Does Temgesic work for everyone?

[bedith6]

I have been taking half a tablet of Temgesic for a month now but as I didn’t find any relief I have titrated up to one tablet over the last three nights. I am still having no results at all. Does anyone know what is the largest dose that can be taken safely and is there anyone else whose body seems to be resisting it? I have been taking Tramadol for the past four years and am wondering if I will need to take a much larger amount of Temgesic because of this. If I don’t get my RLS under control soon I really think I shall go crazy. It’s now 3.30 am and I have been pacing for an hour so will now go back to bed and try again for some sleep. Thanks in advance for any help or reassurance .

[LotteM]

Hi Bedith, just a quick question. Do you swallow the tablet? Or do you put it under your tongue to let it dissipate and does no require any swallowing?

It may be that you need more, but I have the idea that you should have noticed at least something. Buprenoprphine/Temgesic is far far stronger and even this low dose should be close to comparable in strength to your tramadol dose. You too 100mg of tramadol?

[rls-insomniac]

I'm taking Temgesic with good symptom control. When I first started taking it, it didn't work very well at all and I emailed Dr B asking for advice. He suggested I increased the dose. It took my body a good 6 weeks before I started to get good relief. I started off by taking 400mcgs but am now taking up to 600mcgs daily. My average dose is 400mcgs. I only take the extra tablet if my symptoms are bothersome in the evening. There are others who do take a higher dose though.

Temgesic works for most people but not all. Others have had to stop it due to side effects. Mostly nausea and daytime lethargy.

[bedith6 in reply to rls-insomniac]

Thank you for your reply. I expect I am being impatient but I’m desperate for these tablets to work as I have suffered for so long. Tonight I think I will take the 200mcg earlier to see if that helps. Best of luck to you.

[rls-insomniac]

Like you, I too suffered terribly for so long and I was getting desperate. You are taking a very low dose at 200mcgs. I take at least 400mcgs about 1 1/2 hours before bedtime. There are times when I do still get symptoms in my legs and sometimes my arms in the evenings and that's when I take the additional 200mcgs to help ease them, which for the most part seems to help. Everybody is different. I used to take 200mcgs twice a day but found that 200mcgs before bedtime wasn't enough to deal with my symptoms during the night. I played around with the doses taking them at different times to see what worked best for me.

[RestLessLeg]

Hi bedith6,

You’re not alone.

I’ve been taking around 200mcg-300mcg of temgesic since around November last year.

Initially 200mcg worked well. For the first month I was sleeping within 1-2 hours of going to bed with minimal symptoms which for me was a big improvement on going all night without sleep.

As time went on I noticed my symptoms seemed to be worsening and the time getting to sleep was getting longer and longer. Lately I’ve been getting to sleep around 4am. I blame this to a degree on the late hour getting to bed and shift work. I need to try to get to bed earlier.

Last night I had problems mainly in my right arm to begin with, more so than my leg/legs which came later. Up and down out of bed. Didn’t sleep til after 4am.

I too had been experimenting with how I take my dose… whether it’s all together under the tongue, whether it’s earlier before bed or at bed, or whether to break it up and take in quarters… including taking up to a half tablet extra in an attempt to ease the symptoms.

To be honest I’m still experimenting.

I’ve returned to masturbation at night along with the temgesic to get to sleep, which helps most of the time, but I feel that I have no choice but to go through the process of going to bed, taking my tablet, waiting for the symptoms to start, eventually get up, take matters into my own hands (so to speak), get the dopamine rush, take a little extra temgesic (quarter or so) then finally sleep anywhere from 3-4.30am til midday.

I don’t want to do this. I’d prefer to take an appropriate amount of medication and stay in bed comfortably until I sleep.

I’d like to take more to see if it helps but two things stop me:

One: I’m always worried that my supply of temgesic will eventually stop so I keep to the minimum amount. I also haven’t got an official ok from my doctor to increase my dose so I’m keeping to approximately the low dose at this stage.

And two: I’m scared that increasing my dose will still not be enough. I’m afraid that I’m getting to the end of the road in terms of medication. (Taken sifrol, lyrica, tramadol codeine, etc all to no effect) Maybe I’m like you and feel I need to take a higher dose. This was the miracle drug I was hoping would work for me too. I know this sounds stupid but increasing the dose feels like my only hope and like Schrödinger’s cat, I take small comfort in keeping the truth a mystery. I’m scared to find out that an increase won’t help.

Dr B from California says that 200mcg is a minimal dose and that an increase would be reasonable. Many here on this site benefit from a higher dose of Temgesic (buprenorphine) and say that the first 12 months can be an adjustment phase in terms of dosage. I’ve had RLS for 10 years now and have suffered greatly to the point where life hasn’t been worth living. I completely understand your desperation for it (the temgesic) to work straight away.