Coming off Ropinerole

[SimonMorriss]

Hi all

The doctor has agreed to change my medication, so thanks to everyone who has helped me this far.

I now face 2 weeks of poor sleep, does anyone have any strategies for getting through this period.

I tried last night not taking the medication of 0.5mg and it was horrid.

Any tips or strategies will be amazing. I'm quite excited to be coming off ropinerole but not looking forward to cold turkey.

Thanks.

Simon

[SueJohnson]

Slow down. Go back to .5 mg and reduce more slowly. That is too much to reduce at one time. The usual recommendation is .25 mg every 2 weeks and even that may be too much. Reduce in a smaller amount over a longer time. Wait until the symptoms have settled before reducing further. Ask for a low dose opioid temporarily to help you through this.

[Joolsg]

What replacement med did you get? Pregabalin and gabapentin take 3 weeks to be fully effective so it would be better to start the meds, wait until fully effective and THEN stop the Ropinirole. You could also take 0.25mg of Rop for 2 to 3 weeks to reduce withdrawal.I went too fast and didn't start replacement meds before last dose of Ropinirole and had 5 days of zero sleep and constant, violent body jerks. I had to keep walking but was utterly exhausted so fell badly a few times. The majority go through this and then it starts to settle over the following 2 weeks.

A few people have no or very few withdrawal symptoms.

I used cannabis and tramadol to help me get 30mins sleep.

[Johan10]

Hello again Simon. Your situation seems identical to mine. Medical advice I received was stop taking Ropinerole and start taking Gabapentin. Nothing about tapering down like the good advice from contributors here. After a cold turkey experience I went from 0.5mg to zero in the one 0.25mg step over a week without much problem and by then I'd had a week of Gabapentin which may then have started helping. Fortunately I'd only be taking Ropinerole for 2 months which probably made it easier than for others.

Good luck with the Gabapentin.

[DogBella]

When I stopped the ropinerole, I was ready for two bad weeks but now it has been nearly 4 weeks of hell.

[TeddiJ in reply to DogBella]

see my post below....no need for this...

[SimonMorriss]

Thanks Everyone.

Apparently it's ok to reduce one drug while increasing another.

uptodate.com/contents/image...

[TeddiJ]

Order red vein kratom powder so you can sleep and get through this. I can send you the link that joolsg has posted (order as tea from the netherlands). It stops rls within minutes. You can then decide what your long term plan is.