dopamine

[justcrazer]

have been reading about adding dopamine but i have been told that having to much is what causes RLS.

[Hidden]

Initially the tiny dose of dopamine will bring big relief. You can expect

to sleep better and to not have the need to keep shuffling the legs or

moving them during times when you need them to be still. That small

dose might be all that you need for life or may have to be increased a

bit when the effect is wearing off. You might last a lifetime or a few days

on that dose. It all depends on your body and it's need for dopamine.

Eventually the dose will reach maximum and please use this site to know

what the maximum dose is. Some doctors prescribe well above the

limit that RLS experts agree on. You may find that the maximum dose

or any size dose will work against you - you will feel the need to move

your legs from mild to severely sometimes known as augmentation..

the pills are making RLS symptoms worse.... but don't despair..

There are other methods and ways to get the dopamine to work

again in pill form. You take a holiday or pause from taking the

drug either with pain pills or you can use a patch of another

brand name and formula that starts the dopamine to work again.

Usually you can switch from one to another without a problem.

Some of the others come in pill form that releases dopamine into

your system right away or you can have the extended versions..

don't think that you are out of options yet. You have pill combinations

to try and pills that work and non dopamine pills that pack a punch

to RLS..

Theres Lyrica, Gabapentin, Venlafaxine, some others in that class

plus there are muscle relaxers, pain pills and still others that can

be useful in lessening or wiping out RLS completely. These are

used in combinations with the dopamine or by themselves.

You can try changing up your diet. Adding vitamins and minerals

that you are deficient in. Your doctor will check if you need these.

Sometimes that's all that is needed to fix the problem of RLS..

You have a lot of options to discuss with your doctor. Relief might be

just one pill away. =)

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If you are talking about the dopamine meds then, its when you take too much, that causes the RLS to get worse, its called augmentation. The dopamine med you are taking turns against you, making your RLS worse instead of giving you relief. Taking dopamine doesnt cause RLS, you wouldnt be taking a dopamine med if you didnt already have RLS. The new recommended dosage for dopamine agonists are now, for Mirapex (pramipexole) no more than two of the lowest dose pills. For Requip (ropinerole) it is no more than 1mg. Keeping the dose as low as possible will keep augmentation at bay hopefully longer. Altho even a low dose can cause augmentation. Just done let your doctor increase your dose above what is now recommended, not all doctors know the new dosage and you have to inform them. Not all doctors know about augmentation.

[Hidden]

Where did you read that? I read somewhere to. Too much dopamine in brain and no where to go because doesn't stick too bad receptors.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I believe that I was having that discussion with someone recently. It was written that it was a personal theory as in brainstorming. There are a lot of theories rolling around. One of these days someone will hit on something in research. (we all hope) If new ideas are not born, we will not progress. There has to be a lot of failures before they find some new drug or the reason that the brain will not release dopamine.

I am always on the lookout for new information and read up on articles that are sounding promising.. I usually take those to the side and discuss those ideas in another setting with another person or two so that we don't confuse people on this forum. By the question that you raised, I would swear that you were a fly on the wall hearing my convo with the others who read the articles with me... haha.. Cool though. =)

I mean that in a fun teasing way... =) It sounds like a theory -- only part of one that I came up with.

[Pete-1 in reply to Hidden]

Do you mean Dopamine agonists or Dopamine proper via Levodopa? Too much normal Dopamine results in hallucinations and dsykinesia. Too much Dopamine agonists can (famously) result in obsessive behaviour and there are other side effects. Also stopping Dopamine agonists can be very difficult due to very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.

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Well, if THATS what the poster is talking about, i would love to read that too. Never heard of having too much dopamine in the brain. Rack your brains ( ha ha) and try to remember where you read it.

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The pills that you would take are neurotransmitters that cause

the dopamine to flow in the brain eventually to the spinal cord..

the receptors job is to keep it moving.. and that they do better when

you take the "dopamine" pills as they call them. =)