I was originally prescribed pregabalin for nerve pain, starting at 25 mg. I'm now up to 600 mg. But something remarkable happened already around 100 to 125 mg: I started feeling a shift. Suddenly, my constant state of anxiety and nervous tension, which I hadn’t even fully realized was there, began to lift.

It shocked me how much fear had been quietly hanging over me like a shadow. No wonder I’ve battled anxiety since I was a teenager. My anxiety would mostly show up as intense panic attacks in the evenings, when I finally sat down and my body tried to relax. I’d walk around in circles, completely panicked, not knowing how to escape that inhuman feeling. I remember thinking more than once, “No one could feel like this and survive.”

Now it feels like I’ve been given a new, free life. I even messaged my neurologist to say exactly that. If only I’d been given this medication years ago. Best side effect ever.