Am I augementing

[BLUES60]

Hello everybody I haven't been on the site for while, so I won't go into all my history, had rls for about 5 years, was on perapexapol for about 4 years, when I began to augment badly, weaned myself of those took about 4 months, went on a few other drugs that were no good, the put on 100mlg of pregabalin and 50mlg of tramadol, OK for a while, but I now feel if I am augmenting again, but it does seem to be a very low dose to augment on, what do you think, I am seeing a specialist on Wednesday, but to be honest I haven't got much faith in him, any advice I am suffering.

[Pam34]

Hello

In your previous post I mentioned that I was on 150mg of Pregabalin and all still good.

After ropinirole (😱) I was on 50mg of Tramadol for 18 mths until it stopped working. Having experienced full blown augmentation I think this was simply my body had become tolerant of the dose rather than augmentation again.

So you could have become tolerant of the Tramadol or you could be one of the unfortunate people who is augmenting on it.

Maybe it’s time to speak to the specialist and play with the dose? Stop the Tramadol and increase the Pregabalin to 150mg and given that a few weeks to see if it helps. I doubt you will notice anything straight away as you will need to allow your body to withdraw from the Tramadol.

It’s a starting point - good luck.

Pam

[LotteM in reply to Pam34]

Good reply, Pam.

[BLUES60 in reply to Pam34]

Thanks pam I will drop the tramadol and try 200 mlg of pregabalin as the tablets are 100 mg tablets.

[Hidden in reply to BLUES60]

Tried all that. NOTHING WORKS

[ssmlady56 in reply to Hidden]

Oh no, I'm counting on there being something that helps.

[Hidden in reply to ssmlady56]

Hope you can count to infinity

[ssmlady56 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks, nope I lose track before I get that far.

[Joolsg]

I agree with Pam. I was on tramadol 50mg and Gabapentin after Augmentation on Ropinirole.

They didn’t seem to help at all so I switched to OxyContin 10mg twice a day. This worked brilliantly for about a week until I developed severe panic attacks ( never had them before). Dr Buchfuhrer advised adding pregabalin at night to stop the panic attacks and help with sleep.

He was right and I now take OxyContin and pregabalin ( up to 150mg).

It’s all a bit of trial and error to find the right combination and dose and timing of drugs that works for you.

As Pam advises, drop the tramadol and slowly increase pregabalin up to a maximum of 300mg. You should see what is the lowest dose that works for you by waiting at least 5 days before increasing. 150mg may work well for you.

[BLUES60 in reply to Joolsg]

I will try 200 mlg asthey are 100 mlg tablets, thankyou

[Joolsg in reply to BLUES60]

I wouldn’t make such a big jump so quickly. Ask your doctors for 25mg pills and add 25mg every 5/6 days to monitor the effects. It’s always better to increase these drugs slowly.

[BLUES60 in reply to Joolsg]

What shall I do then just stick to the 100 mlg?

[Joolsg in reply to BLUES60]

Until you can get 25mg I would stick to 100mg OR cut open the capsule on a piece of card and divide the powder into quarters and then just take 100mg plus quarter of the powder. I do that with pregabalin if I want to increase or decrease the dose. It won’t be exact but until you get the 25mg pills it should work. Can you call your GP or write to ask for a new prescription of 25mg pills? My surgery is very helpful and the receptionist will pass on any urgent request or pass my email to a GP.

[Bat3353]

Did you go to the rls foundation and look for a specialist on the site in your area I found one in my area in orlando fl that is very knowledgeable

[BLUES60]

No I haven't, I will try

[Tinabugsu]

My understanding augmentation only occurred with dopamine agonists

[BLUES60 in reply to Tinabugsu]

Yes that's whatl thought, I'm maybe just having a particularly bad attack, you know what this can be like!!

[Tinabugsu in reply to BLUES60]

It's horrible. I'm on methadone and so far I'm sleeping like a rock 10 days in a row

[Pam34 in reply to Tinabugsu]

Not strictly true unfortunately although instances with Tramadol are much rarer.