Chest infection and RLS. Not to be recommended.

[Greenacre]

Hi fellow members, I thought I'd post some observations on my Chest infection and RLS. I have been a RLS sufferer for many years now and I seemed to have it reasonably controlled with Pramipexol and Tramodol medication. Normal pattern after taking my evening fix around 10pm was to try and get some sleep on the floor or sofa (not been in bed for a long time) my usual pattern is to leg twitch or arm twitch for a couple of hours. Standing, sitting, walking around, drinking tea, cold water treatment on my arm etc. sure many of you know the drill. Eventually I would get a few hours sleep. Getting to the point I started with a bad chest infection a month plus ago and my GP put me on a course of Steroids and Anti Biotics followed by a second stronger course. These meds have impacted negatively on my RLS that now continues all through the night. On top of which I still have a annoying persistent cough mainly at night that doesn't help. Nights now are so long but although during the day if I am inactive I feel very tired overall I do not appear to be suffering from lack of sleep. I suppose it may be the steroids that is giving me a boost during the day.

My concern is that when I have finished the medication and over the chest infection will my RLS settle back to how it was or am I stuck with it and living without sleep.

[beady3]

Sorry you have been poorly,no one knows how you are going to be when you finish your meds,all I can say is keep on with the Tramodol and hope your cough soon goes x

[Pippins2]

Hi Greenacre,good to hear from you after all this time but sorry you are having problems.Now what I want to know apart from the steroids and antibiotics are you taking any other medication for your chest such as cough linctus, cold medication ANYTHING ? The reason I am asking is any cough and cold medications that you can buy without a prescription contain Diphendramine or Pseudo epinephrine. These ramp up restless legs severely in most sufferers.

Last time we chatted you had just had your knee replacement , how are you going on with that now? ?...Pippins

[Greenacre in reply to Pippins2]

Spot on Pippins2. You have a good memory. Firstly my knee operation has been a great success, no more pain, no need for a stick. Enjoy a good walk. I will need the other knee doing before long.

The only additional meds I have been taking for the chest infection are the antibiotics and steroids. I take Tramadol and Pramipexole for RLS I do have other health issues however. I have Atrial Fibrillation, taking Warfarine, hyper Tension, taking Doxasosin, Losartan, Diabetes2 taking Simvastatin, Gliclazide. COPD taking Symbicort and Salamol as needed. Wow, keep clear I may explode! I have been taking all these for many years now. It would be interesting to know if any of this cocktail is likely to worsen RLS and possibly help to make me cough.

Your comments would be appreciated.

[Pippins2 in reply to Greenacre]

Hi,I did a bit of research on your meds and nothing stands out as something to worsen RLS.I have heard others say statins which you are taking (Simvastatin) has appeared to make their legs worse but the experts say they do not! So did you ever try the Neupro patch we discussed before? What dose of Pramipexole and Tramadol are you taking? It may be time for a change in your RLS treatment. Its very common for meds to stop working after a while and we often have to swap and change to get relief...Pipps

[Greenacre in reply to Pippins2]

Good Morning pippins2, thank you for all your effort on my behalf. Pramipexole I take 2x0.25mg @ 10pm, Tramadol 50mg, I take one morning, one 5pm, two 10pm. Yes I tried Neupro patch, but they did not appear to work, plus I could not keep them on unless I put a bandage over it. Perhaps I didn't persevere long enough as they do see a popular treatment. Saw my GP again and I am surprise, suprise feeling a little better this morning. Last day on anti biotics and steroids today.

[Pippins2 in reply to Greenacre]

Well Greenacre I am very pleased you are feeling a little better and have almost finished your medications for your chest infection. I do very well with the Neupro patch apart from I react badly to the adhesive but they dont work for everyone. They take 3 days to reach full effect so if you tried them for 3 days and they didn't help then you gave them long enough.

Your dose of Pramipexole is high, the new recommended daily dose is only 2x0.088.It sounds like time gor a change have you tried Requip(Ropinerole) or Pregablin?

Have you also had your Ferratin iron level checked recently? This needs to be at least 70 for RLS sufferers which is much higher than the level considered ok for a non sufferer.

[Greenacre in reply to Pippins2]

Hi pippin2 plus all who has responded to my post. Hmmm you have all given me a lot of food for thought. Having taken everything into consideration, this is how I see things. I understand from my GP that Anti Biotics and Steroids play havoc with your INR and Blood Sugar Levels.. Firstly then, my objective will be to get these under control again. This from experience will take several months to achieve my targets. Then I will make another pilgrimage to my GP and ask him to carry out a medication review and discus with him coming off Statins when I live with Atrial Fibrillation.

So again,thank you all and watch this space

[nightdancer in reply to Pippins2]

Statins cause muscle damage in the legs. MY mother was on statins, and she could barely walk. Insisted her doctor take her off them, and she is 87 now, and I cannot keep up with her. But that is a WAY different feeling and ache than RLS is. I see nothing in your med list that should be bugging your legs either.

[Hidden]

Greenacres, do you ever feel like the last thing you need is another drug? Statins have gotten a bad rap lately and probably for good reason so think twice about that one and talk to your doctor. Gliclazide stimulates insulin production and normal levels of insulin are important for brain function and thus this may actually not be bad in terms of RLS??? Doxasosin might be for hypertension but it sounds like it is a dopamine agonist of sorts which might be a bad thing in the long run and some studies suggest that it is no better than a diuretic and maybe worse in terms of the heart. You have to do some research on that drug, all for that matter. Losartan seems like a reasonably good drug if you have no choice. It does however have the side effect of respiratory infections. I think there are newer and probably more expensive versions of that drug so maybe check that out. Not much choice with the COPD drugs but do research and find the best one out there.

One step at a time. See if your doctor will allow you to stop the statins for a week. People who have reported improvement in their RLS after stopping the statins have indicated it only took a few days to see the improvement. If it were my body, in addition to stopping the statins for one week, I would seriously look at that Doxasosin, not just in terms of RLS, but in terms of heart health.

And Pippins is right. Make sure you are not taking any of the allergy meds that can aggravate RLS. People will also use these drugs for motion sickness not just allergies and sinus problems. Right there alone you might get significant improvement and those drugs are usually not life saving medications and can be stopped or changed.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

everydayhealth.com/drugs/do...

[Hidden]

Wow, fascinating beyond all belief. Here's an interesting article about the next generation drug of Doxazosin. I don't have high blood pressure but it sounds so good I might have to sign up for it. Plus another article indicates that it protects dopamine neurons in the brain!

lifeextension.com/Magazine/...

[Hidden]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/223...

Did I say wow?

[Hidden]

Sherry75 is quite right- think twice about statins. Your brain needs cholesterol; statins were a really bad idea to start with. And in some people they indeed do make RLS worse, though doctors will downplay any side effects reports, convinced you need them or you'll die of a heart attack. Your call, but you might try giving them up for awhile to see what happens.

[Mopsy1950]

Hi greenacre I am new to this forum and to find so many people to talk to is marvellous for me never had anyone in NZ to discuss things with,I to have had chest infections for the last two winters ,funny thing was they were both the same month of the year , and was put on steroids and antibiotics ,like you I have RLS had for quite a few years do know the sleep pattern ( not very nice is it) they didn't seem to make me worse , but am waiting to see if I'm going to get this chest infection again this year in the same month,,, seems rather weird but could there be a pattern and has anyone else had this chest infection just wondering if all this restless nights weakens the body and get prone to things like this as if we don't have enough to put up with ,thanks for letting me ramble

[Greenacre in reply to Mopsy1950]

Hi Mopsy 1950, I sure hope you don't get a chest infection again. I seem to be over mine apart from an annoying cough. Next time I visit my GP I will ask him if I can have a chest X-ray. A spell of nice sunny days would Help. It's 3am here and can't sleep RLS so made myself a cup of good old English tea. When I look back my mother must have had RLS but I don't think it had been properly recognised. I have to say I wasn't particularly sympathetic with her when she used to pace up and down the lounge. I have a set of odd rituals I go through to control my Rls. I am convinced that body temperature is key to relieving rls. I find that unless your body is the same Inside and out you will be twitching. For eg. I find that my legs can be boiling on the inside but feel cold on the outside. To balance this I use cold water, the same goes for my arms. Depending where the imbalance is I do different things if it's my body core I will take my shirt or pyjama top off. I have recently ( although I was scepticle) started wearing a copper band on my wrist. I could go on but I am running out of space but all of this along with the Tramadol and Pramipexole enables me to get a few hour sleep and stay sain.

I hope this helps.

[Mopsy1950]

Hi Greenarce it is 5.10 afternoon here or should I say evening ,my sympathy for you it's not fair is it I have heard of Tramadol but not of other drugs in mentioned it's nice to have people who understand ,it makes you feel like a hypacondric sometimes ,I roll around on the floor, it's ok when I get down but just to squeeze back and forth on the part that's playing up does get rid of it ,hurts like ---- at first then slowly feels better it's worth the getting down and up believe me ,hope you get to bed soon will say nite nite