Hi everyone any advice on Pregabalin ? I have pain in left hand side of my face and teeth (my weak side 
) my gp has prescribed this for me but I stupidly googled about it and saw all the possible side effects Feeling nervous to take it now but pain is getting me down he’s only given low dose of 25mg . I’m 20 months post stroke and only had this pain a couple of months .anyone else have pain in gums and teeth ? Best wishes to your all hope ur doing ok 
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@christine2 i was on that drug, but stopped it as it made me have seizures caused by the lack of sleep.
good luck in your recovery
regards Chris
Sorry to hear you’re having pain. I had similar pain and went to my dentist turned out to be trigeminal neuralgia. It was caused due to nerve damage while having an angiogram after a heart attack. I got acupuncture for it and it helped. Maybe that’s an option. Hope you get pain relief for it soon x
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Thank you all for your replies . I have a dentist appointment end of may earliest I cud get ugh which will hopefully rule out dental problems . Need to give Pregabalin a chance and see if it helps . Best wishes
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Hi Christine, I’m 7 months post bleed centred on right thalamus extending into mid-brain so have had no true sensations on my entire left side for most of the time (so no touch/balance/walking etc.) but have had pain since about week 2 including severe pain in face/teeth and gums (guess that is why CPSP used to be called thalamic pain 
) . Went through the usual gapapentin ramp up regime which did very little even at the top end of dosing. After the ramp down of gabapentin I swapped over to pregabalin on Christmas eve (starting at 75mg twice a day). Within a week or two I would say that the effect was comparable to top dose of gabapentin so the doc gradually increased thr dose to the max 600mg daily which I’ve been on for about 10 weeks. Whilst there is some pain still there I am now able to sleep better and even eat soft foods on the left hand side of my mouth. As far as side effects I’m glad to say that I’ve had none that I’ve noticed. I am aware that the lessening of the pain over time could have simply been some recovery however about 4 weeks ago I forgot to take my 300 mg morning dose and was climbing the walls by the time for my evening dose (it was when I went to get the evening dose that I realised that I had missed the morning one) so I am pretty sure that it is the Pregabalin that is controlling the pain for me. Drugs seem to be such a hit and miss affair for stroke pain but hopefully pregabalin also works for you. Another thing that has helped is using toothpaste for sensitive teeth (i’m using sensodyne rapid) which is a tip that i took from anothe post on here.
Take care
Rich C.
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Thank you, Rich, for your thoughts. I’ve only taken Pregabalin for the last three days, so I will give it a chance. It’s good to hear it worked for you. Yes, I do use sensitive toothpaste. It’s a bit strange, but it seems to get worse when I think about the pain.
Best wishes to you and you Mahoney
Hi @christine2 I’m 18 months post stroke on the left side, I don’t have any teeth or gum pain, just a numb feeling on the left of my face like I’ve been to the dentist, I tried gabapentin but it didn’t work for me then I started pregabalin, 75mg I think was the starting dose, timings and dosage took a little while to figure out and slowly increased until I was on 200mg three times a day. It really helps the numbness, if I’m late taking my tablet I can feel my face is weird again. I was extremely tired when I first started them but that soon went other than that just a dry mouth now and again. Hope you recover well.
@Mahoney many thanks for the welcome, I have been lurking on the forum for a few months and really appreciate how friendly and supportive everyone is.
@christine2 Pain increasing when you think about it is the same for me, so if you’re strange then so am I 
. My OT recommended that I try some guided pain meditation which, to be honest, I initially resisted as I had always perceived mediation as a bit “new age hippie” for me (I’m an engineer by training/birth so I’m very logical rather than spiritual/emotional) however after a bit of looking around on youtube and trying out various offerings I found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdr-jK4XrrM which I use when the pain is ramping up. I liked this one as it leans toward exploring/accepting the pain rather than trying to block it out. Thought that it might help.
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Thanku Sharon for ur reply . I can cope with learning to walk agsin and trying to get my left arm moving it’s the niggly things that get me down . Pain in my face and often getting hiccups is another niggle . Take care
Thanku RIch I will have a listen to that link . I tried meditation in rehab but struggled to keep my eyes shut haha . Opened them and other people were staring at me with theirs wide open too and we just laughed.