Users of anti-anxiety drug Pregabalin say the drug's harrowing side effects ... trends now

Users of an anti-anxiety drug that has been linked to thousands of deaths in the past five years have told MailOnline their lives have been 'destroyed' by the drug.

Pregabalin, which is used by doctors to treat anxiety, as well as epilepsy and nerve pain, has been described by one doctor as like 'selling a car without brakes'.

Use of the drug can lead to dependency, with some people becoming addicted to the 'euphoria' that taking it can cause, while others become reliant on the relaxing feelings it can induce.

Those who have become addicted to it have compared it to trying to wean themselves off morphine and oxycodone, two drugs notorious for the ill effects they have on people who try to quit them.

Pregabalin users have told MailOnline that the drug has led to erratic behaviour, blurred vision, mood swings and suicidal thoughts, with many now desperate to lower their dosage or come off the medication that has 'robbed them of their lives' altogether.

Mother-of-two Penny Carroll told MailOnline 'I felt like I was losing my mind' after taking the drug and is terrified of further ramifications after hearing nightmarish stories of users losing their teeth.

She is 'angry' that she wasn't warned about the side effects - and 'no one seemed to know' how she should have weaned herself off the drug which 'trebled' her anxiety. 

It has been linked to nearly 3,400 deaths in Britain in the last five year alone, with the drug involved in 779 fatalities in 2022 - up from just nine a decade earlier in 2012.

Have you been affected by pregabalin? Email [email protected] 

Recent figures show it has the fastest rising death toll of any drug in the UK, and it is only behind opiates (such as heroin and morphine), cocaine and benzodiazepines (such as Valium and Xanax) in the number of fatalities it is linked to.

Pregabalin users have told MailOnline about the shocking impacts the drug has had on their lives. 

Penny Carroll, 53, was put on the drug six months ago due to having spinal spondylosis.

The married mother-of-two from Hertfordshire, who works providing surgical compliance equipment to the NHS, called it an 'horrendous experience'.

She told MailOnline that she was not informed about the risks or side effects.

She said: 'My doctor had increased my dose as the pain was creeping back in, so from 100mg I went to 150mg.

'It worked really well, the pain began to easy off, but my body needed more.

'The reality of what I was on started when my doctor did not put my repeat prescription through, so I was forced to use the lower dose.

'Then the withdrawals started and I felt like I was in hell. The anxiety and panic attacks were the worst, sweating, insomnia, skin crawling, I went through absolute hell.

'It was the weekend so the GP was closed. I didn't understand what was happening to me. I found a Facebook group and the admits told me I was going through withdrawal and I shouldn't come off it too quickly - which is what no one had told me. 

'Looking at the posts in that group...I was one of the lucky ones. Some people have been on it for 15 years....people lost their teeth, went into complete psychosis, had suicidal thoughts.

'I can't drink alcohol. If I have two drinks, I have massive panic attacks. My anxiety has trebled, and I'm clear of it. I wrote to my GP to say this is the worst thing you could have given me. I only took it for three to four months. Some people have taken it for years.

'That Facebook group saved my life. I had no idea what was happening, I didn't know it was withdrawal. I was spiralling, I was panicked - what if I lost my teeth? What if I started to feel suicidal?'

Mrs Carroll said she had to miss work and her husband had to move out of their bedroom due to her panic attacks.

She continued: 'It was awful. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't function. And because I didn't sleep, I was snappy with my 16-year-old daughter. It felt like I was losing my mind, like I was going mad. No one understood, they said I had stopped taking it so that couldn't be the reason.

'I am angry that I hadn't been advised about the side effects of the medication. There wasn't any awareness, no one seemed to be bothered. No one seemed to know - it was frightening. 

'No one knew how you were supposed to come off it slowly - I came off too quickly. You can be left with lasting damage, maybe that's why I'm still suffering now. I just wanted to get off it. But now I have anxiety like never before.

'My sleep has never been the same, I wake up several times a night with anxiety, I’m not the same person I was before this hideous drug.'

Alex Silva, who was prescribed pregabalin after a slipped disc on his neck, said 'after two months on it, all I could think about was to kill myself'.

He added: 'No doctor ever informed about suicidal thoughts. Thank God, I read about it and stopped taking it straight away. Horrible drug but the worst of all, was that no one told me about the suicidal thoughts.'

Another user called Tracy said that her eyesight is now always very blurry and she would like to be off the drug altogether but 'can't bear the thought of the withdrawal symptoms again'.

A third, who was prescribed pregabalin for lower back pain, said: 'I went completely crazy for 2 months and had to wean myself off due to erratic behaviour, blurred vision, mood swings and suicidal thoughts.'

They added: 'The doctors don't tell you this when prescribing and when you mention concerns that's when it seems you are given the information. I was lucky but only because my partner questioned the tablets when I was losing the plot.

'The despair you feel is overwhelming and you genuinely believe your thoughts are yours and not related to anything a doctor would give you.'

And another, who was prescribed pregabalin four years ago for a back injury, heartbreakingly told MailOnline: 'This drug ruined and robbed me of my life for three years until I finally realised last year it was killing me.'

Another user who was prescribed the drug for lower back pain while waiting for an MRI scan said she went 'completely crazy' for two months because of the drug.

She told MailOnline: ' I was prescribed this for lower back pain whilst waiting for an MRI scan.

'I went completely crazy for two months and had to wean myself off due to erratic behaviour, blurred vision,mood swings and suicidal thoughts. 

'I was then prescribed gabapentin which I have just weaned myself off, again because of the side effects, which are very similar to pregabalin.

'The doctors don't tell you this when prescribing and when you mention concerns that's when it seems you are given the information.

'I was lucky but only because my partner questioned the tablets when I was losing the plot.

'The despair you feel is overwhelming and you genuinely believe your thoughts are yours and not related to anything a doctor would give you.'

One user told MailOnline his 'life has been destroyed by pregabalin'. Since he was prescribed the drug, he's been in a 'continued battle' for seven and a half years to get help for the side effects he now suffers from.

He said: 'Me and my family are just left abandoned, with no end to this continued suffering.

'I have lost my business, my career, my ability to support my family. I have lost my ability to follow any of my hobbies and interest, both physically and financially.'

Another man was prescribed pregabalin after being diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia in 2018. The condition causes severe facial pain likened to having an electric shock and is often nicknamed the 'suicide disease' as the unpredictable bouts of pain make everyday living unbearable.

He told MailOnline that his GP prescribed Pregabalin along with Morphine and Zomorph for pain.

He said: 'I was put forward for surgery but unfortunately was I was accepted, Covid hit the country and therefore it was cancelled.

'We are now in 2024 and due

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