Coming Off Rop

[Hamish58]

Hi all. I have been advised by my GP to come off Ropinerol and go onto gabapentin but she wants it done in 3 days.....yeah right, you can tell she has never had it. My question to all out there is this. Is it right that you need to come off the Ropinerol completely before you go on the Gabapentin? Second, what sort of reduction per week would you suggest? I am on 2mg and have been for 11 months. Any suggestions as to the best regime as I am seeing my doctor on Friday and need to confront her with some facts so she can do some soul searching before I proceed and any to offer up an alternative to the hell I am sure I will go through? Thanks to all in advance.

[Hidden]

You run the risk of Dopamine Agonist Withdrawal Syndrome if you reduce too quickly:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/236...

Advise the GP of it and that you can taper SLOWLY off it while starting the Gabapentin. If they insist on doing it their way ask for another Dr would be my advice.

Many of us here take a DA and another drug together.

Check out nick-the-turk and taniabacon on here for further guidence.

Good luck and be careful with your Dr!!!

[taniabacon in reply to Hidden]

Hi! I am trying to come off pramipexole and it has caused me so much stress that I have ended up in hospital. My doctor was scathing and dismissed out of hand my tentative request for pain relief/sleeping pills to ease withdrawal. I am convinced my physical breakdown was due to her hardline tactics, and am exploring other local health centres that might accept me as a patient. I can only hope your doctor relents and listens to your concerns but if not....walk! X

[beady3]

Hi why have you got to come of the tablet ,I am on the patch and Pregablin also Tramodol, I don't have any probs Look at some of the olds letters on the forum ,hope some one else writes to you stick up for yourself go to another doc good luck x

[involuntarydancer]

Yes, as beady says, is there a good reason to come of ropinerole at this juncture? It might be better to stay on it if it is working. Just make sure you don't start increasing the dose to gain relief. If you find it receding in effectiveness then reduce the dose (even though this feels counter-intuitive) and use something else to take up the slack (at that stage you could introduce gabapentin or pregabalin or even tramadol). So long as you are very careful not to start using more and more ropinerole you might as well get as much as you can out of it surely?

If you do go with your GP's advice, you will probably find your symptoms get quite a bit worse when you first cut out ropinerole, especially if you come off it as quickly as your GP suggests. Gabapentin may not suffice on its own. If gabapentin does not work at that stage, it does not necessarily mean it won't work when symptoms settle down.

To recap: If you are augmenting on ropinerole, I doubt gabapentin would suffice for your symptoms when you come off it first. You will need an opioid or great stoicism.

If you are not augmenting on ropinerole why come off it?

[Kmoore464 in reply to involuntarydancer]

I'm on gabapentin 300 and requip 0.5 and magnesium oil roll on and other meds for Fibro mainly cymbalta. When I try to reduce gapabenting from 600 to 300 the rls got worse. Dr also suggested an iron supplement 65 mg