Health Organization for Pudendal Education

I started on lyrica (450 mgs/day) maybe 4 years or so ago. I noticed that early on I had a few (maybe 2-3) occasions where I felt a weird uncontrollable feeling in my mouth or jaw. Then, it never happened again.

However, over the last few days, I noticed pain in my face (along with a splitting headache). I was able to get to bed okay, but was finally woken up around 3:00 am in the morning with this terrible face/mouth pain. I took a vicodin (which I rarely take, it wasn't prescribed for PN for me) and 2 aleve) and after a while (maybe an hour) I fell back to sleep and haven't had the pain again. I haven't taken any more lyrica either. I don't know if the lyrica had anything to do with it, but it was a scary feeling. I have some sort of old gabapentin that was "hanging around" and I'm going to take that for a while.

So, to make a long story short(er), has anyone ever experienced this type of side effect with lyrica?

Thank for any responses.

Greg

Greg,
Interesting....Since January I have had ocassional R side face pain (strong dull ache that lasts only for a few seconds) - focused in the upper right quad of face. The frequency has gone down from a few times per day, to only a couple of times per week. Think mine is related to relatively minor right shoulder/cervical issue that am undergoing PT for...
Thanks for sharing,
RR

Greg, RJR is right in that it is probably from cervical or shoulder. Another possibility is you have started to grind your teeth at night which will result in TMJ. A dentist should be able to tell you if you are grinding at night if you aren't aware of it just by looking at your teeth. Do you notice if you tense or clench your jaw at all when you are awake like when you are concentrating? If it is TMJ there are some very good conservative treatments that will help alot.

nyt,

I most definitely am grinding my teeth at night. I'm doing it unintentionally, then I remind myself to stop and before I know it, I'm doing it again. I was actually thinking about getting one of those mouth pieces that football players use when playing.

I wonder why I'd be grinding my teeth? Would it be in response to my PN pain?

Thanks for y'all's help.

Hey, Bin Laden is dead!

Hey Greg,
My dentist tells me that teeth grinding is pretty common. Dentists can make you a custom guard to wear when sleeping. You only need to cover the bottom teeth. Any stress like chronic pain will make you grind your teeth.

Don

Greg, as Don said chronic pain is a culprit in individuals grinding their teeth. I didn't start grinding my teeth until all this pelvic pain stuff started. There is mixed information out there about mouth guards. I highly recommend you spend the money and have one custom fit. There are two types of a guards: one soft and one hard. Usually the dentist will start with a soft guard because it is more comfortable to wear but if someone chews through the guard within a short period of time then they switch to a hard guard. I have a soft mouth guard that cost just under $150.00. The concern with the football type guard is that in the long term it may cause your teeth to shift some because it is worn for such a long periods of time sleeping. The guard will protect your teeth from loss of enamel from grinding and it will help you stop grinding at night. If I forget to wear my mouth guard I always wake up with jaw and ear aches. There is a great book that you might find helpful for very simple suggestions to help reduce or eliminate TMJ called "The TMJ Healing Plan: Ten Steps to Relieving Headaches, Neck Pain and Jaw Disorders" by Cynthia Peterson." It is just under $12.00 on Amazon and well worth the money. I finally went to an ENT specialist and he does trigger point injections into the masseter muscle about every 6 weeks. It has been incredibly helpful and I rarely get earaches anymore. I don't have dental insurance and I wish I seen ENT before I purchased a mouth guard as I think my insurance company would have paid for the mouth guard if ENT made it. You might want to check into what your insurance might pay for. Good luck!

Yeah, I was kind of joking about the football mouthpiece. That's just the first thing that came to mind. Sometimes I've just stick a small part of the bedsheet in my mouth.

I also don't have dental, so I'll try the ENT idea.

Thanks you two.

Greg

My experiences with Lyrica were being totally spaced out, which I never liked. Others have mentioned the hunger cravings etc. Chronic pain has always been linked ot teeth grinding.....I have a night brace which I wear to prevent excess grinding, which was administered by my normal dentist a few years ago.
I only took Lyrica for aobut a month but didnt like the spaced out feeling it gave me...I know of many other people who have taken it and within days the personality changes were very apparent and they have since ceased taking it.

My experiences with Lyrica were being totally spaced out, which I never liked. Others have mentioned the hunger cravings etc. Chronic pain has always been linked ot teeth grinding.....I have a night brace which I wear to prevent excess grinding, which was administered by my normal dentist a few years ago.
I only took Lyrica for aobut a month but didnt like the spaced out feeling it gave me...I know of many other people who have taken it and within days the personality changes were very apparent and they have since ceased taking it.

I have been taking Lyrica now for almost 4 years, but my dose has been very low (25mg) once per day for the past 6 months. The reason I cut out my morning dose is because I lost sight in my left eye for 2 days and I've been having really bad dizziness and nausea on and off. I was referred to an Opthalmoslogist who checked my eyes and found everything to be ok. He thought it could be a side effect of Lyrica but wasn't sure. He said to come back immediately if I lose sight in either of my eyes again.

My GP wasn't happy with this opinion and does not want me to wait for a second episode of sight loss, so she wants me to see a Neurosurgeon who will order an MRI to check if I have a circulation problem going on in the brain. My appointment is not until 23rd May so I won't know if the dizziness and nausea is related to long term use of Lyrica or not. I'll have to wait and see. I tried taking myself off Lyrica altogether but it didn't work out very well. My pain flared pretty badly after 4 days and I couldn't sleep so I started taking my 25mg at night again.

Catherine