Yes, I take Lyrica and it does help my pain. I have had some swelling in my hands and feet. I have been fighting it and have managed to keep the weight gain off, but I know what you mean. It is worth it so far for me.

Yes my weight has balloned since being on the lycria.
I am barley eating and am still gaining weight.
I'm eating lots of salad and fruit and veggies and going for a walk each day and still gaining weight.
Tomorrow i am calling up the pain clinic and going back on to gabapention as i was losing weight taking it.
Are you able to go on to gabapention ??

inlotsofpain - I have been on Gabapentin (Neurontin) before but it was for my migraines not for my joint pain. The doctors are going to have to get really creative since I have taken a lot of the medications usually used. I see a new Rheumatologist on the 15th so I am hoping she will come up with something soon

I was on gabapention for about 9 years and never had a weight issue until the pain speaclist thought it might be better to try lycria, so i did,

I have steriod nerve blocks and have been on Lyrica since July 2008. Since then I have gained 25 pounds!! My hands and feet also swell so I rarely ever use my tennis shoes anymore, nope i wear comfy slippers. The Lyrica has helped me a lot though. My dr started me on Neurontin but even at the highest dose it did nothing for me. If there was something else like Lyrica or Neurontin that would work for me Id take it in a second. I hate my body now that I look like Im a few months preggo (people in stores even ask me so embarrassing) lol but my thighs even have stretch marks from gaining this weight so rapidly. Like I said I hate my body now but it is worth it to take it for me.

Lyrica caused weight gain in 16% of people taking it...in premarketing trials....so it very well may be the cause
Dr O.

When I first started pain management I told them I did not want to go on any meds that would cause weight gain. I had already gained 20-25lbs from steroids and being on neurontin. He told me at the time that Lyrica is guarrenteed to put on at least 15lbs!! It turned out I couldn't take it anyway because he said it would also interfere with my Paxil. I suffer from PTSD and the paxil has really helped a lot, but that also causes weight gain..ugh!! Can they come up with something that works and DOESN'T cause weight gain?!! I never had a weight problem in my life until all these meds. The Paxil is worth it, but the neurontin didn't help at all, and as some of you already know, steroids and I don't get along well-LOL! And I agree, these meds seem to put weight on even if you watch every calorie you eat!!

Lyrica caused me to gain 30 lbs. I only stayed on it for 3 weeks. I felt like a whale with clothes that were squeezing me senseless. I couldn't get it off until I went on Topamax and then it came off pretty quick. I have heard a lot of other people who have lost weight with Topamax.

I stopped taking that too, and dropped 17lbs. I don't see how all these weight gaining meds can help pain, to me it just makes it worse. I'd rather do without.

I've taken lyrica but had no problem with weight gain although it has caused cravings for fatty foods I dont know if anyone esle had these but that was my thing. The problem I had was that it worked the first time I took it but not the second.

ZaZa I find that hippo very sexual, I think that's abuse! Just kidding. Good morning all!

I tookLyrica for about a month and gained 12 pounds. I got off it, because I was gaining about a pound every couple of days. It made me crave sugar and lots of food. Not worth gaining weight for a medication that helped some, but not that much. Huge side effect, the weight gain.

Hey there,
I was on lyrica about 9 months ago. I was taking 75 mg twice a day. My psychiatrist thought it would help with my anxiety, as well as pain. I really don't think it did either. It's not surprising that it didn't do anything for my pain though, since my pain is not "neuropathic". (But don't all pain signals get sent through nerves?? I'm confused!) Anyway, I did not have ANY side effects from the drug - not one. I believe my dose was quite low, however.
With lots of caring,
Orchid

Lyrica did the same thing to me; my weight went up like crazy, which is its most common side effects. I switched from Lyrica to a combination of neurontin and topamax and the pounds just dropped off and I got the same pain relief. I was taking it primarily for nerve pain. For my back pain, I still take narcotics.

I had a doc that wanted to put me on Lyrica and as soon as I read all the side effects my hubby and I both said NO WAY to it. Glad I never went on it from what I am reading here.

Orchid - the article I read (if I find it I'll send you the link) basically said if you have an injury (cant remember if it mentioned a disease) said that when a part of your body is injured, we produces endorphines for the pain. when you take pain meds it, for lack of better word) the natural pain killers your body makes dont go to that area anymore and therefore your body maps around that area causing refered pain. They are testing new drugs at NIH to resolve this issue but I dont know when anything will be in clinical trials. It makes sense to me because all Docs I've had have told me that there are no such things as muscle relaxors. Anything labeled as suck works on your neuro system to relax your bosy. After being on many mrelaxors, the only thing that worked for me was direct shots of novacaine into the muscle and in the beginning I needed like 10-15 at a time, and after a few months of that with massage therapy, I only needed the shots when it got really really bad. So I dont know if you have to have a neuro problem for your body to re-map your pain control, but that's what every Doctor I've had tells me.


Sduke I dont know if you have tried accupunture, but that helped me tremendously. I can do 20 minutes of accupunture (of course with fibro I had a lot of needles all along my spine from the neck to the tup of my behind) but I got results the first time and didnt really need pain meds for about 5 days after. Problem was, insurance back then did pay for the procedure, and I'm still totally confused with medicare so I have to see if they approve it or not. Sorry so long winded but I cant sleep and am still fuming about my SSDI back pay. Please let us know what you decide to do. BJ