Trying to wean off Mirapexin nightmare.

[Sheelaghj]

To tide me over whilst trying to come off mirapexin, because of augmentation problems, my gp prescribed me clonazepam and quinine . I went home with high hopes that this was going to stop the torture I was going through, and also let me sleep. However, it made my symptoms so much worse that I was awake all night with leg spasms and the rest. I don't know whether to persevere or just call him and say it's not helped. This is making me almost suicidal!!! Has anyone else had issues with this medication?

[Madlegs1]

Welcome Sheelagh,

What is your regime for tapering off the Mirapex?

You should be coming down by .088 every 3 or 4 days .

The quinine and clonazepam should help a bit - but not enough if you are coming down too quickly.

You will need Tramadol in that scenario. For immediate help , you could see if you can get some OTC codeine .

What are you planning to take next for the rls?

Good luck.

[marsha2306 in reply to Madlegs1]

I sympathize. I had an awful time coming off of it.

[involuntarydancer]

Coming off pramipexole is pure torture unless you have been on a very low dose. It is most likely that the symptoms you are experiencing are connected with the withdrawal from pramipexole rather than because the clonazepam and quinine are making you worse. The only drugs that help at this acute phase are opioids - tramadol or even oxycodone. You could try codeine but it was not man enough for the job for my withdrawals. I would go back to GP and describe your trauma in as much detail as possible and ask for tramadol to get you over the next few weeks. What dose of pramipexole were you on? How are you weaning off?

Please bear in mind that this awful phase does pass and you will feel better for not being on pramipexole. You may find that your symptoms are ultimately much better than when you were taking the pramipexole.

You could also get your iron levels checked as raising serum ferritin to over 100 is ultimately helpful in the majority of rls sufferers.

[Sheelaghj in reply to involuntarydancer]

I am weaning off by replacing the Mirapexin with the clonazepam and quinine, but it is not helping at all. I did suggest an opioid to the gp but this is what he advocated. It is pure hell !! 😢

[Pippins2 in reply to Sheelaghj]

Quinine won't help at all! It is for charley horse calf cramp not RLS x

[involuntarydancer in reply to Sheelaghj]

Unfortunately many GPs are very resistant to prescribing drugs strong enough to deal with the withdrawal process. It is hard.to advise what to do when faced with this problem. It depends a lot on the individual Gp. You could print some of the answers from Dr Buchfuhrers patients question pages on rlshelp,org or maybe buy one of the two textbooks on rls.

My specialist would not prescribe opiates for me and I did the withdrawal without any effective medical prescription but if I had known then what I know now I would not have settled for that. I would have sent emails at least once an hour all night every night to my specialist so that she would have a contemporaneous - almost real time experience of what I was going through. If she had continued to refuse the opiates I would have been no worse off and I would have gone some way to educating her about the hell of it.

[Madlegs1 in reply to involuntarydancer]

Ooooh! I like that strategy!

[involuntarydancer]

Bitter? Moi?

[nick-the-turk]

i have just came off those meds and i won,t lie it was awful please listen to advice from people on here they seen me through the darkest days i,ve ever had in my life and secondly my doctor but my on pregabalin and codiene phosphate i thought yes here we go another med that won,t work but wow i,m in a better place sleep wise or rest that i,ve been in for years.Fully understand what works for one may not work for another but might be worth talking to doctor about these meds but please please there are alot of GREAT people here that have valuable advice and they will see you through as they said to me you are never alone on this website day or night someone will talk good luck x