Gabapentin belsomore

[Shumbah]

600 mg gabapentin at bedtime

2 x Panadiene forte twice nightly

2 temazipan. X nightly

I am trashing around like a maniac

Any other ideas for sleep meds to try with gabapentin only been on it for 15 days

I’m not comping at all

[Lapsedrunner]

It can take around 3 weeks to take effect but that’s a high starting dose.

Are you on anything else, antidepressants, antihistamines, indigestion meds, some of these can worsen RLS.

Lastly have you had your ferritin level checked, see pinned post re iron on the main page.

[Shumbah in reply to Lapsedrunner]

Hi lapsedrunner

Only blood pressure and thyroxine for previous cancer .

I travelled to John Hopkins from Australia- as no one can help here

I have also seen genetics recently all bloods good iron a bit high from infusion

Kind Regards Kester

[Shumbah in reply to Lapsedrunner]

Sorry this is the first medication I have been on as the codiene worked for nearly 30 years

[Lapsedrunner in reply to Shumbah]

Fingers crossed the gabapentin will kick in soon . Let us know how you get on.

[Hidden]

Firstly to second Lapsedrunner, Gabapentin, if you've started it recently, takes a while to work.

Additionally, there may be some factors making your RLS worse at this time e.g. as Lapsedrunner says, antidepressamts, antihistamines and indigestion remedies.

Also, you don't say, is Gabapentin the first treatment you've had for RLS?

Were you previously on something else. If so what were you on, what dose and have you now stopped it? How recently?

Panadeine won't be particularly useful for insomnia or RLS symptoms. The amount of codeine in it is probably insufficient, but if you took more you would be in danger of taking too much paracetamol. As it is twice "nightly" paracetamol sounds like too much in too short a space of time. The paracetamol will have little effect, except if you have too much, then it could cause fatal liver failure.

Temazepam, can be used in the short term for insomnia, but isn't very effective for RLS symptoms.

You can take up to 900mg Gabapentin, after that side effects will start kicking in.

You could see your doc and have some blood tests to see if their is any underling cause, serum ferritin, renal function, thyroid function and diabetes tests could eliminate any problems with those.

[Shumbah in reply to Hidden]

Hi Manerva

I travelled John Hopkins in Maryland from Australia

Had my barrage of bloods all was good

I had already previously had iron infusion my levels were still high although they were NOT low to start with

I Dr at Hopkins said to continue codlene as the body was more than capable of dealing with these to doses at night.

I have also had other tests with geneticist .

I have had this since a child , however the deterioration stated about 7 months ago at a fast rate of knots .

Im on thyroxine from previous thyroid cancer , and blood pressure tabs.

I am in a privileged position I can afford to live for ever however this disease is stealing my life

[LotteM in reply to Shumbah]

Hi Kester, you say things changed 7 months ago. Can you trace back if anything altered in your life (stressors, diet, meds including otc meds, etc) around that time? It may have ‘triggered’ the RLS to a higher level. RLS is also known to go through phases and to progress.

If the gabapentin doesn’t work but the codeine and at some time morphine worked well, you may want to discuss a stronger painkiller with your doctor, e.g. tramadol , oxycontin or even methadone. See the seminal paper from the IRLSSG on the use of opioids for RLS: mayoclinicproceedings.org/a....

I hope you find relief again soon.

[Shumbah in reply to LotteM]

No nothing has changed , I travel 6 months of the year

Trying to find something not prohibited

In some countries

😢

[Hidden in reply to Shumbah]

Hi again, as Lotte says, you might want to discuss a stronger opiate with your doctor. You may be capable of dealing with codeine, but it doesn't appear to be enough. Also, as I said before Panadeine also has paracetamol in it and although the codeine may be no problem, the paracetamol could be. You mustn't underestimate the potential danger of paracetamol. There are stronger codeine only tablets, but even then, codeine is not probably not potent enough.

[Seehowyour]

They just up my Gabapentin for sleep. I quit it altogether because wasn't doing anything. Now I take my 2 Ropinorole for my RLS and a half of Ambien. I tried to get off the Ropinorole with no luck. I need a sleeping pill that will not make me feel groggy in the morning.

[Hidden]

I started taking my Gab (3 200MG Tablets) at 5:00 PM instead of bed time and found an improvement.

[MattK3]

That dose of gabapentin is EXTREME. It probably causes weird adverse effects that make your brain go haywire.

There are way more basic sleep meds. I still find melatonin one of the most natural and effective.

[involuntarydancer in reply to MattK3]

600mg of gabapentin is not that unusual in the treatment of RLS. I have seen people prescribed up to 900mg. I'm not a medical professional but I've not seen anyone say they thought it was particularly excessive before.

[MattK3 in reply to involuntarydancer]

Normal doses start at 25mg, 125mg should be quite a lot, I'd say above 300mg is starting to sound enormous. Since 125mg make sleepy already (compared to normal), I wonder if it's even the right treatment if more is necessary for something else than sleep specifically.

[Lapsedrunner in reply to MattK3]

My very good GP (in UK) prescribed a starting dose of 100mg gabapentin to be increased by 100mg if necessary up to a max of 300mg

[Jelbea in reply to MattK3]

Hi MattK3. As Involuntarydancer says 600 mg. gabapentin is not excessive and can actually be much more than this. In your post I noticed that you say "normal doses start at 25 mg ….." . On researching gabapentin nowhere do I see any tablets of 25 mg. or indeed 125 mg. and I am just wondering if you are confusing gabapentin with pregabalin (Lyrica) which does come in these sizes.

[John_naylor]

I take 3x400mg Gabapentin daily plus 2x50mg Tramadol and occasionally get a good nights sleep (if I behave myself and avoid triggers and stress....)

[lynnmcguire24]

Have you ever heard of nightshade veggies? I find if I do not eat them past 4 or 5 p.m. I do not have much trouble with restless legs. Nightshades are potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, any red sauces, chile peppers, pimentos etc. Just look online.. toeveryflareisaseason.com