What is the best time to take ropinirole?

[Gentlechelle11]

I currently take ropinirole 5 mins before getting into bed. However sometimes my symptoms have already started by the time I take my medicine. Anyone know if it's more effect to take the ropinirole before I experience the symptoms or not.

[Pippins2]

Yes it is best to take it before symptoms start, I was told to take it 2-3 hours before bed. It's always easier to prevent RLS starting than to try and stop it once it's taken hold. .Pippins2 x

[Lin1045]

I have to take my ropinirole before my symptoms start , mine start at any time , sitting down after lunch , relaxing after supper . I take 2 befor supper ( when I'm preparing it) then 2 befor bed . This works for me , I deal with afternoon by distraction I know it sounds silly but gardening house work painting ( water colours ect ) helps . I dare not let it start before I medicate .

[Altair]

Yes, from experience, Ropinirole takes about 2 hours to kick in. You have to catch it before the symptoms start, otherwise it is an awful lot more difficult to suppress it.

[silleecharle]

I have to take 4 tablets a day so I start first thing in the morning, then lunch, dinner time and then going to bed but if I'm honest although iv been able to get some relief I still find myself very restless during the day, I never seem to be able to just sit and relax I always feel very restless, its awful cause I was never like this then my legs ache all the next day like iv run a marathon, take care

[iridiumblue]

My prescription says to take 1 hour before bedtime. But it only ever partially worked, and sometimes not at all. Increasing the dose helped somewhat.

One night, out of frustration, I did an experiment : I took it 2 1/2 hours before bed instead. Bang - that did the trick. Almost total relief, I slept soundly all night.

Took me 3 years to find that trick; I thought by posting here I might save someone some sleepless nights.

[yarner]

Good reading this. I just got my script for this drug to help my restless legs that I have had for many yrs. I had it under control using OTC "Restless Legs" from the Hyland company. I would take 2 and it would be gone in a few minutes. But the last 3 months I have been in misery. I used to get the restlessness 3...4...5 times a day and was taking way too much OTC med...4 to start and 4 more if it didn't work and so on. So I decided it was time to go see my doc. Wish me luck guys. Hope you are all doing well!

[involuntarydancer in reply to yarner]

Good luck Yarner.

If you are starting ropinerole/requip for the first time you will probably find it helps a lot with your symptoms. It is worth researching the drug however as it can prove very tricky down the line because it ultimately induces a phenomenon known as ‘augmentation’ (put it in the search bar for lots more information) and some rls experts are now reluctant to prescribe it as a first line treatment.

Start at the lowest dose - half the smallest tablet will probably provide relief initially and is worth trying at least. Keep your dose low - do not be tempted to increase it - no matter what your GP tells you - they are usually way behind the times on this. I wouldn’t increase above 1mg ropinerole if I had my time again. You can use an alternate remedy if breakthrough symptoms start to become unbearable - there are others such as pregabalin/gabapentin and tramadol. I would go as far as to suggest that you lower your dose or temporarily discontinue ropinerole if symptoms start to break through.

It is also important to keep your iron levels as high as possible - preferably over 100. Get a serum ferritin test from your GP if he/she hasn’t done one already (and if they haven’t, be aware that they probably know very little about rls - it should be one of the first things they do) and get the actual figure - not just that you are ‘normal’. Normal for people with rls is MUCH higher.

I wish someone had told me all this when I started on pramipexole (another drug in the same family as ropinerole).