Missy,

According to what I read, Lyrica is an anticonvulsant which is used to control seizures, like in epilepsy. It apparently also has an anti-anxiety effect in some folks.

Treating bipolar with anti-convulsants is not new. Aside from lithium, the other most effective drugs for bipolar are all anticonvulsants (Depakote, Lamictal and Tegretol, though Tegretol is not used much any more). Since Lyrica is a new drug, I have not seen any info on it yet, but I suspect that your pdoc has, and is using it in place of the older anconvulsant-class drugs.

So, I doubt he is making a mistake. I take lithium and Lamictal, again one of the AC's, so I think you have a great chance of feeling good pretty quick!