What Are Pregabalin Side Effects And Ways To Cope With Them?

Anxiety and epilepsy are two mental health issues that many people suffer from, thus making it important to treat them. Pregabalin is a medicine prescribed for anxiety, epilepsy, and nerve pain. The reasons for nerve pain include diabetes, an injury, or shingles. Before you discover the Pregabalin side effects, it is important to know what it does for the body.

  • Epilepsy: It reduces the abnormal electrical activity in the nerves and brain to stop seizures
  • Nerve pain: It affects the pain messages going through the brain down the spine to block the pain
  • Anxiety: It stops the release of chemicals in the brain that induce anxiety

Pregabalin Side Effects

Similar to other medicines, using Pregabalin makes people experience side effects, although not all of them get to feel them.

Common Side Effects

The common side effects of Pregabalin are experienced by more than 1 in 100 people using this medicine. Since these side effects are mild, they usually take a few days to go away by themselves.

  • Feeling dizzy, tired, or sleepy
  • Headaches
  • Blurred vision
  • Diarrhea
  • Changes in mood
  • Sick feeling
  • Swollen feet, legs, arms, or hands
  • Pregabalin can make you feel hungry again and again, this resulting in weight gain
  • Amnesia or memory problems
  • Erection problem

For diabetic patients, Pregabalin can affect their blood sugar levels. Because of this, monitor the blood sugar level, especially during the starting days of treatment with Pregabalin. Take advice from your doctor about ways to adjust diabetes during treatment with Pregabalin.

Serious Side Effects

Although rare, still some people suffer from serious Pregabalin side effects. You must get emergency medical help if you experience any of these effects:

  • The feeling of passing out or severe dizziness
  • Problems with urination, including blood in the urine, urge to urinate more often, and constipation
  • Hallucinations, a condition when a person sees things and hears voices that are not there
  • Suicidal thoughts, thinking about harming or killing

These effects are not common for people taking Pregabalin for a duration shorter than one week. ‘

Serious Allergic Reaction

These are very rare for people taking Pregabalin, but if a person ever experiences them, they must get medical help immediately.

  • Wheezing
  • Having swollen tongue, mouth, throat, lips, or face
  • Finding difficulty in talking and breathing
  • Feeling tightness in the throat or chest
  • Getting a skin rash with signs of blistered, itchy, red, swollen, and peeling skin

Ways To Cope With Pregabalin Side Effects

There are some ways in which you can cope with the side effects of Pregabalin yourself, including:

  • Feeling dizzy, sleepy, or tired: These side effects go away on their own as the body gets used to Pregabalin. Avoid driving, cycling, and operating machinery as long as you experience these effects. If these effects become severe or don’t go away, then contact your doctor. They may reduce the dose or switch the medicine.
  • Headaches: Drink a lot of fluids and rest properly. Painkillers may be good to cope with this side effect. If the headaches don’t go away after the first week of using Pregabalin, then contact your doctor. Avoid using alcohol while on treatment with  Pregabalin
  • Diarrhea: Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration. Speak to your doctor before you take any medicine for diarrhea. Dehydration symptoms include peeing less often and having strong-smelling and dark-colored pee. 
  • Changes in mood: Discuss with your doctor if you feel any mood changes when using Pregabalin as they may recommend changing the medicine. 
  • Sick feeling: Avoid spicy and rich foods and take Pregabalin with or after a meal to avoid this effect.
  • Swelling of feet, hands, legs, and arms: It may be good to exercise to relieve swollen arms. You may try sitting with your feet up if your feet are swollen, and avoid standing for a long time. 
  • Blurred vision: Avoid driving, operating machines, and using tools if you have blurred vision. The doctor may need to change your treatment if this condition lasts for long.
  • Erection problem: The doctor may change the treatment or recommend another medicine for this condition. You may use sexual medicines to treat erection problems. 
  • Memory problem: If the situation becomes problematic for you, then contact your doctor as they may find it better to change the medicine.
  • Weight gain: You may involuntarily gain weight as Pregabalin can make you feel hungry. Do not increase your portion size and try to eat well. Avoid calorie-rich foods, such as cakes, crisps, sweets, and biscuits. Eat low-calorie foods, fruits, and veggies if you feel hungry between meals. Use exercise and other natural methods to control weight.

Buying Pregabalin

When you know about Pregabalin side effects, you may start thinking about buying Pregabalin. It is good to get it from a reliable online pharmacy, such as Super Meds. They not just sell Pregabalin, but other anxiety medicines, antidepressants, pain relief medicines, sleeping tablets, and many more.