Hello Aprilb42 1st I tell you that I had to have my Dr. rquest 3x for the coverage for the lyrica, the nuerontin, antidepressants ect ect, did not help at all with the pain and Cymbalta did not help that's for sure. Sedatives helped me with the pain and combo strong pain reliever and tylenol, but I truly don't think there is anything that will even close to half of the pain away from shingles. I live for the day I meet a Dr. or infectious disease Dr. that has PHN or shingles on the head. I would like to meet them and talk to them and hear them call all of us sissies!

Can you tell me what your experience was with the cymbalta? Did you get bad side effects from it? Is the Lyrica working for you? Honestly, this is the worst pain ever and sometimes I just break down in tears from it.

April

the cymbalta don't help with the pain at all and I got ringing in my ears alll the time but no side affects yet but I am only taking 30 mg of it once daily. The lyrica did help me about 10% but my hands and feet swelled up so bad it split my skin open and I would bleed from the splits,so I was taken off of the Lyrica. But I think the lyrica gave me a bladder problem, cause i am a grown man and I piss myself almost every day. nice huh? And the only factor that was diffeent at the time when the symtoms started was the Lyrica.
now my pain is the worst it has ever been and about a month ago I got an outbreak of lesions in my ear canal and just wanted to die and take the easy way out. but I get either shingles or just plain herpes simplex but they both produce the PAIN. I hope I answered your questions. .....SPECSPEC

Hi Aprilb42,
I'm not sure if what I take is the actual Nurontin or a knock-off of it. I tried the Lyrica, finally, but it didn't work for me. I've been on several medications and so far I'm only getting very minor results. I was originally on Gabapentin but it made me so tired and out of it, I stopped taking it after only a week. They put me on Lyrica and after a month, it did nothing for the pain, but did make me so tired I didn't want to move. I finally got an appointment with a Pain Management doctor who put me back on the Gabapentin, only this time increasing the dosage every few days until I reached 300 milligrams a day. It does give me a few hours of relief most days but if I have any.....and I do mean any.....sort of stress of have to drive or go to too many appointments, it doesn't do a thing for me that day. I keep asking for something, anything, to get rid of the post herpetic neuralgia so that I can stop taking the Oxycodone. I've been on that since December and have just recently found out how addictive it is!!!! It would have been nice if they told me from the beginning that it's just as addictive as morphine, but I live in Maine....not exactly the medical capital of the U.S.! LOL's. So now I have to deal with THAT too. I actually had to go to the ER one weekend because my doctor's office closed before they gave me my prescription and since it's a narcotic, you have to have a hand written script in order to get it filled. The ER doctor wrote down, "habitual drug abuse" on my chart!!!! I almost had a heart attack!!!!!! He was kind and said, "well, you have been taking it for more than six months now, so that is habitual." But he was the only one who told me (and also gave me medical information on it) how bad it was. He's also the only one who told me that it is ILLEGAL for me to drive while on them. I take 4-5 a day which means I can't even drive to the grocery store out of fear I will get arrested (and I will around here!!!!!!!!!) and get a DUI and lose my license as well as having a FELONY against me for drug use! It's ridiculous I know. BUT, the issue is.....if I had known then what issues taking Oxycodone would cause, would I still take it? My answer is woefully yes. It seems to be the ONLY thing that actually gives me a few hours of relief. The issue that will soon arise with taking this drug is that eventually your body adjusts to it and you wind up having to take more of it just to relieve your pain....remember Rush Limbaugh??? He got arrested for "drug use" because of Oxycontin.....he had such severe back pain, but then he wound up taking like 200 a day and was definitely hooked on them!!!! I've been told the only other options are morphine or methadone! When I said no to the ER doctor because I didn't want to become a drug addict, he kind of got snotty with me and said, "well you know, you already ARE a drug addict." When he saw how upset I got over that remark, he then got nice and explained to me about the Oxycodone addiction. I know this was a long reply, sorry, and I'm sure it doesn't answer all your questions, but in the same respect, Lyrica is the number one choice of first defense with trying to control PHN. It just didn't work for me.....or maybe my first doctor didn't have me on a large enough dose. Like I said, the Gabapentin works sometimes (which is better than nothing!) but you can gain some weight from it. I was too thin anyway so the extra weight is an added bonus for me! Hope this helps. Shantiann

Hello. I am new to this site and to this group. I am currently experiencing severe PHN. The pain is unbearable at times. It comes and goes, I have good days, I have bad days. I recently was put on Neurontin, 1200 mg per day, which I just now have worked up to. The side effects have not be fun but I am willing to deal with that if this drug will work. So far I would say it has not helped at all. For anyone that is taking Neurontin and is having positive results, how long did it take before the drug became effective?

Hi again Aprilb42, Wow, that's a lot of nuerontin! I'm only on 300 of Gabapentin a day and like I said before, it really isn't working that well so far. I'm still taking the same amount of Oxycodone as I was before I started. I tried the Lyrica and it didn't help me at all, but some of the research shows that it does help some people. Have you tried getting your doctor to ask again for the Lyrica? Sometimes the insurance company's make you try everything else that is cheaper first before they'll let you go for the more expensive stuff. They gave me Lidocaine cream which only helped minimally but they had to give me that before they could request the patches. They finally approved the patches but for only one patch a day, not two like the doctor wanted. I'm waiting for them to come in, if they work I'll let you know. My pain is in my back between my shoulder blades so even wearing a bra is sooooooo annoying on some days. The doctor told me on those days I should just go without! I'm not that large in the breast department but I am getting older so I laughed and said, "you really want me to have them at my waist, don't you?" He laughed too....it seems sometimes that's all you can do. You do make me wonder about the amount I'm taking and whether I'm just not taking enough. You didn't say exactly what brand of Neurontin are you taking? Thanks, Shantiann

Hi Shantiann,

I am also on Gabapentin, which is the generic form of Neurontin. My doctor told me that you have to go up to higher doses sometimes for the Gabapentin to help. She wants me on 1800 milligrams, but I get tired and dizzy above 1200 milligrams. I am told that the dosing for Neurontin or Gabapentin is much higher than Lyrica. I read somewhere that 1800 milligrams of Gabapentin is the equivalent of like 300 milligrams of Lyrica. I am wondering if anyone else knows anything about this topic. I would appreciate any input from people. My doctor says that Lyrica causes more swelling and weight gain that Gabapentin, but I guess it depends on the person. I can't get it anyways because of my insurance. Anyone else on Gabapentin or Neurontin? I read in some other group that someone was taking 1200 milligrams of Neurontin/Gabapentin, and that didn't help but when they upped the dose to 1800 milligrams that found it did help.

April