Medicines are often useful for more than one purpose. Besides controlling seizures, Lyrica is also approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat a condition called postherpetic neuralgia, which is pain that follows the viral rash commonly known as shingles, and for nerve pain in patients with diabetes who have nerve damage. Lyrica is also approved in Europe, but not the United States, as treatment for generalized anxiety disorder.

Reviewed April 2006 by Steven C. Schachter, MD, epilepsy.com Editorial Board.