I have a family member dealing with a very painful bought of shingles (started a little over a week ago). Had had recurring back pain in the past that would flare up (under the right shoulder blade). This time the pain started there and then expanded to rib cage.
A Physician friend we correspond with outside the U.S. said thought Lyrica might be in order. I looked at that a little and it seems to be recommended for “pain after shingles” (i.e. 3 months later).
Does anyone have any experience / knowledge with this that they can share / comment on?
Hi, remorw, and welcome to the SDMB. You might get more and better responses in one of the other forums, like IMHO. I have reported your post for a possible move at the mods’ discretion.
Since this is about a specific medical issue and not about the shingles vaccine in general, I have split off these posts from their original thread and have moved them to a new thread in IMHO.
Lyrica is noted to be effective in reducing post-herpetic neuralgia (i.e. shingles) in at least two studies listed in PubMed.
Pregabalin for the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.
Dworkin RH, Corbin AE, Young JP Jr, Sharma U, LaMoreaux L, Bockbrader H, Garofalo EA, Poole RM
Neurology. 2003;60(8):1274.
Pregabalin reduces pain and improves sleep and mood disturbances in patients with post-herpetic neuralgia: results of a randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
Sabatowski R, Gálvez R, Cherry DA, Jacquot F, Vincent E, Maisonobe P, Versavel M, 1008-045 Study Group
Pain. 2004;109(1-2):26.
It’s not my go-to drug for treating it (I tend to go with tricyclics first) but it certainly is an acceptable choice. However it is a Schedule V drug, and thus a controlled substance, and has a bit of an abuse potential, so that’s why I steer clear of it in my population. It’s also a lot more expensive than other alternatives.