To Cautious

[Madolegs]

Had my appointment with the Doc on Friday explained about my arms also my legs aching and he said iv'e never heard of anybody having RLS in there arms he also said i shouldn't take any notice of the internet so i explained about Augmentation and showed him the sites i got them from he changed his tune.when i said i wanted to come off Ropinirole he said it had to be my decision so the out come is he's put me on a low dose of 100mg Neurontin (Gabapentin) One 3 times a day for 2 weeks then Two three times a day for 2 weeks. Iv'e told him i was going away for the weekend to my daughters so he told me not to start taking them till i came back home so i'm starting them today .The worry i have is after the month i have to go back and see him and he wants to wean me off at 1mg at a time i'm om 3mg now i thought that was a bit much as when i started on them it was 0.25 a gradual build up so i would have thought the same coming off them am i being over cautious or is that the way to go.i would value everyone's opinion that's been through this.

[Madlegs1]

You would be correct to come off the Rop as slowly and by as small increments as possible .

I'd be inclined to wait a few weeks untill you get to a decent dose of Neurontin ,about 900 per day, before starting to lower the Rop, although after 2 weeks you could start down by .25, as gou are proposing.

The really bad effects don't generally kick in untill you go down to less than 1mg, but it's different for each individual.

I'm sure others, with more direct experience of getting off Rop, will chip in.

Good luck. You have a good understanding of what you are at.

Cheers.

[Madolegs in reply to Madlegs1]

Thank you

[Hidden in reply to Madolegs]

Just to say, I agree with Madlegs

[rls-insomniac in reply to Madlegs1]

Hi, I'm currently tapering down from ropinirole due to augmentation. I was on an exceptionally high dose and was taking up to 9 mgs per day. I started off by reducing 1 mg per month and came down to 2 mgs per day. I've just started to take 1.5 mgs per day and will wait and see how I cope. I did see my doctor when I was down to 3 mgs as I was suffering so badly with RLS symptoms and sleep deprivation. That said, you may not have such severe symptoms as you are on a much lower dose. Everyone is different. My doctor prescribed me with 30/500 mgs of codeine on a short term basis but no gabapentin. I would certainly agree with the others. Taper down very slowly as suggested by Madlegs. If it gets hard, then maybe your doctor would be prepared to prescribe a low dose opioid in addition to the gaba. I don't believe in looking at withdrawal through rose tinted glasses. I understand from those who have been down this road, it is well worth the effort. You may be one of the lucky ones and coming off will be relatively straight forward.

I wish you luck. I've found the people on this forum to be very supportive should withdrawal become tricky.

[Madolegs in reply to rls-insomniac]

yes i thought 1mg was a bit much i'll have a word with him when i go in

Thank you

[Hidden]

I agree with Madlegs too.

[Madolegs]

thank you

[Seehowyour]

I couldn't take Gabapentin it made me to where I couldn't function at all. Maybe you will have better luck. Medication seems to do the opposite for me compared to others.

[Madolegs in reply to Seehowyour]

I hope its ok i've only been on 2 days all is ok up to now no side affects its the weaning off ROP i'm worried about

[batesm0t3l]

Hello.

I've never taken Gabapentin but I do suffer from RLS.

I take medication called Quetiapine. The problem with that drug is it causes RLS.

I take 4, 30mg Codeine tablets a day. The result is that I do not experience any RLS symptoms. If I stop taking Codeine the symptoms return.

As long as your v careful and dont take more and more codeine I have found it to be a very very good drug to alleviate RLS symptoms.

Mike.

[Madolegs in reply to batesm0t3l]

The thing that gets me is my doctor and some others that people tell us about on here admits he doesn't know a lot about RLS so why don't they find out if they suffered the same i bet they would