Here is one link to a discussion which is one reason I won't try it.

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Fibromyalgia/forum/8332478-neurontin-and-lyrica-halt-new

Here is reason #2 this is a weaker form of lyrica.

http://www.jerebeasleyreport.com/2010/04/pfizer-to-pay-142-million-for-drug-fraud/

and this is reason #3

By RODRIQUE NGOWI
The Associated Press
Monday, February 22, 2010; 7:58 PM



BOSTON -- A doctor accused of faking research for a dozen years in published studies that suggested after-surgery benefits from painkillers including Vioxx and Celebrex pleaded guilty Monday to one count of federal health care fraud.

An attorney for Dr. Scott Reuben said the anesthesiologist will have to repay $361,932 in research grants and forfeit assets worth at least $50,000 as penalty for his conduct following a plea hearing in U.S. District Court.

Prosecutors alleged the former chief of acute pain at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield sought and received research grants from pharmaceutical companies but never performed the studies. They said he fabricated patient data and submitted information to anesthesiology journals that unwittingly published it.

Reuben, a 51-year-old Longmeadow resident, took leave after the hospital said last year that a routine review found that some of his research was not approved by an internal hospital review board. Further investigation found 21 papers published in anesthesiology journals between 1996 and 2008 in which Reuben made up some or all of the data, the hospital said.
The hospital asked the journals to retract the studies, some of which reported favorable results from painkillers including New York-based Pfizer Inc.'s Bextra, Celebrex and Lyrica and Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck & Co. Inc.'s Vioxx. The studies also claimed Wyeth's antidepressant Effexor could be used as a painkiller. (Wyeth is now part of Pfizer.)
Vioxx and Bextra, among a class of painkillers known as Cox-2 inhibitors, were pulled from the market amid mounting evidence they raised the risk of heart attack, stroke and death. Celebrex is still on the market. Lyrica is a treatment for fibromyalgia, a syndrome characterized by chronic muscle pain and fatigue.

Reuben's attorneys, Paul Cirel and Ingrid Martin, said in a statement released Monday that Reuben was suffering from a serious a bipolar disorder that was only accurately diagnosed in 2008 and had no financial motive when he committed the offenses.

"Dr. Reuben's bipolar disease explains but is not an excuse or a defense for his conduct. However, his alternating periods of mania and depression fueled his misconduct and adversely affected his ability to halt his wrongful behaviors in the area of research," the statement said. "Reuben has admitted his wrongdoing and wishes to apologize to his family, to his colleagues, to the medical community and to the pharmaceutical companies that funded his research."

Monday's guilty plea is part of Reuben's efforts to cooperate with the medical community and with law enforcement, the statement said. Reuben has agreed to not practice medicine and to make full restitution to the pharmaceutical companies that funded his research, it said.

Between 2002 and 2007, Pfizer gave five research grants to Reuben, who was a member of the company's speakers bureau, giving talks about its drugs to colleagues. The company has said it was not involved in the conduct of Reuben's studies or in the interpretation or publication of the results.

The investigation was first reported by the trade publication Anesthesiology News.

The journal Anesthesia & Analgesia retracted 10 of Reuben's studies last February. The journal Anesthesiology said last year that it retracted three.

Reuben faces up to 10 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for May 24

It is possible that lyrica maybe working for you.

It is also possible that your body has become dependant on it so when you miss a few doses what you are feeling are withdrawals.

This is an antisieure med and you do need to becareful about missing doses and it should not be stopped suddenly but tappered down with your doctors guidance.

Sorry I'm not trying to use scare tactics but I believe in making an informed decission.

There are some that think this is a great med and it works really well for them.

There are more post on this you can type Lyrica in the search box and read other peoples replies.

There are those that feel it works really well for them.

In the end your the one that has to decide if this med is for you.

It was like poisen to me tried it 3x for 3mo ea started 50mcg then went to 75mcg then back to 25mcg =face hands & feet turned blood red & felt horrible also got sertoina syndrom after taking it!gained 30lbs I blood pressure statred goin crazy!

I Know someone here that takes it for Neuropathy Pain...yet he continuously complains of "Nerve Pain"..I said If you are Taking Lyrica, and still Suffering the Same Nerve Pain, then this Med is NOT Helping You, cause THATS What Your Taking it for..yet he STILL Takes it.

This is a Dangerous Med...now IF Ur having Severe Nerve Pain, and the Med Helps to take that away, Enough so that you can Live within Your Life, then I would Say the Benefits Outweigh the Risks..but If that is Not what is going on, I would Not Take the Med.

Each of us is Different...From What I have Read so far, Very few People get the Benefits..If it works for you, and ur Not having the Negative Effects...then Continue !

My experience with Lyrica was that at first it seemed that I had found the answer to everything! I had so much energy I didn't know what to do with it all. Over the course of a year it slowly stopped working and I went off of it.

Mizroze

If you ever decide to stop taking it, DO NOT stop all at once and DO have your doctor help you taper off. It has been known to cause brain edema during the withdrawal period, which can be fatal. The withdrawal period itself can be disabling. I missed 2 months of work because of Lyrica and never quite fully recovered. Ultimately, I lost my job.

It works by slowing your brain synapses (sp?) between neurons. its somthing I think only a neurologist should be able to prescribe, I've also heard that over time it can alter your nervous system

I took it and didnt like it, I gained so much weight and it to me didnt work. I still had pain so dr uped it, still had pain so dr upped it, finally I said forget this and I weaned myself off it. If you do wean yourself off it, I suggest do it slowly because I've heard MANY MANY TIMES it has VERY BAD SIGN EFFECTS when going off the med. I wouldnt suggest anyone to take it but thats just my personal opinion. hugs

Our bodies are so different from one another's that it is impossible to compare the way a drug makes us feel. I take lyrica and have for about 2 years now. I feel better on it. It allows me to work everyday.

i can tell you why im for it, it keeps that sunburn skin pain COMPLETLY away. and yes i'm still in alot of pain so i dont' think its working but whenever i go off of it i'm reminded how much it really dose help me.

alot of people don't like taking it due to side effects. when i first started taking it i felt retarded in the head, i ran into walls and i was increadible groggy and fatigued but like any medication you get used to it and the side effects fade and when the benifits outweight the side effects (after you give your body a week or two to adjust) you can decide if its worth keeping.

my lyrica is worth keeping

My Lyrica is worth keeping along with the Fenaly patch and Nucynta for break through pain...I know its alot but hey it takes away the pain.

I will not take Lyrica for the following reasons:

I have taken drugs that are similar (other pyschiatric and anti-convulsants) and had very bad side effects, some even severe. I do not take anti depressants for the same reason, they make me feel crazy and give me bizarre side effects. Withdrawal from anti depressants as well as drugs like Lyrica is also total hell - when I was coming off of Cymbalta I had "brain zaps" for 3 months. Never doing that again.

I have three doctors who say that Lyrica is a terrible drug, and my physical therapists says she has a patient who had such terrible memory loss from it he wouldn't know where he was going and would forget appointments. They've all said Lyrica is a very very last resort type of drug for me and we've all gone out of our way to try other things.

Like anti depressants, people will take them and "oh it's the greatest thin ever" and then after several months they stop working. It's the nature of these drugs and that's a little scary.

I was reading about how Lyrica and Neurontin actually keep you from forming new brain cells (i can't find the article now. I had it bookmarked before I had to reinstall windows and I lost all my bookmarks.) I know different psychiatric drugs have caused me permanent side effects and damage - that's part of why my neck hurts all the time.

It seems like almost everyone I know who takes it ends up gaining a ton of weight. I really do not want this as a side effect, my metabolism is already screwed up from fibro. People say they gain the weight and then can't lose it, and it's not like 5 lbs, its usually about 30+ pounds. Gaining weight can make fibro symptoms worse.

Honestly, i started doing better once I stopped all pharmaceutical ways of treating fibro and started taking lots of vitamins,supplements, figuring out an exercise routine that worked (this was not easy) giving physical therapy 6 months, and eating healthy. It's taken a lot of effort, a lot of trial and error and a ton of patience but I'm really glad I started saying no to these types of drugs and took matters into my own hands. I still take pain killers and muscle relaxers from time to time but not nearly as much as I needed to in the past. Now that I'm doing better and my biggest problem is fatigue, I definitely know what I am doing now is more beneficial to me than anything I've ever taken drug wise. I am determined to find a natural cure to the fatigue, going to start taking a new amino acid tomorrow.

Sorry if this seems really blunt, but this is why I am against taking lyrica - I don't judge people who take it and as long as people know the risks going into it, then it's up to them what they'd like to do with their fibro treatment. Personally, it's not for me. If you feel like it's not helping you at all, there are other treatments you could look at.