Pregablin and Fluoxetine drug interaction??

Treatment and medication
1

Hi

​I wondered if anyone has been on Pregablin and Fluoxetine at the same time, and whether this caused an interaction at all?  I am currently on 60mg Fluoxetine but also still on 100mg Pregablin (which I am slowly coming off of).......I wonder whether being on the two at the same time could be making things worse??  any advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Donna x

2

Hi Donna

​It is difficult to say, as you are coming off Pregabalin and possibly suffering withdrawals perhaps the fluoxetine may help rather than hinder. Pregab is a difficult drug to taper off and I am pleased you said you are doing this slowly. It is the only way to minimise withdrawals. Has your GP recently given you the fluoxetine? A lot of patients on Pregabalin are also on some form of anti-depressant but whether there would be a contraindication just with fluoxetine I don't know. Could you google this and put your mind at rest? Hope you feel better soon. I too am tapering off Pregab so I know where you are coming from, but I am not on anything else other than painkillers.

3

HI Donna,

I have recently stopped taking both Pregabalin and Fluoxetine.  I had taken the max dose of Pregablin for 6/7 years and fluoxetine for 18 years.  I had no interaction between the two.  Well I don't think I did. To be honest fluoxetine was a lifesaver for me.  And then when I was prescribed Pregablin I thought I had at last discovered something that really helped with chronic pain.  My GP did not tell me anything about it and I blindly took it for about 7 years increasing very quickly to the max dose per day. Then recently I was admitted to hospital with awful vomitting and couldn't keep anything down for a week therefore going cold turkey on all my meds.  I was still very poorly when I came home from hospital and have been very unwell since.  Yesterday I had a scan on my gall bladder to check if that maybe is why I have constant nausea and hot/cold sweats.  But I think that it is all just withdrawal from Pregalin.  After googling Pregabalin when I first came home from hospital and reading such horrendous stories of withdrawal I am kicking myself for not googling it when it was first prescribed.  I would definitely keep taking the flouxetine if it is helping.  Hope this helps Donna and good luck in tapering off your Pregablin :-)