It's not a narcotic, Kimmy. Not even close.

It is supposed to be the Son of Neurontin. That's what they want you to believe. But this is one of those cases where they just don't know. Except for one thing. It binds to a specific receptor, a very precisely specific receptor, in the spinal cord. It is very likely the seat of activity for the anti-neuropathic pain effects this drug displays. If it *was* a narcotic, it would influence all pain. But it doesn't. It influences pain in a very selective manner.

When a pain signal comes up a peripheral nerve (e.g. from burning your hand on the stove), some signal processing occurs at the level of the spinal cord. It saves time. The spinal cord is already retracting your hand from the heat, before your brain has even interpreted the signal as burning pain. Your hand is already out of the fire, when you really feel it.

Here's how that works. The spinal cord senses the afferent signal from the hand, the burning pain signal generated by nerves in the skin of the afflicted hand. The spinal cord splits that signal, relaying one part to the brain (where the pain is actually "felt"), but also sending a signal to the muscle up-stream from the hand, to pull it away from the heat. The less time the hand is in the heat, the less damage is done. By the time the brain knows there's even anything wrong, your hand is well away from the stove. BTW, you should immediately plunge a burned finger or whatever into cool water. Burned tissue is hot tissue itself, and it will burn neighbouring tissues if you don't chill it quickly. Water conducts heat really well, compared to air. And so does your body, because it is wet. The dip can save some damage.

Back to Lyrica. It's not supposed to have other side effects. BS.

You just need to check the drug out. Ramp up the dose slowly. You'll know when you took too much. I hallucinated on the dose the doctor said should be safe. It's not in the doctor's realm to over-rule my experience. I need only 10% of the dose he suggested I might need.

It's a weird drug, but a safe one. Pretty much. It's all in how you use it.

Lar

P.S. I nearly forgot to finish what I started to say. Lyrica will only work on neuropathic pain. If the facial neuralgia is caused by e.g. mechanical or crushing forces on the nerve, Lyrica can't do much to help with that. Anti-inflammatories, nerve block with Botox, possibly surgery.....those would be worth looking at, if the Lyrica remains unable to help with that pain. It has a different cause, than merely being hyper-excitable. That's what is suggested by the fact that you feel the Lyrica differently at those two different sites.

L