Help

[Hoochybaby]

I'm on week five of cutting back on pramipexole I am going very slowly and I managed until recently but I have not slept for four nights and I am walking around in a trance I was prescribed gebetentin ( spelling?) which I haven't used yet can't even find them in the house I'm so hung over and living on my own doesn't help and the dogs pretty useless😁 I remember on the packet for the gebetentin it stated " do not stop using this product" what does that really mean what are these pills for and will I get hooked on these???? Hope I'm making some sense but my faculties are all over the place walking around the house at 3am night after night doesn't help😴

[Madlegs1]

Yeah-- I reckon the dog wouldn't be great on restless legs-- more like PLMD.

Well done for getting this far.

You started at .52 mg, so it wont be easy.

You need to start with the Gabapentin because it takes a few weeks to get going in your system. It won't help with the withdrawals.

For them ,you could ask your doc for a sleeping pill at a low dose just for a few nights- to give you some sanity.

Low dose opiates (Tramadol) could help cope with the withdrawals.

Gabapentin, along with any painkiller, can lead to addiction/ dependency or tolerence. If you want to deal with the rls, then you have little choice.

You should check on ferritin levels, food triggers etc. Just read back on the last two weeks posts.

Good luck.

[Chicafromchitown]

I tried cutting back on the same medication, but I couldn’t go through it, I was going crazy 😜 specially at night, days with no sleep 😴 at all. Horrible withdrawal symptoms I just couldn’t take it. So I went bk. I will try again though (maybe?) I figured well I also have Parkinson’s so it serves both purposes. Why do you want to stop? But you made it this far keep going you can do it 👍

Good luck to you!!!

[Joolsg]

You should ask your doctor for some sleeping pills ( zolpidem) and tramadol to take during this withdrawal period.

It is hellish and you will feel you can’t get through it but you can. There will be a period of 10-14 days after the last dose when RLS is constant- don’t give in. Dr B advised me I could take 50mg tramadol every 4 hours during this time.

Gabapentin is an anti seizure drug so stopping it suddenly without reducing slowly may cause seizures. It is a very helpful drug for RLS so do not be afraid to take it.

As Madlegs advises, start taking it now as it takes 3 weeks to become effective. It won’t help your RLS until you are through withdrawal.

Stay strong- getting off dopamine agonists after Augmentation is the best thing I ever did ( although the withdrawal was the worst thing ever ).

[Chicafromchitown in reply to Joolsg]

Joolsg

Do you know if amantadine helps with RLS, since it’s a dopamine agonist?

[Joolsg in reply to Chicafromchitown]

I don’t know of anyone on this site who has used it but I did find this link

medscape.org/viewarticle/52...

100-300mg a day of amantadine is mentioned.

It’s a drug used to combat fatigue in MS and is a weak dopamine agonist.

I would avoid like the plague as if it is a DA, it will no doubt cause Augmentation.

[Chicafromchitown in reply to Joolsg]

Thank you 😊

[BJamn]

I came down exactly like you but I took gabapenten all through the day and at bedtime. During the worst of it I took zolpeden . After I had transitioned off of pram I had to get off zolpeden (ambien) that. Only took a couple nights. Now I am on Horizant a slow release gabapenten and I supplement that with 200 mg caps of gabs at noon, eve and bedtime

Right now I am sleeping pretty well most nights but if I get stressed then my rls can go sideways.

The withdrawal from pram is so bad it just reinforced to me that it is not a good drug.

Good luck and start the gabipentin

[Sara_2611]

Hello Hoochybaby

Id ask your gp whether the tablets are addictive