Numbness with hands on waking

[Anne smith]

Hi
I have reasently changed from gaberpentine to lyrica, 75mg twice daily, can't say the switch has made any inpruvment but I am experiencing waking up with horrible numbness in my hands! I also take tramadol for pain flares!
Has any body else experianced this?
Ps my pain flare at moment is because we are having major building work at home( I know I must have been crazy!!also I didn't have my odd glass of wine last night wondering if perhaps it was alcohol?? And guess what? I barely slept for pain and still got the numbness. Any ideas?

[Bathsheba]

Hello

I started on high doses of Lyrica (800 mg/day) eight months ago and at first experienced the same phenomenon of my hands being dead when I woke up. I would wake up on my back which my hands on my chest and my hands would feel like they belonged to someone else from the wrist down, both hands. Pretty quickly, I would get sensation back. I didn't get the pins and needles sensation when they "came back to life" and my hands were on top of my chest when I woke up so there would be no reason for them to have lost circulation.

In my case the "dead hand" symptom went away after a few months. I still have what I consider to be a form of carpal tunnel symdrome (which I didn't have before) where my hands get dead in certain positions or if I keep them in the same position for a long time. Don't worry, this will go away.

Another symptom I had was tingling around the lips and mouth. This has greatly decreased but it's still there. I read that this is also a Lyrica side effect.

By far the worst long term side effect is weight gain. I have been on Lyrica for 8 months. I know I am not as active as I was before I got such a bad case of PN, but I don't stuff myself either. I have turned into a blimp and am afraid to get on a scale. This is one side effect that Pfizer acknowledges in its own ads. My weight gain has occurred over several months. I am very careful about what I eat. I thought the weight gain was stabilizing but now I am not sure. I have been normal weight my whole life and it is very demoralizing to be so overweight. I can hardly stand to look in a mirror.

Of course for me the alternative to Lyrica is opioids which I will not take. So, don't worry, the "dead hands on waking" will go away.

Bathsheba

[calluna]

My first thought here was carpal tunnel. I have had problems with this, on and off, for about 5 years now. When I have a flare-up, I wake up with my hands numb, sometimes it is the whole arm. On my GP's advice I purchased some wrist splints and when I get a flare-up I wear these at night, they work like magic. Usually I only need to wear them for a few nights and things settle down again.

I would suggest that you get a proper diagnosis, see what your doctor thinks.

[Anne smith]

Hi
Thank you so much girls for posting your reply! This support is very special to all of us!
I think when you cope with p.n for so long, any thing extra on top of this is may be(the camels back syndrome) but some how we rally round and get prepared to do battle(with what I don't know) but a strong self will is needed with this complaint! As for carpal tunnel, yes I have suffered this before when I was going into the menopores, but this is a lot more acute! But I always have to consider that I have held a hair drier in the worst hand for over forty years! So may be vibration white finger!(repetitive stress) is the culprit ! As for weigh? I am with you all! We may suffer chronic pain, but at least let us keep our shape and our dignity
Many thanks again
Anne