Question:

My wife suffers from Thalamic Pain Syndrome. Since 1998,she is on lots of pain meds including 32 mg dilaudid, 20 mg valium and 100 mg lyrica daily. She has used Trazodone and Topomax in the past. She has been having memory problems the last 2 years but lately it is worse. Getting facts and dates mixed up. Saying events that have not happened. Could her medications be causing this problem?

Answer:

Thank you for contacting Net Wellness. The combination of the medications hydromorphone (Dilaudid®) diazepam (Valium®) and pregabalin (Lyrica®) can be used together; however, they need to be used with a degree of caution and may cause some concern if not used appropriately.

 

These medications can slow the function of the central nervous system (CNS), which controls breathing, balance, consciousness, and strength. This combination of medicines increases the risk of CNS dysfunction. Pregabalin alone has had reports of patients experiencing amnesia in 1 to 5% of patients and confusion in 2 to 4% of patients.

 

I encourage you to talk with your prescriber to report this memory loss and confusion. He or she will have your wife’s entire clinical history to evaluate that your wife’s memory loss may not be caused by anything else in your wife’s health. (history, physical exam, and test results)

For more information:

Go to the Pharmacy and Medications health topic.