New addition meds - pregabalin or gabapentin

About stroke Medication and treatments
27

Many thanks for your reply Colin…taken 3 weeks for my gp practice to authorise me starting 75mg of pregabalin and they atill havent sorted the prescription atcthe pharmacy.
My physio and consultant are telling me it will help with myscle tightness wtc so i m hopeful they are right on this.

Appreciate you taking the time to reply…
Keep smiling

Andy

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28

Baclofen is often prescribed for stiffness.
I think neuropathic pain covers a multitude of things such as burning, pins n needles, numbness, heightened sensation.

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29

Hi Lorraine, were you on gabapentin and then added amitriptyline on top ?
I am in more sharp pain now I am on just amitriptyline than when I was on pregablin before. Often in the hamstring or back of the knee and my walking isnt as good of late.
Did you have any breathing issues at any point ? I think mine are down to the muscles/tendons from my shoulder across my upper chest perhaps not moving as they should and restricting things a bit.

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31

Fungers crossed for you Andy. Keep us posted on your progression.

32

Cheers Colin - i will buddy

Hope you are doing ok.

You ever join the zoom calls?

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Day 1 of 75mg Pregabalin today in addition to usual meds…

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Thanks @Loshy

How are you doing today? Grandkids behaving for you i hope?

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Thats perfect…how old are they and boys or girls?

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They sound fab and full of beans

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I dont know anything about the zoom calls?

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Would it be something you’d be up for?

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Hi Andy yes i would happlily join a zoom

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43

Hi Colin

If you join the ZOG group on the forum, that’s where @Bobbi posts details of daytime and access codes.
I do the monday 2pm slots as most convenient for me… at least 4 or 5 tend to go for that one.

Hope that helps and maybe see you next week

Cheers
Andy

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44

I thought it was interesting in the reviews for pregablin and gabapentin that a placebo has quite a high success rate in the reviews that have taken place.

  • it might be that the people taking place in the trials give the answer they think the reviewer wants to hear
  • or possibly if you are told the medicine will help, that your brain will think that.
    May be for all of us, we need to think the medicine will help each time we take it and remind ourselves of that if we are in pain. Can we convince ourselves it’s working ?

This is after all a brain thing rather than any physical injury.

On a slightly connected issue, has anyone tried hypnosis?

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Placebos on healing have always been around, kidding your brsin i guess - cant comment on ow they perform against actual drugs. Im a great believer in medicine and professional advice… i have a number of friends who are medical professionals they are gifted skilled experienced people who pride themselves on their abilities to care and make a positive difference.

Not tried hypnosis but im open to trying something that may help with recovery from stroke.

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I have bought a cheap book, the pain free mindset by a NHS doctor.
In addition to placebo there is a nocebo effect. The more you are told about possible side effects, the more likely you are to experience them.
Does this suggest, the more you are told about benefits, the more likely they will be achieved as well ?

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The book also indicates the nnt score for various medications. This is the number of people who need to take the medicine for one person to achieve a 50% reduction in pain.
Both gabapentin and pregablin have score of one person in 7ish. So
Amitriptyline is one in 3.6 by comparison.

Low doses of multiple medications seem to be more beneficial than higher dose of a single medication.

Pleased I got this book

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