Ropinerole to Gabapentine

[dahon]

I am thinking of coming off 0.5mg of Ropinirole and onto 100mg?Gabapentine. Can I take both medicines at the same and gradually reduce the Ropinerole dosage over a period of time as opposed to just stopping Ropinerole and start on Gabapentine?

[LotteM]

As far as we know you CAN combine ropinerole and gabapentin safely. It is one of the treatments options when single medicine treatment fails. I think it it mentioned in the recent updated guidelines: mayoclinicproceedings.org/a...

Just two reminders. If you want to reduce the ropinirole, do it slowly. And if you want to replace it by gabapentin, the latter usually takes a few weeks to become effective. Also, 100mg is a very low dose. This is the recommended starting dose for people over 65. Usually, a dose of at least 600mg and often 900mg is found to be effective for rls. See the earlier paper. Also, when and while you are withdrawing from the ropinirole, most likely your symptoms will temporarily increase. This may last up to several weeks (sometimes months) after your last dose of ropinirole. Often, gabapentin on its own is then not sufficient to cover these increased symptoms. Additional meds, eg painkillers like codeine, tramadol and in severe cases oxycontin will help. Again, see the linked paper. And do discuss with your doctor.

I assume your current treatment is no longer working well enough, and I hope you'll soon find a more effective treatment.

Have you looked and assessed your iron? And considered supplementing? Again, see the linked paper.

[dahon in reply to LotteM]

Thank you for your advice. My Doctor prescribed Ropinerol two years ago but did not do an iron test, however after seeing him for a medicine review he has ordered blood test for iron and awaiting results. I hope it is low so I can start on iron tablets that will hopefully reduce my RLS.

On the subject of Gabapentin, my doctor had to look it up to determine if it was suitable for RLS and that goes to show that some doctors are not fully aware of the treatment of RLS and possible augmentation from Ropinerole.

Depending on iron test results and various posts here about Gabapentin I will ask him to prescribe it as it may well work better than Ropinerole.

[joepublic]

That's what I did - ran 2 Mg or Ropinirole in parallel with 300 Mg x 3 a day for a few years then backed off the Ropinirole. The Gaba was given to help augmentation so not even sure I need it now.

[Runedrun26 in reply to joepublic]

I may take that route I’m on 2mg ropinerole and gaba might help me