Glad to hear that Lyrica works for you but be warned that just because it's "non narcatic" doesn't mean that it's not ADDICTIVE, Lyrica only has about 65% success rate with most patients, Since Pfizer has the exclusive rights to Lyrica for the next 5 years they have been pushing it for anything they can get FDA approval for and long term effects are still unknowen with this drug. the following is from Wikipedia --

Pregabalin (INN) (IPA: [prgbln]) is an anticonvulsant drug used for neuropathic pain, as an adjunct therapy for partial seizures, and in generalized anxiety disorder. It was designed as a more potent successor to gabapentin. Pregabalin is marketed by Pfizer under the trade name Lyrica.

Recent studies have shown that pregabalin is effective at treating chronic pain in disorders such as fibromyalgia[1] and spinal cord injury[2]

It is considered to have a dependence liability if misused, and is classified as a Schedule V drug in the U.S.[3]
History
Pregabalin was initially developed by biochemist Richard Silverman at Northwestern University in the United States. The drug was approved in the European Union in 2004. Pregabalin received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for use in treating epilepsy, diabetic neuropathy pain and post-herpetic neuralgia pain in June 2005, and appeared on the U.S. market in fall 2005.

Pharmacology
Like gabapentin, pregabalin binds to the 2 subunit of the voltage-dependent calcium channel in the central nervous system. However, the exact mechanism of action is unknown.


Clinical use
Indications
Pregabalin is indicated for:

Treatment of neuropathic pain in adults
Adjunctive therapy in adults with partial seizures with or without secondary generalization
Fibromyalgia pain. The FDA has approved Pregabalin as an indicated use on June 21, 2007[4].
In the European Union, it has also been approved for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).[5]

Adverse effects
Adverse drug reactions associated with the use of pregabalin include:[6][7]

Very common (>10% of patients): dizziness, drowsiness
Common (110% of patients): visual disturbance (including blurred vision, diplopia), ataxia, dysarthria, tremor, lethargy, memory impairment, euphoria, weight gain, constipation, dry mouth, peripheral edema, loss or decrease of libido, erectile dysfunction
Infrequent (0.11% of patients): depression, confusion, agitation, hallucinations, myoclonus, hypoaesthesia, hyperaesthesia, tachycardia, excessive salivation, sweating, flushing, rash, muscle cramp, myalgia, arthralgia, urinary incontinence, dysuria, thrombocytopenia, Kidney calculus
Rare (

Has Lyrica helped you? My mother in law takes Lyrica for her shingles and still complains about pain.

I understand the loss of sleep due to phantom pain....this happened to me for about three months after my surgery (15 yrs ago). I had TERRIBLE phantom PAIN. During my first week of chemotherapy, I was sent to a pain clinic within the hospital to find something that would help with the phantom pain. It has been 15 yrs and I would have to look up what they gave me, but whatever it was, it worked and helped cut back tremendously on the pain--BAD side affect-weight gain--LOTS!!! Needless to say I weaned myself off this pain medication ASAP. I don't remember exactly when the phantom PAIN stopped but I have ALWAYS have had and will always have phantom sensation. For me, it is likened to when my real foot falls asleep and you get up to walk on it and you feel tingly, shocky feelings. I've had this for 15 yrs--I will ALWAYS have this. I have become so use to this feeling it has become "normal" to me. I am not on any meds for it-it is managable for me and something I will deal with my whole life. I hope your sensations get to a point where you no longer need medication. Good Luck!

oh, by the way, did i mention that i have had this problem for 15 yrs??? my god!!! i only said it like THREE times in my previous post. sorry for the repetition people!

hello..thats ok you keep theme drugs..i will stick with the phantom pains..

Skiking,

Glad to hear you have found relief from your pain.

I have been on Lyrica since February. It only takes the edge off of my phantom pain. Norco (a narcotic mixutre of codine and tyleonol), is the only thing that really works for my pain. These drugs cause me to sleep an excessive amout...and I'm told can become addictive.

By the way, gabapentin, mentioned in Tigertatt's post is also called nerontin...a drug which is prescribed for phantom pain as well. It has been around a lot longer than Lyrica and has also proven to be useful.

Lorri

I have not had any side affects thus far. It is nice to hear there are other drugs out there as I feel the body builds a tolerance to any kind of drug, especially something you use every day. So it will only be five more years before it won't cost a bloody fortune - that is good to hear. I don't know anyone with shingles that uses this - just read the wikipedia account and seems success is hit and miss. I have never had to deal with the real phantom pain - like a knife stab....just the tingling sensation.

SkiKing

hi me again iam the new amputee,July 16/07 a now nothing about this
phantom pain does it usually right away or do i still have this coming. maybe i have been lucky but i have had very little pain from the word go pain pills for 3 or 4 days after operation,but i did have bad pain and many operation over the past 30 years\.. ty much Joe

Joe - we are all different. My phantom sensation (not pain), was almost immediate. You may never have it. And, it does not bother some folks that do have it. It does not bother me during the day and again, we are all different - it drives me nuts when I am trying to fall asleep. We all experience post surgery pain but that goes away pretty fast as you have observed. Some people do have real phantom pain - I have heard people describe it as being similar to having a knife stuck into your leg. I never had that (thank god for little miracles). So keep your fingers crossed - this may never be something you have to deal with which is just great!///JE

I take nothing special for phantom "pain". Mine is more phantom AGGRIVATION!!!! I'ts aggrivating and STUPID for the brain to make your foot ich when you don't have a foot! Rarely, I get a shocking sort of zap of pain, but I have suffered with diabetic neuropathey for over 12 years now, and am numb up to midway up my calf. so I have just had to put up with that, not feeling my feet, except when the zapping starts, mostly, of course, at night. I'll wait on Lyrica till they work the kinks out. You never buy a first year edition of a car, I feel the same way about new drugs. Remember Vioxx??? Love to all.

Torry - I think the diabetic neuropathy introduces a whole different world of potential complications, brain function, feeling, etc. When we lived back east, probably 90% of the new amputees in our support group were diabetic. Mine was trauma - one day a foot, next day gone. I don't think the brain has any clue how to adjust to sudden loss of a body part. Not even sure it know how to adjust to the gradual loss. Like you, it was more aggravation on my part. After 5 nights with maybe 30 minutes of sleep per night, I had reached my limit. You can't drive to work when you are falling asleep on the freeway. I don't know if they are doing more research on Lyrica. It really was never developed for phantom sensation so I doubt if any of their research is focused on amputees. I just know it works for me. I hope the info might help others out there who (like me) could not find any solution and were losing quality of life and being put in dangerous situations (driving a car with narcolepsy like symptoms. Lyrica is a maintenance style drug so I don't agree with the comments about it being addictive - if you don't take it for 6-7 days to begin with, you get nowhere. So you have to keep taking it or you won't get the desired benefit. That is mandatory behavior, not addictive behavior.

There is a lot to be learned in this kind of informal exchange.

SkiKing