Gabapentinoids Large doses of lyrica doing nothing…

[Bag84]

So I just picked up my prescription for lyrica ( pregabalin 150mgx120) supposed to take 4 a day. Well me being me I abuse it. I went without it for a while cause I take way more than prescribed. Last months prescription I took 4 pills once a day and felt pretty good. Then I started taking more and more and ran out. So I went a couple weeks without. I’ve been taking it since April but took gabapentin occasionally and got a huge tolerance. But I don’t take it for longer than a few days then take a break for a few days but I went a but I am taking 6-9 pills at a time 2 times a day and this is only my second day in my script. I take so many other things that it’s hard to tell what is giving me withdrawl or not giving me withdrawl. I have a huge tolerance to everything (oxycodone daily, clonazepam for about 15 days out of the month) I don’t know what to do. I want to stop everything but it’s so hard. I don’t remember the last time I went a day without taking a pill.

So my question is, why did my tolerance to this go so high so fast. I don’t want to take it daily cause I don’t want to NEED it. But I don’t know if I do cause I have suck a high tolerance and mix it with so many other things. I have no idea why I’m not dead really 45 mg of oxy daily, 2 grams of lyrica, 1 mg of Xanax and that’s just in the last 12 hours. Am I fucked?

 

[Snafu in the Void]

Pregabalin and gabapentin have notoriously very steep tolerance curves, way more than benzos.

You're not fucked, but you probably should try to control your use a little more. Combining benzos and lyrica is going to desensitize your GABA receptors fairly quickly and cause more tolerance than if you just take 1.

One of the problems with taking so many different drugs is, like you mentioned, it can be difficult to tell what is causing withdrawal symptoms and they will start to blend together which complicates things and adds even more distress/anxiety.

Are you familiar with recovery methods? It can be difficult to do it alone.

 

[Hypnobis]

Yeh pregabalin tolerance rises faster than any drug I've tried in my experience. If you take a break it resets quite swiftly tho.

 

[Specified]

It's a shit drug I wish I never started it. I can't get off it I need it for sleep but it only gets me about 4 hrs sleep now. It's done damage to my memory, I can't think of words and a whole heap of other stuff...but that could be caused by other drugs and medications that I've taken over the yrs....anyway it's shit my tolerance is high as I try take same dose every night because my dr won't give me another script til the end of the year. Grammar

 

[Hypnobis]

It's a shit drug I wish I never started it. I can't get off it I need it for sleep but it only gets me about 4 hrs sleep now. It's done damage to my memory, I can't think of words and a whole heap of other stuff...but that could be caused by other drugs and medications that I've taken over the yrs....anyway it's shit my tolerance is high as I try take same dose every night because my dr won't give me another script til the end of the year. Grammar

Nah that is a very well documented effect of pregabalin, lack of verbal fluency. Much worse than benzos, where you can be forgetful but mostly remain articulate. Its a wonder drug for withdrawal (and I guess for people with genuine nerve pain) but I would not wanna take it long term and in high doses as feel IQ dropping by the daily.
I sympathise though, when I was coming off gear it was the ONLY thing that let me sleep and stop the excruciating RLS. Good mood lift too.

 

[Xorkoth]

Pregabalin tolerance rises insanely quickly, to the point that taking the same dose 2 days in a row will result in little effect the next day. I have to wait around a week between doses to maintain the full effects.

By the way, 150mg 4x a day?? That's crazy, 600mg is my go-to for a strong recreational dose, I have rarely ever taken more, in fact.

 

[Jen X]

I've had weird experiences with this drug. A couple years ago it made me high as a kite a few times, had to keep doubling dose. Now it makes me anxious . Very strange drug.

 

[plumbus-nine]

I was on prescribed 4x 150mg/d as well. 600mg is the usual target dosage, some even prescribe 900mg/d but as you say, tolerance rises insanely fast and I ended up with complete tolerance (no effects, no difference when stopped) after just a few weeks. Wonder how this stuff can work for years for some.