Dopamine agonists--are they safe--can one get off of an agonist safely or are there serious withdrawals?

[Cactus1]

do pulsed electromagnetic fields reduce Parkinson's symptoms?

[Pete-1]

You should wean yourself off Dopamine agonists very slowly,especially when used to high doses taken for a long time. Stopping too abruptly exposes you to the risk of Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS). For more detail look up NMS in wikipedia or google. Regardless of detail and although rather unlikely the thing to note is that NMS is potentially fatal.

I have taken the Dopamine agonist Pramipexole (Mirapex, Mirapexin, Sifrol) for about 6 years and a couple of years ago I weaned myself (with my doctors advice) slowly off this drug.

Withdrawal was very unpleasant. Along with feelings I can never satisfactorily describe as they were very strange. There was a constant feeling of restlessness. Reading a newspaper, watching the TV, domestic chores, whatever, nothing was really a sufficient distraction from the restlessness etc. Also for me not taking Pramipexole any more exposed what I would imagine is quite a bad case of RLS where I had RLS twinges in both arms and legs at the same time sometimes every 15 seconds. This made sleep impossible. So without any means of combating this RLS after a while I can quite easily see how you might become suicidal.

I was glad to restart taking Pramipexole again. Some on this forum have stated that to successfully stop taking this type of drug you need to do so very slowly, perhaps over months rather than weeks or days and that assistance from opiate drugs is essential.

I seem to remember some saying that they have found stopping much less arduous. perhaps they were only taking a low dose. Who knows ?????

[PatV]

I withdrew cold turkey because I could not take the side effects any more. The withdrawal was bad but not as bad as the Requip. Lost 30 lbs. too.

Re the second question, I was in a clinical trial but was rejected because my dyskinesia at the time prevented clear readings of the ecg. I was disappointed but I did my bit for science

[Jocee]

I am taking ropinirole .25mg 4 x a day. Is this a dopamine agonist ?

My sister was suicidal on requip. Is ropinirole similar to requip?

[honeycombe3 in reply to Jocee]

Jocee,

Ropinirole is the generic version of Requip. They are both dopamine agonists & need careful management in terms of strength of dose & frequency. I have been taking Requip for many years causing a variety of side-effects from time to time which have been sorted by adjusting dosage & timing. I do not have suicidal tendencies from Requip but I have been clinically depressed in the past so I am aware of the symptoms & in my case the causes. I hope your sister is adequate psychiatric support: my Community Psychiatric Nurse was superb.

[Jocee in reply to honeycombe3]

I thought so, honeycombe3. Thanks for your reply and the info. My sister passed 3 yrs ago. She was fine (mentally) after stopping the requip. My dose of ropinirole doesn't seem to cause a problem. I asked my doctor to give me the lowest dose possible. That was several years ago.

[Bunky]

My husband developed a horrible gambling addiction while on an agonist. Please be advised of potential compulsive behaviors and read the warning label very carefully. Going off the drug saved his life and his marriage.

[Jocee in reply to Bunky]

bunky, what was dosage that caused a problem?

[cabbagecottage]

I am so glad you brought this subject up . My husband had been on Sinemet for eight years in highering strengths . I didn't think they were really helpin and they then gave him a neupro patch . Still no better kept telling them he was even worse . I stated to reduce the Sinemet but couldn't do so with the patch , and was frightened to just stop .

Mentally he was becoming worse and we had at last were given a Parkinson's who then liaised with the consuLtant because I was unable to get him to appointments . They change the patch , his skinn was affected to Roprinirole slow release .

These I believe are also Agonists . He was compulsive worrying and fretting hallucinating and confused a similar Thing happen when he was given Digoxin for his heart . I thought it was the end . I could stop those easily he had only taken two .

Kept trying to get through to the nurse and failing so when I became desperate rang the GP . He listened to everything I told him . He then told me I knew more about the Parkinson's than he did . He told me to bite the bullet and stop the Roprinirole . along with Forusamide and Amitriptyline . After a week what a difference I have my husband back ,. This is after eight years . I was very worried that it would make him Ill but so far canonly see improvement . I am not holding my breath I know from experience how it can change . He is now only taking Sinemet 110 x three daily along the CR at night .

my gut feeling has aways been that the meds were not helping so I will give it a while and see if he at least stays the same and might even reduce the Sinemet . By the way my husband is eighty . I wish we had never started to take any meds.

[Hokuto]

Sorry, I can't speak to the issue of withdrawal, but I've been on Mirapex (both ordinary and extended release) for the past three years (i.e., since I was diagnosed in summer, 2011). I guess I've been lucky in terms of side effects, since I've only been troubled with sudden dizzyness/sleepiness, and have apparently avoided the compulsive behavior. It's not perfect, but I'm better with it than w/o.

[silvestrov]

Here are a couple of articles about the side effects of dopamine agonists:

rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/31/...

and

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...