Pregabalin and Alcohol
Pregabalin and Alcohol
Pregabalin is an anti-epileptic and anticonvulsant drug. It works to control seizures by slowing down impulses in the brain. Also, Pregabalin affects chemicals in the brain that send pain signals across the nerves.
Pregabalin is used in the treatment of fibromyalgia, diabetic neuropathy, herpes zoster, or spinal cord injury.
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Pregabalin and Alcohol:
There are two main questions to ask about while studying these two words Pregabalin and alcohol:
First: Can you drink alcohol while using Pregabalin?
Second: Does Pregabalin has a role in the treatment of alcohol dependence, alcohol withdrawal, or alcoholism?
1- Can you drink alcohol while using Pregabalin?
Drug Interaction Classification:
There are four classifications which are only a guideline for the determination of how far the risk of drug interaction with other factors:
- Major: the risk of interaction is bigger than the benefit, so, you should avoid combinations.
- Moderate: it is better to avoid combinations or it may be used only under specific circumstances.
- Minor: minimal clinically significant.
- Unknown: no available information about the interaction.
According to the previous classification, we can say that Pregabalin and Alcohol interaction is considered as a moderately clinically significant drug interaction.
So, patients are recommended to avoid alcohol generally while using Pregabalin or they may limit consumption of alcohol.
Why alcohol should be avoided or limited while using Pregabalin:
At the same time that Pregabalin acts on the central nervous system to manage pain or control seizures and convulsions by affecting nerves or affecting the release of other chemical substances in the brain, Alcohol also may potentiate some of the pharmacological effects of CNS active agents; using them simultaneously may lead to:
- excessive central nervous system depression
- excessive sleepiness or even coma
- confusion of thinking, judgment, or other psychomotor skills
- Increased drowsiness and dizziness
- Concentration issues
- It may depress the central nervous system causing breath issues leading to a potentially life-threatening condition
- Reduction of alertness
- Swelling of throat, lips, or tongue
- Itching
- Hives
How to cope with the side effects of Pregabalin?
You can avoid some factors while using Pregabalin to minimize the possible side effects that would happen:
- Headache: drink plenty of fluids, take a rest, don’t drink too much alcohol, you may ask your health provider for a suitable analgesic.
- Mood alteration: talk to your health provider as you may need to switch to a different medicine
- Feeling sick: take Pregabalin with or after a meal or snacks
- Blurred vision: during that avoid driving or using sharp or heavy tools
- Weight gain: Pregabalin increases the feeling of hunger so try to eat well healthy food, avoid too many snacks especially with meals, don’t take food with high calories. Between meals, you can eat fruits when you feel hungry. Regular sports will also help to keep your weight stable.
- For men, erection problems may occur: speak to your health care provider as he may recommend a different medicine
- Memory problems: speak to your health care provider as he may recommend a different medicine
- Swollen hands, arms, legs, or feet: avoid standing for a long time, try to sit with your feet up on a chair or bed, exercise may be useful for swollen arms.
- Feeling tired or sleepy: speak to your health care provider as he may recommend reducing the Pregabalin dose or increase it more slowly or switch to a different medicine.
2- Does Pregabalin has a role in the treatment of alcohol dependence?
Alcohol Dependence:
Alcohol dependence represents a severe pathological disorder in which patients are subjected to a high risk of morbidity or mortality. Although limited pharmacological agents are there to treat this disorder, studies are continued promising for new therapies.
- Pregabalin’s clinical use in alcoholic patients shows promise as a good treatment for the management of alcohol relapse.
- During the study made for detoxified alcohol-dependent patients receiving Pregabalin, 50%of patients remained completely alcohol-free, a significant improvement of withdrawal symptoms and alcohol craving was noticed.
- A greater beneficial effect was found in patients with comorbid conditions such as alcoholism and anxiety disorders.
- Pregabalin use appears to be safe and well-tolerated.
- Since seizures are a potential serious manifestation of alcohol withdrawal, Pregabalin’s anticonvulsant effect may be beneficial in this case.
Cautions for using Pregabalin with other medicines:
- Pregabalin can be safely used with other medicines, however, you should tell your doctor before starting Pregabalin if you take certain medicines such as strong pain killers like morphine or other medicines that make you feel dizzy or sleepy.
- There is no evidence for any problems resulting from mixing Pregabalin with supplements, vitamins, or herbal remedies.
Does Pregabalin affect fertility?
There is no evidence that Pregabalin reduces fertility in either men or women. However, if you are trying to get pregnant talk to your doctor before taking Pregabalin.
Does Pregabalin affect contraception?
Any type of contraception (including contraceptive pills and emergency contraception) is safe while using Pregabalin, it doesn’t stop contraception work.
Is Pregabalin a pain killer
Is Pregabalin a pain killer?
Pregabalin is used to treat some kinds of pain that are persisting and don’t easily go away.
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It is especially used for neuropathic pain that can occur to patients suffering from diabetes (pain that happens if the nervous system is damaged or diseased).
30% of neuropathic pain happens because of diabetes, but it can also happen due to drinking alcohol and the infection with herpes zoster.
But Pregabalin can also overcome these conditions; it can treat the pain happening after the infection with herpes zoster.
It is also the first approved therapy for fibromyalgia (a disorder characterized by pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory problems, and mood changes).
Pregabalin is used in managing pain coming after a spinal cord injury.
It is also used off-label in chronic pain conditions.
So, Is Pregabalin a pain killer?
Well, after all these indications, we have to say yes, Pregabalin is a very good pain killer.
How does Pregabalin manage the pain?
It controls the chemicals that cause the brain to send pain signals through the nervous system.
It reduces them resulting in reducing the pain.
Dosage and administration:
Is Pregabalin a pain killer?
Well, Pregabalin is available in many dosage forms, capsules, extended-release tablets, and oral solution.
The doses should be taken exactly as the doctor said.
If you are taking the oral solution, take it with a special measuring device (dosing syringe) or with a medical spoon.
Don’t take it with a household spoon, to make sure you are taking the correct dose.
If you are taking the extended-release tablets, take them at the same time every day.
Swallow the whole tablet without crushing, chewing, or breaking the tablet.
The dose is determined according to the severity of the medical condition, age, and weight of the patient.
Contact your doctor if you are not improving, or if the symptoms are getting worse.
If you missed a dose, take it as soon as possible, but if it is the time for the next dose, skip it and don’t double the dose.
What if you overdosed?
Go to the nearest hospital or call an ambulance immediately to prevent suffering from any serious side effects.
Is Pregabalin a pain killer?
Yes, but before using it, make sure to understand the following precautions.
Warnings:
- Pregabalin can cause an allergic reaction which may be severe, if you suffered from any hives, breathing problems, swelling in the face or lips, or even blisters on your skin, ask for emergent medical help.
- Some patients using Pregabalin may experience suicidal thoughts or behaviors; you have to tell your doctor immediately and stay alert to these changes in your mood.
- Notice any weight gain or swelling of limbs especially if you are having diabetes or heart problems.
- Pregabalin is not a drug to be stopped suddenly, the dose should be decreased gradually or else you will suffer from withdrawal symptoms.
Withdrawal symptoms:
- Seizures
- Dizziness
- Diarrhea
- Nausea
- Headache
- Vomiting
- Agitation
- Insomnia (sleeping problem)
- Tingling
- Nightmares
Is Pregabalin a pain killer?
Before taking this drug, tell your doctor about the following conditions:
- Lung diseases
- Mood disorders
- Depression or suicidal thoughts
- Heart problems
- Bleeding disorders especially congestive heart failure (a chronic condition that affects how the heart pump blood)
- Kidney diseases
- Diabetes unless it is used because of the neuropathic pain caused by diabetes
- Any sort of addiction (alcohol or drug)
- Angioedema (swelling in the lower layer of skin and tissue, it may be in the face, tongue, larynx, or other parts of the body), happens as a result of allergic reactions
Is Pregabalin a pain killer?
Yes, but take care of its side effects.
Side effects that occur in more than 10% of patients:
- Dizziness
- Somnolence
- Peripheral edema (swelling in the limbs)
- Ataxia (lack of control of the muscles)
- Fatigue
- Xerostomia (reduced saliva causing dry mouth)
- Weight gain
- Tremors
- Blurred vision
- Diplopia (Double vision)
Side effects that occur in less than 10 % of patients:
- Vertigo (Weird feeling of moving objects while they are not)
- Headache
- Constipation
- Nausea
- Limbs swelling
- Amnesia (memory problems)
- Confusion
This is not a full list of side effects; always talk to your doctor about the unusual effects that you are experiencing.
Interactions:
Is Pregabalin a pain killer?
Yes, but take care of the drug and food interactions before taking it.
Serious drug interactions use an alternative:
- benazepril
- captopril
- enalapril
- everolimus
- fosinopril
- imidapril
- lisinopril
- metoclopramide intranasal
- moexipril
- perindopril
- quinapril
- ramipril
- sirolimus
- temsirolimus
- trandolapril
There are lists of drugs that cause unwantable interactions, and need close monitoring, discuss all the drugs you are taken before taking any other drug.
Is Pregabalin a pain killer?
Yes, a very effective, potent, with very few side effects.
It also has a rapid onset and a long duration of action.
If you are suffering from any kind of pain, make sure to talk to your doctor about Pregabalin.
How long does Pregabalin take to work
How long does Pregabalin take to work?
Before we talk about the time interval required for the Patient to feel better by using Pregabalin, how long does Pregabalin take to work, and to what extent Pregabalin is the drug of the choice, it’s important to know that the effect of Pregabalin differs from one patient to another, from case to another, and from dose to dose?
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Pregabalin treating different conditions:
- In fact, the way Pregabalin work for pain management, for example, is that it blocks the effect of damaged nerves responsible for sending false messages to the brain causing pain. Pregabalin changes the way these nerves work or it may calm overactive nerves which means it is a good helper with other analgesics to reduce pain by a different mechanism and shorter time to feel better.
- In patients with neuropathic pain (diabetic neuropathy or postherpetic neuralgia) time to onset of pregabalin analgesic effect under fixed-dose recorded a marked rapid onset of action.
- When you hear about the patients’ (suffering from anxiety disorders) reviews about this medicine, you find out that about 83 % of them were satisfied by its positive rapid action helping them cool down quickly. That is due to its capability to prevent the release of chemicals in the brain that makes you feel anxious.
The righter way of use, the better it works:
To get the best benefit and the fastest progress leading to a shorter time for Pregabalin to work, use Pregabalin in the right way:
- It is recommended to take Pregabalin exactly as the doctor prescribed without changing any of the instructions he said.
- Take Pregabalin at the same time every day.
- Take Pregabalin with or without food but it is preferred to take the evening dose after a good meal.
- Avoid missing pregabalin dose (if so take it once you remember that, however, avoid taking two doses at the same time).
- Avoid stopping it suddenly as it may lead to worsening the condition.
- Of course, do not stop it without talking to your medical health provider.
Back to the main question:
How long does Pregabalin take to work?
After following the previous instructions and using Pregabalin in the right way, considering the different conditions and doses for different patients:
- Some patients may experience pain decrease in the first week of treatment or even in the first few days.
- Other patients may start to feel better in the second week.
- For others, it may take a longer time according to the severity of the case, the dose of Pregabalin, and other factors. if so, you may ask your doctor for help by adjusting the dose or give you other recommendations according to the condition.
Pregabalin could be taken for a long period if it helps, you may need to gradually decrease the dose after a while to check if the pain still exists or you became much better now, but don’t stop it suddenly, you should refer to your doctor first.
The relation between Pregabalin Rapid Absorption and how long does Pregabalin take to work:
Pregabalin is rapidly absorbed after oral administration. In comparison to Gabapentin’s bioavailability (from 30 – 60%), the oral bioavailability of Pregabalin is over 90% whatever the dose received. Both Gabapentinoids (Pregabalin & Gabapentin) are absorbed across the gastrointestinal tract. The rate of Pregabalin absorption is threefold higher than that of Gabapentin, that’s why Pregabalin achieves faster peak blood concentration compared with Gabapentin
How long does Pregabalin stay in your body?
Depending on various personal factors, it stays about 33 hours higher or lower according to the patient’s age, food, and other medications.
Factors affecting how long it stays in your body:
- Age
- Dosage
- Kidney function
- Hydration
- Body mass
- PH of urine
- Duration of taking the medication
Pregabalin oral clearance is likely to decrease with increasing age, therefore, for older patients dose reduction should be considered.
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How long does Pregabalin stay in Blood, Urine, and Hair?
- In blood, it stays about 2 days after your last dose.
- In urine, it stays a litter bit longer than in blood (few days depending on the dosage).
- In hair, it stays much longer than in blood and urine, may be up to 3 months.
Too Much Pregabalin:
If you think you have taken too much of Pregabalin or you experience one or more of the following symptoms, call your health care provider at once:
- Drowsiness
- Dizziness
- Headache
- Nervousness
- Lack of control of the body movements
- Tremors
- Amnesia
Clinical Monitoring:
– To make sure that you stay safe while taking Pregabalin your doctor may ask you to do certain blood tests to check if you need to take a lower dose according to how well your kidneys are working.
– Changes in mood or behavior should be monitored as this drug may cause behavioral problems.
Pregabalin for depression
Pregabalin for depression
Depression is a mood disorder that causes the person to be sad and have lost interest in life and anything.
It affects how the patient’s feelings, behaviors, and thinkings.
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It can be severe that may lead the patient to feel that life doesn’t worth to be lived.
Depression is usually associated with signs and symptoms of anxiety.
So, before talking about Pregabalin for depression, let’s understand first the relation between depression and anxiety.
The U.S (United States) National Comorbidity Study declared that 58% of patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder we also diagnosed with comorbid anxiety disorder.
As reported by Zinbarg et al., in 1994. Patients suffering from depression can show strong signs of agitation and anxiety.
Those patients suffering from anxiety and major depression are identified to have anxious depression.
These kinds of depressed patients meet the diagnosis of a comorbid anxiety disorder combined with axis II clusters (dramatic, very emotional, or surprising thinking or behavior).
So when these patients start the treatment,
the doctor should take into consideration treating the anxiety symptoms as well as treating the depression.
It is highly important to take care of the anxiety symptoms to prevent the illness to be converted to a chronic one.
Patients with depression and comorbid anxiety symptoms suffer from severe depression and suicidal thoughts with a higher risk of performing suicide.
Pregabalin could become an excellent added drug to the antidepressant in patients suffering from depression associated with anxiety and agitation, which may also replace benzodiazepines during the first period of treatment as it outweighs them in the onset of action, which is a very big benefit for the patients.
Few studies had already shown the benefits of adding Pregabalin to the therapy regimen of patients suffering from depression not completely responding to antidepressant medications, or in elder patients suffering from a comorbid generalized anxiety disorder.
Pregabalin has already shown a very good anti-anxiety effect in patients with generalized anxiety disorder.
It is also very effective in the prevention of relapse of patients suffering from a generalized anxiety disorder.
Pregabalin for depression is a well-tolerated drug with fewer side effects and less risk for dependence.
Although new data have shown susceptibility of abuse when using Pregabalin for depression, it possesses comparable effectiveness with benzodiazepines, with no major interactions.
In treating depression and anxiety, the often-used were a combination of antidepressant drugs, which showed 2-4 weeks onset of action, which may cause complete disturbance for the patient and may cause him to stop the therapy.
Pregabalin for depression has proved to work from the first week by reducing the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Anxiety symptoms were measured by the HAMA scale (Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale), and the depressive symptoms were measured by the HAMD (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale), and those scales were found to decrease starting the treatment and throughout the therapy period.
So, what is Pregabalin?
Pregabalin for depression is an anti-epileptic drug.
It slows down the impulses send by the brain to cause seizures, and also affects the chemicals that send signs of pain across the nervous system.
Uses and indications:
Pregabalin is not just used for depression, it has many other uses.
- Peripheral neuropathic pain associated with diabetes
- Neuralgia happening after the infection with the herpes zoster virus
- The pain caused by fibromyalgia, the first drug approved for this case
- Partial-onset seizures
- Neuropathic pain happening after spinal cord injury
- used off-label in generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, insomnia (sleeping disorder), social disorders, and conditions of chronic pain
N.B. Neuropathic pain is pain happening from what is supposed to not be painful due to damage or disease affecting the nervous system.
Dosing and administration:
Pregabalin for depression is available in many dosage forms but all of them are orally taken forms, no injectable or rectal ones.
The dose should be taken exactly as prescribed by the doctor.
The dose depends on the age and weight of the patient and also on the medical condition.
Interactions:
As we clarified before, there are no contraindicated drugs to be concomitantly used with Pregabalin for depression, but there are drugs that may cause serious interactions that the patient should use an alternative drug in this case.
- benazepril
- captopril
- enalapril
- everolimus
- fosinopril
- imidapril
- lisinopril
- metoclopramide intranasal
- moexipril
- perindopril
- quinapril
- ramipril
- sirolimus
- temsirolimus
- trandolapril
Pregabalin should not be also used while consuming alcohol, as alcohol can increase the side effects of the nervous system, dizziness, drowsiness, and concentration problems.
Pregnancy and lactation:
Pregabalin for depression should only be given to pregnant women when there are no other alternatives, and when the benefits outweigh the risks.
Breastfeeding while on drug therapy with Pregabalin, tumorigenicity could happen (susceptibility for growing tumors either benign or malignant).
So breastfeeding is not recommended while using Pregabalin for depression.
This is not a full list of information about Pregabalin for depression; always talk to your doctor about the full information about any drug before taking it.
Does Pregabalin cause weight gain?
Does Pregabalin cause weight gain?
If you are asking “does pregabalin cause weight gain?”. The answer is yes.
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There are a lot of drugs that induce weight gain, weight gain is a very serious and annoying side effect. One of these drugs is pregabalin.
Weight gain can lead to stopping the therapy and exacerbating a lot of medical conditions, weight gain is a problem that can lead to glycemic control and increasing blood pressure or worsening lipid profile.
Patients can control weight gain by adhering to a suitable diet and exercise or even they can take drugs to control this problem.
This problem is common with most antipsychotics drugs like clozapine risperidone olanzapine and quetiapine, and also some antidepressant such as mirtazapine and amitriptyline, and this problem are not related to the disease severity but related to the drug itself.
The same phenomenon is related to some Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and mood stablilizers like carbamazepine, valproate, and gabapentin.
A meta-analysis (a study that analyses the results of independent studies of the same topic to determine overall trends) included 106 studies and 43,525 patients, that published in 2012 by the Current Medical Research and Opinion concluded that 70% of pregabalin users by a dose of 150 to 600 mg once daily maintained 7% of baseline weight.
1 in 6 patients gained more than 7% from baseline One in six patients gained ≥7% weight from baseline.
In pregabalin controlled clinical trials in adult patients which lasted for 14 weeks, a gain of 7% or more over baseline weight was observed in 9% of pregabalin-treated patients. Few patients treated with pregabalin (0.3%) could not complete the controlled trials due to weight gain.
pregabalin associated weight gain was related to dose and duration of exposure, increasing the dose increases the chances of weight gain as doses of 600 mg were associated with a higher percentage of weight gain but the percentage did not appear to be associated with baseline BMI, gender, or age.
Although weight gain related to pregabalin was not associated with clinically important changes in blood pressure in short-term use, the long-term cardiovascular effects of pregabalin-associated weight gain are not clear.
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Pregabaline and diabetes:
If you are a diabetic patient you should ask about does pregabalin cause weight gain?
Among diabetic patients, pregabalin-treated patients gained an average of 1.6 kg (range: -16 to 16 kg), In a study of 333 diabetic patients who received pregabalin for at least 2 years, the average weight gain was 5.2 kg.
While the effects of pregabalin-associated weight gain on glycemic control have not been systematically assessed, in controlled and longer-term clinical trials with diabetic patients, pregabalin treatment did not appear to be associated with loss of glycemic control.
Pregabaline and heart failure:
Pregabaline can cause peripheral oedema (swelling of limbs), so caution must be paid to the patient with heart failure and with patients using other drugs that cause peripheral oedema like thiazolidinedione antidiabetic drug (rosiglitazone, pioglitazone).
The incidence of peripheral oedema associated with pregabalin was 6% and only 0.5% stopped the medication and withdraw from controlled clinical trials.
There are a lot of studies that tried to relate between pregabalin and heart failure as pregabalin can cause fluid retention and weight gain which may be an overload to the heart, but none of them was able to confirm that pregabalin can cause heart failure or exacerbation to chronic heart failure.
This may answer the patient who always asking ‘Does pregabalin cause heart failure?’ ‘Does pregabalin cause weight gain?’.
There are a lot other common adverse events related to pregabalin such as:
Common adverse events:
- Sore throat.
- Increased appetite.
- Decrease in sexual interest, feeling of elation, confusion, disorientation, irritability.
- Disturbance in attention, clumsiness, memory impairment, loss of memory, tremor, difficulty with speaking, tingling feeling, numbness, sedation, lethargy, insomnia, fatigue, feeling abnormal.
- Blurred vision, double vision.
- Vertigo, problems with balance, fall.
- Dry mouth, vomiting, flatulence, constipation, nausea, swollen abdomen, diarrhoea.
- Difficulties with erection.
- Abnormal style of walking, Feeling drunk.
- Joint pain, pain in limb, muscle cramp, back pain.
Rare adverse event:
- Swinging vision, vision loss, abnormal sense of smell, visual brightness, altered perception of depth.
- Dilated pupils, cross eyes.
- Cold sweat, tightness of the throat, swollen tongue.
- Inflammation of the pancreas.
- Difficulty in swallowing.
- Slow or reduced movement of the body.
- Difficulty with writing properly.
- Increased fluid in the abdomen.
- Fluid in the lungs.
- Changes in heart rhythm.
- Muscle damage.
- Abnormal breast growth, breast discharge, breast growth in males.
- Interrupted menstrual periods.
- Kidney failure, reduced urine volume, urinary retention.
- Decrease in white blood cell count.
- Inappropriate behaviour.
- Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes).
Serious adverse events:
- life-threatening allergic reactions.
- Suicidal thoughts.
- Swelling of peripheral limbs.
- Serious problems with breathing.
We hope that we explain if “Does Pregabalin cause weight gain?” was useful to you. Rememberer always to ask your doctor or pharmacist before any medical decision.
