Medication Question

[whiteleye]

I suffer from insomnia; neuropathy in my feet; and moderate restless leg syndrome. I take Horizant (gabapentin enacarbil) 600 mg. This is not enough medication to let me sleep more than a few hours of interrupted sleep and I take hours to fall asleep. In the past, I have used the Neupro patch 1 mg, adding Ambien; Sonata; or low dose hydrocodone for the nights I can't fall asleep. A few months ago, I was able to get a prescription for 5 mg hydrocodone and I weaned off the Neupro and depended upon the hydrocodone to fall asleep.

I am now on day 7 of a drug holiday from the hydrocodone. I am still taking the Horizant. Ambien and Sonata no longer do anything for me. I am going to tough it out and go 10 days on the modified drug holiday, but am resigned to having to go back on Neupro or hydrocodone. I am asking for opinions about which drug would be better?

Thank you!

[Madlegs1]

Depends on whether you were suffering augmentation on the neupro.

If that were the case then Hydrocodone would probably be better.

[whiteleye in reply to Madlegs1]

Thanks for your reply. I had suffered augmentation on .5 mg of pramipexole, but had not had the same problem with the Neupro. I decided on the modified drug holiday to assess where I am with the restless legs. I have decided that insomnia plays as large a role as restless legs. Regardless, I have a terrible time sleeping. And, Horizant combined with either Neupro or hydrocodone often leave me hungover in the AM, a side effect I may have to live with.

[Madlegs1 in reply to whiteleye]

I'd say some of the insomnia is tied up with the withdrawal from the various drugs- it can take quite a while for the effects to were off. Not just the chemical breakdown but the psychological after shocks. See PAWS or DAWS.

Keep going- you will get there in the end.

[Rwswiss in reply to whiteleye]

Try a low dose of aspirin with your other meds. All at the same time or rather just make sure you take the aspirin Just before you fall asleep. When I drank, that aspirin made the difference between a hang over or not. It also worked when I was taking hydrocodone.

[nightdancer]

Whatever one works for the best would be my quick answer, You know how they help you.

[davidadill]

10ml of codeine cough syrup always stops Rls for me. The challenge is getting access to it. As for insomnia, what works for me is counting my breaths and looking hard. Every time I inhale I count and I try to see things with my eyes closed in my dark bedroom. I will spot strange shapes that seem to move. Both tasks are difficult and boring, which I believe is why this method works. I often get to 10 or 20 and then find that I have failed to count, so then I start over. Maybe once a month I get to 100, but usually I fall asleep long before that. I have never before told anyone this method, so I would appreciate hearing if it works for others.

[RWick in reply to davidadill]

How much codeine cough syrup relieves the RLS each night? Does it not help with sleeping?

[davidadill in reply to RWick]

10ml works every time. 5ml is not enough. Maybe something in between is as good as 10ml, but I have not experimented enough to know. I have no idea if it helps with sleeping. It just prevents rls.

The other thing that helps me is 10-15 minutes of vigorous walking just before getting into bed.

[RWick in reply to davidadill]

Thanks I'm interested if the codeine cough syrup would not cause me the side effects of pramipexole that I'm trying to recover from. Insomnia is hard to resolve also. Thinking this might help both RLS and insomnia

[robloew2]

The combination of 2 mg Ropinerole, 2 mg Hydromorphone, and 10 mg Ambien works for 25 out of 30 nights per month. The morphone also helps with my 2 knees that are bone-on-bone after 2 surgeries. The other 5 nights are spent slowly walking around a 2400 sq. ft. 2 story house.