Chocolate?

[Hamish58]

Hi all. Have reached 2mg of Ropinerol now though it has taken 5 months to get there and seem to be having a few problems now. I take .5 at about 6.30 in the evening and then 1.5 at about 9.30 an hour or so before I go to bed and this has seemed to work for about a week, but.....has anyone noticed if chocolate has effected their rls? had a bit too much last night, well it is Christmas and had a really bad night. Anyway, my doctor is a little worried that I am augmenting on the Ropinerol so is taking me off that and putting me on gabapentin. She has said that i need to make the change in a week by reducing by.5mg per day until I get to just .5 and then take the gabapentin. Anyone know if the two can be taken together?

[Madlegs1]

The two can be taken together. The Gaba will not help with the withdrawals and will take a while to effect calm for the rls.

That is quite a fast taper down. You could ask for meds to help you- such as Diazepam and Clonidine ,and Ambien for sleep, in the short term .

Your Dr misunderstands the nature of augmentation. One does not suffer Augmentation after tapering down , but before. You are suffering withdrawals.

I despair sometimes.😢

But , hey, it's the Happy season and let's be jolly - even if our hearts are breaking, for all the longsuffering humanity in the grip of ignorance .

Cheers . 😎

[stan38angler in reply to Madlegs1]

hi madlegs must say i look forwards to your posts your choice of words is spot on!!!!!! have you ever thought of becoming an MP lol no not taking the p!!!! best wishes for 2017

[Madlegs1 in reply to stan38angler]

Thanks- but I am already committed - the big Donald has asked me to be Secretary of Health. Am considering- but may have problems with some of my potential colleagues- they think RLS is a wimpy get out for dirty low down malingerers.

Ooh-- maybe I will take it on just to spite them!

Happy New Year. May it be "most interesting".😈

[phatsalmon]

after years of suffering and trying to figure out what causes my rls. I have stopped snacking on anything sweet in the evening and it seems to be working. my rls has calmed right down and I no longer pace the cold kitchen floor in the middle of the night. I did however have a few too many sweets the other night and low and behold I was up half the night!

[beady3 in reply to phatsalmon]

I agree with you about sweet things I try not to have any but have had some today we will see but no more after today

[Nightingale-5]

I used to take both on prescription but I didn't like Gabapentin so reduced them by 100 mg per week

[OldHollow]

Chocolate affects me badly and is fairly well documented as a Bad Thing where RLS is concerned. Any kind of stimulant tends to be problematic, along with alcohol. Merry Christmas...

[LoisTonya]

Yes, I had come to the conclusion that chocolate triggers my rls but it is not consistent. One day when I'd had Christmas pudding and two mince pies ( no chocolate) they were particularly bad. Perhaps sugar is the problem.

At one time I thought dairy caused the trouble. I only have milk in tea now, no longer having cereal for breakfast.

I do get some very good days and nights but ,up till now, I can't figure out if a particular food is implicated or if that is a red herring.

[Graham3196 in reply to LoisTonya]

It may not be a coincidence. There is a possibility that RLS is affected by the same foods as IBS. There are a bunch of foods that contain ingredients called FODMAPS and these include some foods commonly regarded as healthy. If you can't tolerate them they are not healthy. Lactose is one hat many people can't tolerate. Try lactose free milk. This can be almond, rice milk or just dairy that has had the lactose removed. Dried fruit such as you find in mince pies contain some other FODMAP.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of logic in the distribution of FODMAPS and you can only tell what foods are allowable by expensive testing. Or by googling FODMAP diet or buying the book or the App from Monash University, the home of fodmap.

I have found the FODMAP helped me a lot with bad RLS so I suggest to anyone who will listen that they give the diet a really onest trial for 12 weeks or so to see if it does good for them. I suggest you search this forum for references and see what happens.

Good Luck

Graham

[LoisTonya in reply to Graham3196]

Thank you Graham. More research for me. It gets a bit wearing but not as bad as the rls.

[Graham3196 in reply to LoisTonya]

Good Luck I hope it works for you. I've known several people who have tried it and its worked and it costs near to nothing. The diet sounds very restrictive at first but its better than RLS and the plan is to identify which FODMAPS your don't tolerate so you eventually only avoid those. Some FODMAPs effect depend on the quantity so you can eat a small quantity of them. I recommend you get some help from a dietician but ask them about their knowledge of FODMAPS before you put them on your team.

Graham

[John_naylor]

Chocolate was the first indication of RLS for me. Wondered what hit me at Easter and Christmas all those years ago. Not sure if you have built up your Ropinorole or have reduced to 2mg? Never tried GABA and Rop. together but both worked for a few months. Used Tramadol whilst coming off DA's and am still on it 2 years later. Works ok (100mg) if I watch diet and any triggers.

Good luck

[Jeanniebeannie]

Hi to be honest i find that if i eat junk or too much sugar my rls can be worse .

[Madlegs1]

Sorry- I forgot to address the chocolate issue in my reply.

Choc has caffeine in it which keeps a lot of people awake as a stimulant- but may not necessarily be a trigger for rls. But is for some people!

It also has a lot of sugar - and as people above have pointed out- that is a major trigger for many.

The weird thing about rls , is that it is so individual , and everyone seems to have a different reaction to different substances .

The reaction to plum pudding and mince pies that Lois experienced , could be due to sulphites in the ingredients and / or alcohol ( brandy butter?) .

We are such a powerful community- there for each other!

Blessings on you all- and a restful night this evening .

Cheers .

[martino]

I have 6 squares of chocolate each night and ny RLS gets bad about 9.30pm. I stopped the chocolate but there was no difference. I am back on it again. I have Neupro patch plus Gabapentin and they seem to work quite well together. Happy Christmas!!

[Hamish58]

Hi to all. Seems like choccy is now off the menu, no worries. Thanks for all your replies and assistance in 2016 and may I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a sleepy new year!

[Joolsg]

Taper off the ropinirole more slowly than that. .5 every week or preferably every 2 weeks and use tramadol/codeine/or an opiate to help while withdrawing as it ain't pretty!

Gabapentin can be used once you're off the ropinirole ( it won't help during withdrawal) but takes 3/4 weeks to take effect.

Chocolate!!!! I had quite a bit yesterday & even though I know it's a trigger I couldn't resist. I was up most of the night pacing so... I will be avoiding from now on.

I don't think the Snowball helped either but I felt such an old scrooge when everyone else was making merry. I must remember, Sugar is the enemy.

Good luck coming off the ropinirole & remember there is light at the end of the tunnel,

Merry Christmas

Jools

[chirpyandcheerful]

Definitely! Affects my partner too.

[Retren]

HBanish 58chocolate is anametha to me I don,t usually like it but CAdbury had some new (to me)bars with some sort of biscuit.I wolfed them down forgetting chocolate contains caffeine.I suffered for about a week not being able to control the RLS at all.one lives and learns.Sorry this post seems such a mess.27 Dec Happy New Year to all.

[Hidden]

Chocolate is no problem for me. or anything that is sweet and sugary. Its only alcohol i have to avoid.

[Angelaanddanny]

I have to avoid alcohol at all costs. Had food allergy testing done who said my body doesn't like tomatoes yeast and citrus fruits , if I eat any of those my legs are mental !