. Try Lysine for shingles, but you must take higher doses than on label until relief is

achieved.

[CTyankee]

11. Not shingles, but post shingles. I had shingles a while back.