Wean off of Ropinirole?

[jase318]

Hello,

I'm new here.....I just happened to find this website today, and it appears to be a helpful one!

I have quite a few health issues, but the most recent one has been extreme dryness of the lips, mouth, nasal passages, and throat. It started back around Nov 1, 2017. At first I thought it was a new supplement I started, but after stopping it for a week, I still had the extreme dryness. I tried this with several other supplements, and the dryness didn't go away. I even weaned off of Ambien! The only RX drug I'm on is Ropinirole. This morning when I took another ropinirole for RLS (2 am), within the next hour, my throat, lips, and nasal passages became extremely dry. Hmm... I wonder if it could be the ropinirole giving me these symptoms. I still don't really know. Has anyone out there had similar side effects from Ropinirole?

My ND had wanted me to try weaning off of Ropinirole, but I "had" to take it due to the severity of the symptoms. Now I'm seeing that I can't just stop it on my own. My MD may want to switch me to another drug, but they have side effects, too. Or the patch appears to be super expensive.

I have only come to realize that the dry mouth symptoms may actually be a side effect of ropinirole. I've been on this drug since 2009.

Thanks for any advice in advance

[Hidden]

Hi! I don’t have any experience with the drug you’re on, but I can tell you that dry mouth is a side effect of a lot of medicines out there. Whenever I go to refill one of my antideprssants, the pharmacist asks me 1. if I’ve taken it before and 2. (if I answer yes) have I ever had extreme dryness in the mouth? In addition to answering yes to the first one, I almost always answer yes to the second one as well. The pharmacist then refers me to chewable tablets (which I forget the name of now) that I can take several times a day to help with this. I have never bought these tablets because in my mind I look at them and sigh...it’s just one more thing to take that I don’t need.

Also, make sure yo get enough water!

[jase318 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Jess3648! I am guessing that my symptoms are from the Ropinirole even though they started just recently. Thanks for the reminder about drinking enough water!

[Hidden in reply to jase318]

You’re welcome😀. I’d rather have anything but water, so I need constant reminders as well.

[Joolsg]

Dry mouth and nasal passage is definitely due to the Ropinirole. I was on it for around 15 years and suffered those symptoms.

If Ropinirole is stopping your RLS and you are not experiencing Augmentation, I would stick with it. Keep to the lowest possible dose and do not increase it though.

[jase318 in reply to Joolsg]

Thanks Joolsg!

I wasn't sure if these symptoms were from Ropinirole or not. I've been on it since 2009, and the dry mouth didn't start until about 4 months ago. But...maybe that's when I started to up my dose......don't remember....but I recently went from 1 mg to 1.5 mg. Since you said those were your side effects, that does confirm my suspicion of it being Ropinirole.

My ND told me about Augmentation, but I'd never heard of that before. I think that might be part of my problem too, so weaning off or at least lowering my dose might help the symptoms (I hope).

[Joolsg in reply to jase318]

Lowering your dose will make the RLS symptoms worse initially as your body will scream out for the dopamine.

Augmentation is where RLS becomes more intense and starts earlier in the day. There are so many articles and links on this site. Just put Augmentation in the search box, top right.

I hope your RLS settles down and stabilises at 1mg. Don't be tempted to increase the dose as that definitely leads to Augmentation.

Good luck,

jools

[nightdancer]

Are you a mouth breather? could you have sleep apnea, which would be diagnosed in a sleep study. Could be partly the med, too, but could be a combination.

[jase318 in reply to nightdancer]

Some nights I think I'm a mouth breather. I don't think I have sleep apnea, but I've not been tested. The dryness is not only dry mouth, but nasal passages, dry skin, and super dry lips.

[Mounce01]

I too have had a long list of health problems I used to take requip 1 mg up 2 times a night. Finally had it and said I was done with all meds bc after researching I found that by taking one med for something caused many more problems then more meds. After almost dying from shock to my system I got off all meds! It was hell at first but I did it on my own and after about a month I'm pretty much hundred percent normal again for first time in over 2 decades! I may have a bad day every now and again but nothing like before with all the meds and their side effects. So long story short if you can get off as much meds as you can there's a GREAT chance your rls will go away or at least be more tolerable. Mine did and I used to never be able to ride in car for long and going to sleep was a nightmare for me and my husband bc I would constantly be kicking my legs. Best of luck to you all!

[lahita]

This might seem like a stupid suggestion, but if you go to webmd.com and enter ropinirole under medication you will find that dry throat is one of the side effects. You can also ask your pharmacist for the piece of information that is glued to the bottle of pills the druggist uses to fill your prescription. This piece of paper contains most of the information you could ask for about the drug. There are other websites that you can use to get info on drugs, just Google it. One more thing, I took Requip about 12 years ago and it did nothing for me.