Now it's Fibro with Lyrica?!!!

[AK Girl]

Hi Linda,

I am gaining weight just like you are describing. 34 pounds since June 07 when I started  Vicoden and Predasone. I am now at 18 MG's of Pred. and trying slowly to decrease it. Now that you shared, the thought occurred to me the weight gain came on faster when they increased my Vicoden. 

Thanks for sharing the info about Lyrica. I really felt strange for about an hour now it is leveling out. I want off the Vicoden and emphatically told my Dr. that today. Then with your last post, the quicker the better.

Thanks, Gail  

 

[linda]

Hi Gail,

Good for you!!! How long have you been on prednisone? It can cause type 2 diabetes with prolonged therapy. With type 2 diabetes, the body doesn't use the insulin it produces to convert carbs to energy. The diet I was on, you eat 6 small meals/day, 4 of them with carbs. But you only eat < 25 mgs of carbs per meal, and with every meal that contains carbs, you eat a lean protein. The reason for the 25 mgs carbs is that a diabetic will only convert about that much to energy at any meal, any amt above that gets stored as fat. The protein helps keep the insulin level at a more constant level, so that our body has insulin available for a longer time to deal with the carbs.  Without the protein, our insulin level spikes for a short period of time, then drops ( the sugar crash, as we call it). You can find a diabetic food chart at any bookstore that tell how many carbs are in a serving of foods. You'd be surprised how small of a serving it takes to get to 25 mg. of carbs. One slice of bread, 1/4 cup of cereal, cooked rice, potatoes, corn, pasta, etc. One piece of fruit. So for lunch you could have an open sandwich, but no other carb, like fruit- you've used up your carbs on your one slice of bread. It's an easy diet to remember, but difficult to get used to the small meal sizes at first. You can pretty much eat all the veggies you want, but watch out for the higher starch ones like peas. It's also easy to get discouraged, the best you may be able to accomplish is to stop  the weight gain until you can start reducing the prednisone. It is very difficult to lose weight while on high doses of prednisone. It's important, tho, because if you continue gaining you could reach a point where the type 2 diabetes is irreversible; if caught early enough and the weight gain is stopped and eventually lost, the diabetes is reversible. It might be worth your while to see an endocrinologist if the weight gain continues. There are various diabetic diets, but they all contain the element of eating fewer carbs combined with protein. Vicodin also causes weight gain because it slows down so many things in our bodies. I'm not completely against the use of prednisone or Vicodin for short term use, as long as there is a definite deadline that is kept. For chronic pain and inflammation, it's a dangerous gamble because there is no set date to stop and it sometimes takes a long time to wean off of both of them. Sometimes, tho, it is unavoidable; it's not fair, but some of us become severe enough that we have to weigh the risks against the benefits. Sorry if I've bored you, I hope all goes well with your treatment, linda

[kittrasis]

Lyrica is an anti-seizure medication which was discovered to be helpful for some people with Fibromyalgia.  I tried it for a month.  It made me a little dizzy and had some effect on my intestinal flora and stool.  These things resolved but it didn't seem to help the pain much so I stopped using it.  There is an interesting website called at http://www.askapatient.com.  People write in with their experiences with Lyrica and other drugs.  Experiences are mixed, but I suspect that those with negative experiences are more motivated to post.  I have Morphea and, maybe, Fibro.  I'm just beginning to try some meds.  Best of luck to you.

[AK Girl]

Linda
Thanks for you?re sharing your experiences.  I feel so blessed that I have found a place where I can share my experiences too. I am learning so much from all of you, just being such an infant in the process of this disease. Communicating with others out there who unfortunately are experiencing the same pain as I am. 

It certainly is taking some of the burden off of my Sig. Other, who is so supportive . I give myself 5 minutes a day of P @ M'ing. That is pissing and moaning. ;)My family and friends are now use to me saying well you just got one minute so I still have 4 left to share with others. :blush:Now I can use it up in one verbal exchange for my day or space it out. Works for me.

Gail

[linda]

I throw a pretty good pity party myself!

Btw, I'm certainly not an expert in any of this, most of my knowledge comes from other people here, but my info on the diabetes is from my own experience. I wish I could've been lucky enough to find AP before I started taking prednisone, it's not a subject that I would choose to become informed about!

[kittrasis]

How are things going with the Lyrica?  I just went back on Lyrica about a week ago.  I first tried it in December but didn't think it helped my pain that much.  Now I feel it's helping me.  What was your experience with Lyrica?

[Dena]

First, when you get to a point in your writing where you want to insert an emoticon, just click on the face;)

Second, pain management has always been a struggle. 

Doctors:

–there is the one who said “pain is a matter of perception”–I reported him to the hospital and he was reprimanded for that and a number of other outrageous things he said

–there is the one who sold me USANA products at a small fortune and when I didn't get all better in three weeks, he said, “You just don't want to get better.”  He just closed his practice because of a degenerating spine–guess he didn't want to get better, either?

Then there is a wonderful neurologist, in fact two I have had, one in the states and one here in the VI.  They support me in my efforts, including AP.

Here's how I manage pain: sleep; move around and change position; stretch and do range of motion exercises, especially in a pool or better yet, the ocean; when nothing else works and the pain is really bad I take a darvocet and chase it with a rum and coke (no danger of my becoming an alcoholic, so my doctors approve).  Celebrex helps a lot.

Prednisone has been horrible for me–got on it and off it in 3 weeks.  I have decided not to try any of the new, advertised drugs.  I don't think the FDA is doing anything but pandering to the big drug companies and getting stuff on the market before the full side-effects can be assessed.

[Michele]

A follow-up on Lyrica:

I tried a 25 mg dose of Lyrica this past Friday night and Sunday night.

Even this low dose made me have the following side-effects; disturbed sleep, nausea, headache, hunger, anger, (probably because my head hurts) and so far it hasn't significantly reduced pain. If it has, I have to wonder if it's because my brain is distracted by the headache! It wasn't the horrible reaction I reported earlier in this thread at the higher dose, but clearly not something that is at all ideal at this lower dose either.

I wanted to ask those who have success with this, if those side-effects eventually subside over time, or not.

Thanks!
Michele

[Dena]

Hey, we not only walk the walk, we limp the limp.:headbang:

[kittrasis]

I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad reaction to Lyrica.  I hardly had any side effects the first time I tried it and none this time that I can see.  It actually helps me to sleep better.  I wish you well

[linda]

Michele, 25 mg is a low dose, but obviously it's enough to affect you as far as side effects- are you taking it w/in 6 hrs of any other meds it might be interacting with? We had so many replies to this thread, I can't remember if it was you or somebody else that was also taking vicodin. I imagine these 2 drugs would exacerbate the side effects of each other. If that is the case, when you start noticing the lyrica is helping with the pain, start slowly reducing the amt of vicodin while increasing the lyrica. I suspect that this process may take a few weeks or more for you. Also, you may not be able to get rid of the pain 100% on lyrica, but you can bring it down to a manageable level, or at least be able to lower the dose of vicodin. Safe pain management takes time, just like AP; it's not going to happen overnight. I apologize if you're not taking vicodin, just ignore  the stuff about that. Hang in there,

linda

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