I need the rest

[Agent54]

You sound exactly like a mirror of myself. I agree, the augmentation and withdrawal are horrible. I take Gabapentin, 600 mg. about 7 p.m. and 900 mg. at 9 p.m. About 8:30 I take 100 mg. Tramadol. I am weaning off my last .5 mg. Ropinirole and usually take that at 7:15 p.m. I had about 1 week of beautiful sleep and no symptoms awaking me at night. I am now experiencing a few symptoms that cause me to take a walk for about 30 minutes, then they quiet down. I am 66 years old and just had a liver transplant. I need the rest. I sympathize with you. I hope your GP works with you. Mine decided my issue needs a neurologist opinion, of which I am awaiting an appointment. I agree, this site has been my friend.

[cicek]

I'm so sorry to hear this. You must be feeling awful. I do hope you recover well from your liver transplant and go on to lead a healthy happy RLS free life. Maybe the Gabapentin is helping because I can't sit down for hours every day now. I have a GP appointment on Monday and am hoping he will give me Pegabalin or Gabapentin as well as another/more opiods. Good luck.

[SueJohnson]

You should not take 900 mg at one time. It is not well absorbed above 600 mg so that is the most you should take at one time. Instead take 300 mg at 5:00 pm. then 600 mg each at 7:00 and 9:00. This is what I take. But I am surprised you are taking such a high dose when you are not yet off ropinirole as it does not do much good until a few weeks after you are off ropinirole. I would cut back right now to 600 or 900 mg total and then a few weeks after you are off ropinirole, increase slowly until you find an effective dose. It may be less than 1500 mg.

[Agent54 in reply to SueJohnson]

This is good advise. I will very much consider this. Thank you.

[Docholiday1]

I have been on Ropinirol a while now. I have to take clorazipam with it as it makes me fearful and nervous about an hour after taking it. It still pains me for an hour after taking. Want something better.

[dklohrey]

I too was on ropinirole for about 20 years and it worked great, though I started out at 1mg and ended up at 3mg. After a couple of years at 3mg, augmentation set in and I started having rls symptoms during the day as well as at night. I finally decided to wean myself off of ropinirole and did so over about a 4 month period. I went from ropinirole on to gabapentin, finally settling on the 1500mg dosage. I had moderate success with it. I think that the ropinirole spoiled me a bit as I remember at times wondering if I still had rls, the ropinirole was so effective. As I continue my journey, I am now on pregabalin, which as I understand, has much of the same properties as gabapentin but is absorbed into the system much quicker. I am at a dosage of 300mg. As this drug is a "controlled substance", apparently it can be addictive if abused, doctors are usually cautious when prescribing it. It has taken many months for the drug to become moderately effective. I think that part of the problem is not the drug as much as it is getting past the anxiety at bedtime. Will I sleep? Will I have another day, exhausted due to a lack of sleep? I came to a point where I dreaded bedtime. Progress is being made, however. Actually, your sleep regimen sounds familiar. I usually awake after sleeping about 2 hours and feel a need to get up and walk around the house and sit for a bit. After about 45minutes to an hour I can go back to sleep for the rest of the night. Usually end up with about 6 hours of sleep, which for me is wonderful. Hope your journey goes well!

[BAK524 in reply to dklohrey]

I know that pre-bedtime anxiety quite well. I was recently prescribed trazodone to help knock me out. About the pregabalin: do you take the 300mg all in one dose? What time do you take it? I understand that it can take 1.5-2 hours for absorption. I've been taking 150mg now for two weeks, and noticing some breakthrough twitching in the late morning.

[dklohrey]

Oh, by the way, I too went to a neurologist. He found no physical explanation for my rls. His conclusion. My rls was inherited. Still good to know, I suppose.