Worried and desperate

[vonnie1947]

Hi everyone I am new on this site and my restless legs making me very depressed. I take ropinirole and gabapentin at night. I have also been taking citalopran for four days now and my legs were worse last night. Can anyone offer me encouragement? Also do any of you smoke? Thank you.

[Madlegs1]

Yess- it's the citalopran that is causing your problems.

Check out " rlshelp.org" page 77. It seems there are alternatives.

Good luck , and let us know how you get on.

Depending on how long you have been on Ropinerol , you could be experiencing augmentation - but get of the Cit first and see how you get on.

Smoking is so bad for the body and those surrounding it that it can only be a good thing to make the break.

But if you are suffering from anxiety- then it may not be a realistic option.

Good luck.

[vonnie1947 in reply to Madlegs1]

Thank you for your reply, I have only been on citalopran a few days and due to up my dose next Monday but I do not think I will take anymore. I have had depression on and on off all my life and it has come back with a vengeance again. But I am still here!¬! One of my greatest pleasures is walking down to my local coffee house in the morning and having a cigarette with a espresso. But I never know when to stop. If I could limit that to a couple a day it would be good. I will check that site out and thank you Madlegs for your post. I am new on here today and grateful for any support from everyone.

[Hidden in reply to vonnie1947]

Watch the antidepressants as they can cause a lot of problems but if you have depression caused by RLS then the antidepressants will make it worse and depress you further!

If you are on Citalopram just for RLS stop them.

If you are suffering depression because of different reasons look at rls-uk.org and rlshelp.org sites for advice.

[vonnie1947 in reply to Hidden]

Hi raffs. Good of you to respond to my post. The RLS was under control with 1mg of ropinirole after evening meal and 900mg of gabapentin at bedtime. but I do often take zopiclone as well which i am weaning myself off. I wake in the early hours depressed and dreading the day. I have a history of depression caused through alopecia so have a lot to deal with. I havent taken antidepressants for over a year but doc prescribed citalopran which I believe makes the RLS worse. I am not sure what to do now.

[Hidden in reply to vonnie1947]

There are anti depressants that are more easily tolerated by people with RLS rls-uk.org and rlshelp.org both advise on what ones.

Also there are better ways to treat depression than pills. I will PM you - if I forget contact me, (I have ME and therefore a really crap memory).

Stay strong you are among friends here with great knowledge.

[Kaarina Administrator in reply to vonnie1947]

Hi vonnie,

Wellbutrin (not available in the UK) and Trazodone do not generally worsen RLS. Mirtazapine ( Remeron ) will worsen RLS for a small minority but not everyone.

Citalopran, unfortunately, is listed as one of the medications to avoid on the RLS-UK website. rls-uk.org

[Graham3196 in reply to vonnie1947]

The only person I know who has successfully limited his cigarettes per day for a long time was 46 years old and had such bad emphacymia that he had to rest every 100 metres he walked. He smoked a half cigaretyte in the morning and another half at 4pm. He died when he was 48 and looked 70

Try really hard to up nicotine completely as soon as you can.. Its designed to make an addict of you to make a bunch of sociopathic capitalists rich.

[niabxxx in reply to Graham3196]

It's made plenty of Communists Rich to believe me

[AnneJende]

I too have suffered from depression since my teens and really have no choice but to take antidepressants. It seems that the best choices are Wellbutrin & Trazadone.

Good luck and never give up you'll figure this out. We're all different and our bodies react differently to all meds. I actually take citalopram and have no problems but this is not usual.

[martino]

I smoke a pipe and find it quite calming. I am not suggesting that you should take up pipe smoking!! but you asked about smoking

[Grammieof4]

Madlegs is right! It's the citalopram making it worse. I as soon as I weaned off of it (I had taken it for 10 years,) my RLS improved greatly.

[Hidden]

I'm an ex smoker and am delighted I don't use tobacco any more. My friend uses a vape and he let me have a go and I could feel the hit in my chest just like a cigarette and would imagine this would be a much better approach to smoking than ordinary cigs, (mind you cannabis smoking is a different kettle of herb).

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

With you on the no smoking Raffs p.

I wish I had never started, 30 years of smoking has wrecked my lungs.

I have irreparable damage necessitating much drug intervention to help me breathe, I'm permanently on antibiotics, I have regular physio sessions and use a cPap at night - I definitely look and sound like Darth Vader at night that's for sure ;D

The heart problems I have are also linked to my poor oxygen intake.

Now there was something else ?? .............oh yes, bl**dy RLS how could I forget that !!

Despite everything I have a great life which I enjoy as much as I can, so please don't think I'm looking for sympathy or feeling sorry for myself because I'm not.

However, I do feel angry that I ignored all the info out there that tells you how bad smoking is for you, the problem I think is that when you're young you feel invincible and are sure that nothing's going to happen to you.

I guess you could say I'm pretty ant-smoking

I think the Vape is a great idea, I know 3 people now who have successfully kicked the fags using them. They weren't around when I gave up, I used nicotine tabs that you placed under your tongue. Surprisingly it wasn't as hard to give up as I thought it would be, getting in the right frame of mind made all the difference, I was determined that I was going to be a non-smoker.

I'm sorry this post is so long

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I too am anti smoking - it is the only drug that doesn't get you high or do anything positive, (the relaxing effect people notice is the ending of withdrawals!!!).

Lets face it even Methamphetamine has a high and a 'good' side but tobacco addicts and if used correctly will kill at least half of its users. I wasted nearly 30 years smoking - starting as a child! I wanted to be cool like the big lads and the actors on TV no other reason and boy did that cost!!!

It can be difficult to beat as it can be used while you function - I can smoke 20 fags in a day and still work, 20 beers would be different. That said the right frame of mind and maybe a bit of thick wit and it can be done.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I was 17 yrs old and working away from home when I started. I was the youngest by several years, many of my new colleagues smoked, the women seemed cool and sophisticated and I wanted to be that as well !!

Even before the long term damage was a real problem, I had bouts of Bronchitis every winter with a cough that would last for weeks and weeks, I was always getting terrible sinus headaches and sore throats and yet crazily I would still carry on smoking through it.

It sure is an addiction, I would panic if I found I only had 1 ciggie left and it was too late for the shop's, I would get in a right state.

There's only 2 people now in our group of friends who still smoke, a husband and wife and I don't think will ever stop, they just don't want to. They have 3 kids aged from late teens early twenties who also smoke, I can't go to their house at all now I just can't breathe in there. Their ceilings and walls have yellowed from the nicotine - yuck !!

Thanks for all your posts by the way, they are informative and also often humorous, many have made me chuckle and have lifted my spirits when the legs decide to go crazy.

You Irish lads are a hoot when you get going ;D

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for the kind words, I am in the process of training up madlegs1 - but its not easy

When I stopped smoking I gave EVERYONE who smoked dogs abuse constantly calling them junkies and asking them if they ever planned to stop being weak!!

They all said when I broke they would have their turn, 12 years later and they are still waiting. I knew if I had to face their comments it would work as an extra incentive and man has it worked.

I had an uncle died from emphysema/chest problems. I watched him sitting on the edge of his bed pulling off the O2 to have a bit of a smoke, he had barely the energy to inhale. It is a terrible addiction/affliction and considering that drugs such as cannabis and magic mushrooms which are much safer - much MUCH safer, (see Nutt et al 2010) you have got to question why the Govt. keeps them legal!!

Right I'll get off me soap box!

[dianechard22]

I’m the same having no sleep at the min wished there was a cure

[dotgab in reply to dianechard22]

Restavin liquid vitamins by Rejuvica first thing to work for me all my life. Also sleeping on my stomach stops it, but cranks the neck!

[dotgab]

Restavin liquid vitamins by Rejuvica (all natural biologic) first thing to work for me all my life. Also sleeping on my stomach stops it, but cranks the neck! No drugs, they will have other bad effects.