Relief from RLS.

[blokie]

Whilst in Australia I contracted Cellulitis caused by a bite from a White Tailed Spider and hospitalised for 3 weeks. I was given OxyNorm hydrochloride for the pain. This stopped RLS within 30 minutes (as well as the pain) and gave me relief for 18 hours.It was such a joy not to have twitching legs and arms whilst laying in my hospital bed. 3 months down the line I am still taking OxyNorm perscribed by my doctor, and would certainly explore the possibilities with your GP to see if it works for you. I have been told that it is addicative so be careful.

[nightdancer]

HI, just wanted to say that over the years ( I am from the US) I have tried every med on the books, and now we treat my RLS with morphine and vicodin. I know vicodin/hydrocodone is not available in the UK? I think so, form what I remember. There are several RLSer's I know that only get relief with narcotics, and as long as we follow the "rules" over here on narcotics, we are usually fine. Doctors in the UK are skittish of narcotics for many reasons, so I am glad you are getting relief. I have been on the same dose of morphine for over 10 yrs, with no problems at all. I sometimes do not take them for a couple days to "reset" them, and have no withdrawal issues. Experts even recommend narcotics if nothing else works, from the US and internationally. Depends on the doctor, your insurance and your NHS regulations. MY pain doctor, sleep doctor, neurologist and GP all agree on this treatment. Again, though, I am the US. Good luck!

[blokie]

Thanks for your comments nightdancer, I know OxyNorm is morphine based but the relief it gives is worth while and will give it a rest for a while and see what happens.

[Hidden]

Hi, i think the nearest thing we can get in the UK is TRAMACET, tramadol HCL 37.5mg/ paracetamol 325, or codydramol (dihydrocodiene 7.5-10mgs/paracetamol 500 mgs) , but its not as strong as vicodin, but then its being withdrawn in USA, for a lot of people due to misuse, makes it difficult for the ones who genuinely need it i think.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

sorry i meant to say, the Vicodin was being withdrawn, except in very few cases

[nightdancer in reply to Hidden]

It is not exactly being withdrawn from the market. It is going to have less Tylenol in it, so it is easier on the liver. Instead of having 500 mgs of acetaminophen (ingredient in Tylenol) they will have 325 mgs. They are just lessening it, and Tylenol does nothing for RLS anyway, so it is not needed to be at 500 mgs per tablet. They are reformulating a lot of things on this side of the pond.

[nightdancer in reply to nightdancer]

I and my doctors follow all the rules, we have a narcotics contract- I get my meds from only one doctor, use the same drug store for all my meds, and never ask early for more, plus must do a pee test if asked. They have never asked in ten years, but keep track of my liver function which is fine. Yes, it is the abusers that keep us who follow the rules jumping thru hoops, plus our doctors have ten times more paperwork to do, just to prove we are not abusing anything.

[Hidden in reply to nightdancer]

i did comment yesterday that i had got this wrong

[Parminter in reply to nightdancer]

Dancer, this is five years later, but do you still get relief from the same meds?

If so, have you increased the dose or discovered any hidden problems?

And did the system/rules work for you?

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Are you serious? Vicodin is being withdrawn?

I believe it saved my life when nothing else worked.

I live in the USA and that was the given drug after

knee replacement surgery! It was the go to drug after

I had it replaced 5 times in one year. = (

I know that they were adding special coatings to drugs that

can be shaved and made to sniff... but I didn't know that they

were withdrawing it completely.

Oxycodiene is much more powerful and is being shaved

constantly in the states and that is why they are making

them resistant to cut in half or to shave!

Nope, never did anything like that but I read it and see it

happening on television.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

no i was wrong, its been reformulated so its weaker realy

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Oh goodness.

Vicodin comes in 5, 7.5mg, 10 mg..

I was up to 7.5mg and that wasn't quite enough

to keep me sleeping for longer than a couple hours.

Any more than 7.5mg gave me some sort of Apnea

because I kept waking up every few minutes.

I am breaking the cycle. I got rid of the Vicodin so

I can't give in and take one.

I know that in the states, they add Tylenol to keep

people from Over Dosing on it. It would screw with

the liver if people overdosed. It's sold plain Vicodin

as well but I don't know if a doctor would prescribe that.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I dont think we have this med here (UK) but i dont think i would take it if we did, cocodamol is my limit, unless i have surgery thank you

[nightdancer in reply to Hidden]

IT also comes in 5/350 , which they want that to be the "norm" for Vicodin in the US. It is not available in the UK, that is what my UK friends have told me, so this only refers to what is going on in the US> My doctor and I have no plans for taking away the Vicodin or the morphine.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

We can buy co-codamol otc here in the UK. but only as a small dose. Co-codamol is codeine and paracetamol. ( thats acetaminophen to you).. The paracetamol is 500 and the codeine is 15 i think....so 15/500. It can be prescribed by our doctors with a higher codeine content. Its the paracetamol that can be dangerous, people do try to overdose on that one, its the liver as you said that it affects, without you knowing the damage its done, til its too late.

[nightdancer in reply to Hidden]

See my post please, that is above yours. It not being taken off the market, just reducing the acetaminophen.

[Hidden in reply to nightdancer]

Thank you. I miss you. <3

You are a person that I can depend on for good information!

[Rubylane25]

Traditionally docs here have handed out narcotics like it is candy! I heard our government recently changed. The perscription has got to be ok'd now by pharmacare. If pharmacare denies

it, you can still get the perscription filled but you don't get any coverage or help with the cost of the drug. They are clamping down and it is high time. ex: i had an addiction problem (gambling) caused by.....believe it or not Mirapex that I was taking for RLS. Docs, pharmacists nobody questioned that an addict was being prescribed a narcotic one hundred times stronger than morphine , (fentanyl) for RLS. Nobody even questioned my addiction. The doctor gave it to me, the pharmacist filled it and of course I developed an addiction and I became suicidal on it. I had some pull, lucky for me and got in to detox right away. My psychologist said giving fentanyl for RLS is like blowing up a mosquito with a bomb....overkill!

Every second person it seems is on fentanyl,oxy's or perc's and then when they need help getting off the drugs the waiting list for detox is over a year. By the time they get help most have already killed themselves.

Anyway I also take it for Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and it is an incredible pain killer. However I m soon going to start the journey off of fentanyl again because depression is starting to settle in. Oh and for those who don't know I was also taking an anti-depressant to try and battle the depression caused by fentanyl. The anti-depressants cause me to gain wait fast .....well talk about further depression...Now i have to battle severe pain as I get off the fentanyl, suffer withdrawl from fentanyl and in the end I will be on mirapex again to combat the RLS. And now have to loose twenty pounds....what are the right answers, do any positive answers really exist! Not likely!

[Hidden in reply to Rubylane25]

Rubylane, thats a heck of a lot to go through, i wish you luck with it all, im using mirapexin myself, but i consider myself lucky to have only had the weigh gain as a side affect, i did have a compulsion to over spend in the early stages, but managed to control that myself. Personally as for the pain meds, i wouldnt go to anything stronger than cocodamol, i have these for my arthritis, and save my last two doses to take at bedtime, they do seem to help me get some sleep, but stronger stuff is a no no for me, just my opinion.

[Hidden in reply to Rubylane25]

I am glad that you are safe. =)

What a story. I'm surprised about the Fentanyl treatment.

Only recently have I read that it's being used as a treatment.

I pulled myself off Vicodin because I was needing more and more

of it to get the same leg calming effects. It's been recently that

I decided and took action. (I am suffering from lack of sleep,

waking up frequently due to leg activity)

Paxil is an anti-depressant. I lost weight on it. My brother is

taking it and he took off 12 pounds in 2 months. Both of us

suffer panic attacks without it. It kills the appetite (claims to)

but I still crave pasta and breads. I deny myself of those things.

[Hidden in reply to Rubylane25]

I love, love, love your honesty! Thank you.

[Hidden]

Excellent news came out of a bad situation!!!

Yay for sleep.

Boo for what you had to endure.

Any medical professionals out there take note...

the management of RLS was the real victory here!

The author is raving about getting 18 hours of still legs.

If this story doesn't sum up how bothersome RLS is...nothing will.

Thanks for sharing and I am inspired by your entire story...

I am glad that you recovered that spider bite.

I have not heard of that type of spider.

[ookla]

I would love to be able to take pain meds for my RLS

[farasi59]

I wish I could take narcotics for my RLS, but after 2 back surgeries I weened myself off tramadol and methocarb and will not go that route again. Dr just put me on Neupro after using Requip for seeral years. Got horrible leg cramps. I keep on it for a while and let you all know if there is any improvement.

[SmokeyMtHillBilly in reply to farasi59]

My dr put me on neupro for my RLS during the daytime (I take gabapentin at bedtime).He started me out on 1mg then 2mg and now he bumped me up to 4mg patch. I cant tell that they do anything for my RLS so I am going to tell him (neurologist) that I want to try something else for my awake hours. Trouble is that in my job I have a lot of downtime whereby I usually sit and listen to music or surf the internet. Sometimes my RLS wont let me sit, so Thats why the neupro trial. The gabapentin works pretty well for sleep time but I cant take them at work (make me all wobbly--weebles wobble but they dont fall down)

[farasi59]

Well the leg cramps settled down:). But the nausea all day and the migraine headaches are a drag.