Recoveryguy Lyrica taper success story

[Recoveryguy]

Hello everyone! 
 

I would like to share my success story regarding my Lyrica taper as the only reason I could navigate my way through it was due to the fact that I was able to read other people’s success stories on platforms like this! I was prescribed Lyrica in 2011 for anxiety and back pain and it was presented to me as a safe and effective, non addictive “medicine”. “Lyrica is to benzodiazepines as Tylenol is to OxyContin” was the basic pitch from my big pharma appointed drug dealer (also known as a doctor). At first I loved it because it gave an effect more noticeable than Tylenol and believing it had the withdrawal profile of Tylenol I was thrilled. In 2013 I missed a dose for the first time and became more physically ill and mentally ill than a research monkey being taken cold turkey off 10,000mg clonopin a day. It was insane! I then made a conscious effort to taper but the withdrawals were too overwhelming so like any “addict” I convinced myself that they must be helping me in some way (this logic obviously derived from fear because Lyrica is the worst drug!). By 2020 the side effects of this drug had become unbearable. Fatigue, exhaustion, brain fog, debilitating back pain, anxiety, paranoia etc etc. 

 

I honestly wanted to end it all when my girlfriend discovered “Lyrica survivors” on Facebook. I took a huge amount of time off work and was more motivated than ever before! On March 9th 2020 the insanity began! Let me preface this next part by saying that today I am 100% recovered from Lyrica  and I believe anyone can recover as long as you give your body and brain the time and space to heal and stay away from narcotics, alcohol or adding more psychiatric drugs.

 

I first dropped to 225, 300 then 225, 225. Both of these for two weeks with relative ease. Then 150, 225 followed by 150, 150 also both for two weeks. Still no major problems just lots of anxiety. I then dropped to 75, 150 which was really intense with shooting nerve pain throughout the body accompanied by anxiety and flu like symptoms. I calmed it down a bit and the next drops were 75, 125, then 75, 100 and finally 75, 75. I felt awful but I was still “myself” in that I was still able to live my life normally to some degree. I then spent two weeks at 50, 75 and then I went to 50, 50. This is where it all caught up to me! It was simply too fast!! The 10% rule is the key! This is where I lost myself completely. It was like being on enormous amounts of LSD while being terrified every waking second to the core of your soul with a thousand other symptoms that are more reminiscent of terminal illness than withdrawals. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t be around people I didn’t know, I was shaking, I had so much fatigue I thought I was going to die. This is the reality of tapering too fast. In the words of Brody in Indiana Jones, “you’re meddling with powers you cannot possible comprehend”.
 

I stayed on 50, 50 for 2 months and realized there are two elements to Lyrica tapering: 1. Waves of insane withdrawals that come and go and 2. A constant feeling of being “broken” that never subsides until you come out the other side. The “broken” feeling didn’t subside and rather the easing of intense waves of withdrawals were my signal to drop again. After the two months on 50, 50 I was scared straight and I tapered by 10% the whole way down using liquid Lyrica staying at each drop for roughly 2 weeks (also an equal dose morning and evening which is ideal). And when I got to 10, 10 I dropped by 1mg every 5 -7 day and from 5mg I dropped by 1mg every 3 days. I reached 0mg on January 19th 2021 after 10.5 months of tapering. The withdrawal symptoms are simply hellish terror beyond your wildest imagination while seemingly infinite in scope. I had to rearrange my life completely to cope with the constant panic attacks (never had them earlier in life) and the feeling of “going insane any minute”. When you accompany that with terror-level all consuming fear, enormous vision problems and paranoia, it seems hopeless but in fact this is just the path to reclaiming your life! 

 

However, when I reached 0mg it certainly got worse for a few months (the drop to zero is always the worst) and it was also difficult to have these symptoms but no longer be tapering. Now I was an unmedicated person who just felt broken. After 4 months things had improved a little but I was in no way back to normal. After 8 months I began to feel better but my mind was consumed with this feeling of impending doom, fear and paranoia (partly for being in this state for so long). After 12 months the vision problems were fixed, no more panic attacks, energy was back, no more pain, felt light as a feather and after 14 months I was back to my old self just the upgraded 2.0 version! This was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done but it’s made me a better person! I am now back on stage (I’m a stand up comedian) and everything is simply wonderful!!!!

 

(this is just my personal story, some people have much milder withdrawals)

 

We can do this! We DO recover!:)

[Altostrata]

Hello, @Recoveryguy

 

I am sorry you had such a hard time going off Lyrica, and thanks so much for sharing your encouragement.

 

This will help people understand what happened Please summarize your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

 

 

[Phoenixmama]

thank you for your success story , very much appreciated ❤️

[LouiseL]

Hi @Recoveryguy

Thank you so (!!) much for your amazing, inspiring and really well written post 🥹😊👍

 

I’m actually so afraid of even reading success stories about withdrawal at the moment (I’m currently going by Han Solo’s “Never Tell Me The Odds” philosophy, and just hoping I will feel better tomorrow, kind of.. ) but your post really made me hopeful and a little less scared. 😊

As my signature states, I’ve been on a completely ridiculous amount of prescription drugs (with no effect, except debilitating side effects and withdrawal symptoms, thanks for absolutely nothing, idiot psychiatrists 👍) since 2019. And it’s been indescribable hell. Your description is so spot on what I have / still am experiencing some days 😞

 

I stopped Lyrica (150 mg) in May last year AND then Lexapro about two months later AND I barely tapered, courtesy of my last psychiatrist. I was completely messed up and hazy mentally and physically on both drugs and kept telling her I had so so many side effects. She said then I should just stop taking the drugs so I didn’t have so many “thoughts about having side effects”… Like. SIGH. 🤦‍♀️

Skip to over a year later and I’m still struggling.

 

I was on Lyrica, just 25 mg. in 2016/2017 for ? months (I can’t remember either the effects or side effects). When I think back though I do remember life generally became more difficult (?) both mental health wise and that I had some extreme back pains after I stopped. I never made the connection but now I’m thinking…. Maaaybe I actually had a small withdrawal from 25 mg. Lyrica back then (?). I don’t know if that’s possible with such a small amount. Maybe I’m just spiraling into conspiracy theories now. 😋 But it helps me think maybe it could have affected me and I wasn’t JUST crazy 😋. 

 

Anyway, thank you so much for your post! 🙂 It helps me believe I might get through this as well. 

[Parisien]

On 9/27/2022 at 1:48 AM, Recoveryguy said:

Hello everyone! 
 

I would like to share my success story regarding my Lyrica taper as the only reason I could navigate my way through it was due to the fact that I was able to read other people’s success stories on platforms like this! I was prescribed Lyrica in 2011 for anxiety and back pain and it was presented to me as a safe and effective, non addictive “medicine”. “Lyrica is to benzodiazepines as Tylenol is to OxyContin” was the basic pitch from my big pharma appointed drug dealer (also known as a doctor). At first I loved it because it gave an effect more noticeable than Tylenol and believing it had the withdrawal profile of Tylenol I was thrilled. In 2013 I missed a dose for the first time and became more physically ill and mentally ill than a research monkey being taken cold turkey off 10,000mg clonopin a day. It was insane! I then made a conscious effort to taper but the withdrawals were too overwhelming so like any “addict” I convinced myself that they must be helping me in some way (this logic obviously derived from fear because Lyrica is the worst drug!). By 2020 the side effects of this drug had become unbearable. Fatigue, exhaustion, brain fog, debilitating back pain, anxiety, paranoia etc etc. 

 

I honestly wanted to end it all when my girlfriend discovered “Lyrica survivors” on Facebook. I took a huge amount of time off work and was more motivated than ever before! On March 9th 2020 the insanity began! Let me preface this next part by saying that today I am 100% recovered from Lyrica  and I believe anyone can recover as long as you give your body and brain the time and space to heal and stay away from narcotics, alcohol or adding more psychiatric drugs.

 

I first dropped to 225, 300 then 225, 225. Both of these for two weeks with relative ease. Then 150, 225 followed by 150, 150 also both for two weeks. Still no major problems just lots of anxiety. I then dropped to 75, 150 which was really intense with shooting nerve pain throughout the body accompanied by anxiety and flu like symptoms. I calmed it down a bit and the next drops were 75, 125, then 75, 100 and finally 75, 75. I felt awful but I was still “myself” in that I was still able to live my life normally to some degree. I then spent two weeks at 50, 75 and then I went to 50, 50. This is where it all caught up to me! It was simply too fast!! The 10% rule is the key! This is where I lost myself completely. It was like being on enormous amounts of LSD while being terrified every waking second to the core of your soul with a thousand other symptoms that are more reminiscent of terminal illness than withdrawals. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t be around people I didn’t know, I was shaking, I had so much fatigue I thought I was going to die. This is the reality of tapering too fast. In the words of Brody in Indiana Jones, “you’re meddling with powers you cannot possible comprehend”.
 

I stayed on 50, 50 for 2 months and realized there are two elements to Lyrica tapering: 1. Waves of insane withdrawals that come and go and 2. A constant feeling of being “broken” that never subsides until you come out the other side. The “broken” feeling didn’t subside and rather the easing of intense waves of withdrawals were my signal to drop again. After the two months on 50, 50 I was scared straight and I tapered by 10% the whole way down using liquid Lyrica staying at each drop for roughly 2 weeks (also an equal dose morning and evening which is ideal). And when I got to 10, 10 I dropped by 1mg every 5 -7 day and from 5mg I dropped by 1mg every 3 days. I reached 0mg on January 19th 2021 after 10.5 months of tapering. The withdrawal symptoms are simply hellish terror beyond your wildest imagination while seemingly infinite in scope. I had to rearrange my life completely to cope with the constant panic attacks (never had them earlier in life) and the feeling of “going insane any minute”. When you accompany that with terror-level all consuming fear, enormous vision problems and paranoia, it seems hopeless but in fact this is just the path to reclaiming your life! 

 

However, when I reached 0mg it certainly got worse for a few months (the drop to zero is always the worst) and it was also difficult to have these symptoms but no longer be tapering. Now I was an unmedicated person who just felt broken. After 4 months things had improved a little but I was in no way back to normal. After 8 months I began to feel better but my mind was consumed with this feeling of impending doom, fear and paranoia (partly for being in this state for so long). After 12 months the vision problems were fixed, no more panic attacks, energy was back, no more pain, felt light as a feather and after 14 months I was back to my old self just the upgraded 2.0 version! This was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done but it’s made me a better person! I am now back on stage (I’m a stand up comedian) and everything is simply wonderful!!!!

 

(this is just my personal story, some people have much milder withdrawals)

 

We can do this! We DO recover!:)

Good evening, your weaning success message is very inspiring congratulations to you it must not have been easy.  You mentioned having reduced over 10.5 months.  Me after a year and a half of taking I stopped everything overnight 9 months ago.  Do you think I can heal anyway or will I have to go back to the medication for the diminished?  Like you, I had extreme fatigue and a bunch of disabling symptoms for 2 or 3 months which all disappeared including the insomnia.  I still have a little brain fog and the vision is sometimes weird but like you I have regained my energy.  For me the only and last problem still present remains sexuality.  And it worries me a lot that my body stays like that, maybe because of having stopped suddenly without doing a gradual weaning like you.  Any advice is welcome on your weaning for the community take care of yourself