# Lyrica + Stimulant



## hworth (Mar 31, 2013)

My pdoc agreed to allow me a trial of Lyrica for my G.A.D. and anxieties, seeing as how we have trialed many different meds without success and the fact that I showed him some studies of Lyrica's effectiveness for GAD.

My question is, what is a good dosing schedule for Lyrica when just starting the med for GAD? My pdoc wants me to start at 50mg a day for 3 days and then 50mg x2 a day for 3 frickin weeks.. then finally 50mg x3 a day spaced out. Seems like that's an awfully slow titration and insanely low dosage amount to end on for sampling Lyrica's "effectiveness" so I'd like to hear other's opinions on this.

Also, I've heard great things about stimulants like Adderall and Vyvanse being combined with Lyrica (supposedly Lyrica takes away the increased anxiety of these stims without affecting the prosocial aspects and increased mental clarity.. that would truly be a godsend!)... so if anyone has advice on dosages and/or timing of these meds when taken together I would LOVE to hear it!


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## barry1685 (May 25, 2011)

Well, I would say don't combine an upper and a downer. They counteract each other. 

If you stay on lyrica long term you may have withdrawals.


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## hworth (Mar 31, 2013)

barry1685 said:


> Well, I would say don't combine an upper and a downer. They counteract each other.
> 
> If you stay on lyrica long term you may have withdrawals.


The thing is I know a couple people have done it with great success, but no one is ever specific about their dosages unfortunately lol. So please, if anyone out there reading this thread knows don't be shy!


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## Djumie (Aug 6, 2013)

I used to take 300mg of lyrica bid, modafinil 200mg and 50mg vyvanse in the morning. Lyrica made me less anxious but not calm. I was energetic. But the brain fog and the weight gain didn't worth. Now I'm on zoloft and abilify with the stimulants, and much more productive and happy.


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## barry1685 (May 25, 2011)

Djumie said:


> I used to take 300mg of lyrica bid, modafinil 200mg and 50mg vyvanse in the morning. Lyrica made me less anxious but not calm. I was energetic. But the brain fog and the weight gain didn't worth. Now I'm on zoloft and abilify with the stimulants, and much more productive and happy.


I find it odd that a dr prescribed an antipsychotic with a stimulant. They counter act each other.


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## hworth (Mar 31, 2013)

Djumie said:


> I used to take 300mg of lyrica bid, modafinil 200mg and 50mg vyvanse in the morning. Lyrica made me less anxious but not calm. I was energetic. But the brain fog and the weight gain didn't worth. Now I'm on zoloft and abilify with the stimulants, and much more productive and happy.


Has the Zoloft or Abilify increased your anxiety levels at all? And have they helped with depression/anxiety from Vyvanse comedown, plus just regular depression and anxiety in general? and what dosages are you on?


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## VERBW (Jul 23, 2013)

I take 600mg of Lyrica per day, 150mg x 4. When I was in hospital, my schedule was:


09:00
13:00
18:00
22:00

It's not a drug associated with massive withdrawal symptoms, or at least that's what the marketing departments want you to believe.

I would think most people know this by now, but stimulants are not long term solutions, unless you take them very occasionally i.e. on a Friday night. In fact, that's a great idea. I need to have words with my psychiatrist.


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## Djumie (Aug 6, 2013)

hworth said:


> Has the Zoloft or Abilify increased your anxiety levels at all? And have they helped with depression/anxiety from Vyvanse comedown, plus just regular depression and anxiety in general? and what dosages are you on?


In fact, it is helping a lot with my OCD and lifted the comobirty depression. I became more sociable and less irritated. I don't have a vyvanse comedown anymore since I added the modafinil. I take 100mg of zoloft, 60mg of vyvanse and 100mg of modafinil in the morning, and 7.5mg abilify at 11pm.


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## Djumie (Aug 6, 2013)

barry1685 said:


> I find it odd that a dr prescribed an antipsychotic with a stimulant. They counter act each other.


Yes, that's the ***** of a treatment for ADD+OCD+depression. You have to counterbalance with the dosages so you can have a decent life.


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## hworth (Mar 31, 2013)

VERBW said:


> I take 600mg of Lyrica per day, 150mg x 4. When I was in hospital, my schedule was:
> 
> 
> 09:00
> ...


I realize there are issues with tolerance with long term stimulant use, but if i'm taking Lyrica alongside it shouldn't that take care of it somewhat since pregabalin acts as an NMDA antagonist..? Also the increased anxiety on comedown could be taken care of as well with a combined low dose antidepreasant like Lexapro, correct? Or even combined with Abilify or Buspar, etc.. seems like lyrica + vyvanse or adderall + ssri would be a great combo if i could get the dosages right. Did you titrate the lyrica slowly to your 600mg a day dosage or just go straight to that amount while in the hospital? (Hope you're feeling better by the way


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## hworth (Mar 31, 2013)

Okay, so I've decided to start taking 450mg of Lyrica daily (150mg x3) as it seems that is the ideal dose for Generalized Anxiety Disorder:

"Overall, maximal reduction in anxiety symptoms occurred at a dose of about 450mg/day, with a small reduction in treatment effect beyond this dose." ~ (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/804935)

Also, interestingly enough, there was no noted increase in any depressive symptoms on volunteers taking Lyrica who had either a history of Major depression or dysthemia! I was worried Lyrica might worsen my depression, but it seems like it might be the opposite because at doses of over 200mg/day (but not 150mg/day.. probably to low a dose) there was a noted improvement in depressive symptoms.

And it says in numerous studies that it took about 1 week for the volunteers to start reporting greatly improved anxiety scores, so I guess it's necessary to stay with Pregabalin a 'while' before seeing real results, contrary to what I initially thought would be instantaneous relief of symptoms.

Just thought this information would be good to share in case anyone else was curious about Lyrica/Pregabalin and wanted information on ideal dosages for treatment of G.A.D. as I was; I appreciate everyone's replies to this thread, and here are links to a few great studies done on Lyrica for this purpose:

_*The treatment of generalized anxiety disorder with pregabalin, an atypical anxiolytic*_ - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2654629

*Role of pregabalin in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder* - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2654626


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## ladysmurf (Jan 3, 2012)

I know this is old but it can happen. I used to take Neurontin (gabapentin) along with a stimulant because it made me sleepy...so I'm sure since Lyrica is in the same class a doctor would prescribe a stimulant.


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