I have been on Lyrica, 150 mg, for a bit now.  And at that dose I have been having issues.  Some issues I can do little about, side effects like spwelling and muscle pain.  But one side effect had to stop.  In the morning I was so beyond groggy I have no word for it; loopy, confused and right out of it.  AIWS plus migraine plus grogginess equals inability to function or move.  Plus big memory gaps.  Time itself seemed to get away from me and then later after it was all said and done I could not for the life of me remember large segments of the day.  And yet, the Lyrica does decrease the frequency of my chronic migraines, to be less chronic but still chonric, and does decrease the intensity so a migraine may be less severe or maybe daily but not all day.  You know what I mean?  It does have an effect and lesser pain is the lesser evil.  So what do to?  I was still missing work, people gettin all cranky and what not, and I was having issues just getting to work on a good day, with the boss timing literally every minute I was late. 

The solution is peak dosage; where you get the positive and decrease the negative.  I dropped down by 25mg and take my last dosage well before bed time.  So far much better.  Instead of waking up all confused about what time it is and what I am doing, I wake up alert-ish and quite aware of time and how to use an alarm clock.  No more memory gaps, thank god.  My aura is still very intense and sometimes very AIWS... things 'move' expecially the more I look at them.  I went to the eye doctor, and got some specs to help with my minor eye dificiencies, more so to help with eye fatigue... but they do nothing for visual snow (although prescription sunglasses help as much as sunglasses do).  But hopefully less eye strain a good thing.

I have also doubled my asthma medication... because there is this wierd balance or joint attack with the whole asthma migraine thing that I just do not get.  The asthma symptoms though pack a powerful punch, as in if you ignore the trouble breathing (which you can, as easily as ignoring a mild migraine or aura sparkles), then you will get more fatigued and more sleepy and more lathargic until the very effort of keeping your eyes open when you blink is beyond you.  So you have to find this balance and be aware of it, to keep it under control lest a simple cold blind side you with sudden problimatic symptoms.  And asthma does suck big time... before all that I did have a nice balance with topamax and Imitrex... then those asthma symptoms, aggravated but such and such meds and not at all treated spiralled into daily migraines not at all treated.  But I have found that delicate balance again, I think, I hope.  And with slightly reduced work hours (specifically in the morning) I seem to be managing.