I had a really good discussion with Dr Gutteridge from the pain team yesterday. It is almost exactly a year since our last consultation. I mostly wanted to discuss my options for reducing the amount of pregabalin from 250mg twice a day and see if I still get sufficient benefit to manage the pain in my back, and in particular the neuropathic pain in my right foot. He said that a more normal dose would be 150-300mg per day, rather than the 500mg I am currently taking. We discussed the side effects and concluded that my concerns could well be related. His suggestion is that I drop 50mg in the morning initially, and if I’ve been ok on that after a week, I could then drop 50mg in the evening as well. That works well for the form of capsules I currently have – 200 and 50mg capsules – and he will as the GP to prescribe me some 75mg capsules so that I have further dose options if I feel I can reduce further.
We also discussed the length of time and dosage of naproxen I take. I explained that, having discussed this with the GP, I tried modifying the dose from 500mg twice a day, to 250mg morning and 500mg in the evening, with a view to reducing the evening dose as well, and dropping the lunch time dose. However, I found I struggled to make it to lunchtime on 250mg in the morning, and so reverted to 500mg quite quickly. Dr Gutteridge was a little concerned about the length of time I have been taking naproxen, particularly at the dose I’m on. He has suggested an alternative, the name of which escapes me now. This is a slow release drug, so I will just take it in the morning, and it is friendlier to the gut than naproxen, so I might be able to drop the omeprazole as well without risking stomach ulcers. He will write to my GP to ask her to prescribe the changed meds, and then we will have another follow-up in about 4 weeks.