Weight gain with Lyrica

Medication 💊 Anticonvulsants
1

How prevalant is weight gain on Lyrica? I exist on a very strict diet of about 900 cals since I am so sedentary and this keeps my weight regular. I’m on 400 mgs of lyrica and notice that weight is rapidly going on. How can it create weight gain when I am on such a careful diet.

my side effects so far are;

sleepiness
insomnia ( irony)
dry mouth
raging appetite that I ignore
forgetfulness
confusion
inability to concentrate on high order thinking
imbalance
walking like a drunk
and now weight gain

net result the only way it is helping is by me upping the dosage to keep me soporific and unable to express myself.

2

Hi Fiona
Weight gain on Lyrica is legendary… one of the most common side effects in addition to many of the ones you listed. I took it years ago and could have slept through World War 3… I got headaches, hair loss, gained 8 pounds in 2 weeks, humongous appetite, lethargy… etc etc etc. Horrible drug. Took it for what I thought was Fibro pain (it was actually active migraine… surprise, surprise!). I was on the lowest dose made. Hope you do better on that med than I did.
Gail

3

Sorry Fiona,
see this is the shittiest things hey?
We spend time trying these new meds altering our brain chemistry going thru hell some times , To find at the end of it all , we’ve turned into the " Michelin man" in the proccess… :shock:
I’ve lived my life as a smalll person , only to find I’m still " rocken" but now I jiggle too.
Sad! ’
I wont be trying lyrica if it packs on the pounds that’s for sure! …damn it bum shit bum! had a script sitting in my drawer, waiting waiting… :mrgreen:
I’m just now starting to lose some after a year on effexor, where I became a couch potato eating factory Jabba the Hutt.

jen

4

Hi Fiona

Sorry to hear you’re having a rough time with this drug. Did the weight gain suddenly increase with the 400mg or has it slowly crept up?

I’m now on 250mg having started on 150mg. So far I’ve had no obvious side effects other than dry mouth in the morning. I was paranoid about weight gain but I think Dr S’s Migraine diet is keeping it off as I can’t bloody eat anything fattening: cheese, cream, cakes, butter, biscuits (most see to have butter or whey powder in them), chocolate, even breakfast cereals and many breads have ‘barley malt’ in them which apparently can mean MSG.

However, I haven’t noticed an increase in appetite either. I too am very sedentary since this latest MAV bout started.

The Lyrica seemed to be working for me until this last week, when the dizzies broke through after two weeks of bliss. But I’m hoping it’s down to my period starting.

I have a friend who’s a Consultant Oncologist who uses Lyrica with her patients for their cancer pain. She thinks it’s marvellous . She also said it has a very low side effect profile. She also said if you get few side effects on a low dose you’re likely to tolerate an increase well. In fact all the doctors and pharmacists I’ve spoken to have said there’s a very low side effect rate.

I guess this drug seems to treat everyone differently. Jenny - I think it’s worth a try. Nothing ventured etc.

Fiona - perhaps it’s water retention rather than real weight gain? If you’re restricting yourself to 900 cals a day surely the body can’t create fat on that! No wonder you feel lethargic on such a low calorie intake.

Btw for the record I’m not one of those annoying people who can eat what they want and never put on weight!

5

Thanks all. I’m watching my weight like a hawk now. Dizzy, I’m 50 and so sedentary I find that 900 ish cals keeps my weight even. I don’t eat carbs in the evening. I don’t feel hungry except the raging hunger on this drug. My dizzies broke through at 150. Did DR S suggest ramping up the dosage or are you like me , doing it anyway?

6

The weight gain is recent and rapid. Dizzy did he give you the diet sheet? mine was much less severe avoiding caffeine, cheese, citrus and chinese food. I was tried Dr Bucholst’s diet but Dr S said ‘it was too draconian’.

7

Hi Fiona

To answer your questions, no Dr S didn’t suggest increasing the dose but I haven’t had my second appointment yet. That’s no till May 18th. My GP suggested the increase.

The diet sheet I had is actually quite confusing and somewhat ambiguous with I guess a few typo’s.

For example it says (of the 6 C’s):

Caffeine - therefore decaffeinated coffee, tea, coke - wtf? He said I could drink 2 cups decaff coffee a day. This must be a typo.

I’m supposed to avoid the 6 C’s. But actually when you read it it’s FAR more than that.

CHEESE - and other dairy products including yogurt, fresh cream, sour cream, buttermilk. Well I asked him about this. I said ‘you mean ALL dairy, including milk and butter?’ and he said ‘yes’. So I have zero milk products whatsoever. He also said avoid eggs, even though it’s on the ‘also’ bit at the bottom.

CAFFEINE - see above

CHINESE FOOD - by this he means MSG. And MSG can go by other names as it says in the Bucholz book. So I’m avoiding all that stuff too. Interestingly not all chinese food has MSG in it. However, I’ve noticed lots of non-dairy spreads have things like ‘soya lecithin’ in them which can metabolise to MSG apparently…

CITRUS - well that’s staight forward, except if you look at them closely quite a few foods have citric acid in them.

CHIANTI - equals all red wine

So maybe I’m being a bit over the top but I don’t see the point of this diet unless it’s followed religiously (just my humble opinion).

I guess a lot hangs on how paranoid you are about MSG. This can be disguised as ‘malted barley’ which is in most bread and breakfast cereals (except Crank’s bread and shredded wheat (YUM! :frowning:

And why on earth aren’t nuts on his list, those tyramine-rich nasties which surely are on a par with bananas (which are on the list)??? Makes no sense to me.

I now feel like eating a whole packet of chocolate hobnobs :lol:

Dizzy Izzy

8

Fiona - unfortunatley I’m with you on this one! Almost 3 stone extra on my body since I started taking Lyrica in December. I’m not eating as few calories as you, but compared to what I used to eat my intake has reduced drastically. I’m still not at a stage where I can exercise regularly - its very sporadic to put it mildly. I’m hoping that when I can exercise ‘properly’ again then it will come off - if not then I’ll be wearing big pants for life :lol:

9

Hi Tracey, I’m amazed that weight can go on just because of a tablet. What on earth does it do to our metabolism. Could you manage a walk?

Dizzy, he seems to have adjusted that sheet , mine didn’t include eggs, and he said I could add a small amount of milk to decaf tea etc. Have you tried soya milk it’s not too bad.

10

lyrica didn’t make me gain any weight but I’ve heard that people have gained, like my Mom.
what she had to do and it helped her in a great way was she ate very healthy, oven cooked salmon, oven cooked chicken, lots of vegetables, no bread, no rice and she walked and jogged on the tread mill for about 25 to 30 every day, she maintained a good healthy weight. If you could do the same I’m sure you will be able to make it with lyrica