Buprenorphine

[Josana13]

Does anyone have any idea on how much Buprenorphine I should take for RLS. . I Also, Ihave severe pain and have to go through surgery which involves putting a rod through 10 levels on my spine . Will Buprenorphine be sufficient or can another med be added?

[Joolsg]

I'm sorry to hear this Josana and hope the surgery goes well.Your surgeons will give you pain relief for the spinal surgery and you should also ask them for RLS safe anti nausea meds with the anaesthetic. Zofran is safe. I suspect they'll prescribe Oxycontin or oral morphine to take for several weeks post op. Do discuss all your medications with them before surgery and make sure they know you have severe RLS and will need to have all your RLS meds in hospital.

Average dose of Buprenorphine for RLS is 0.5mg sub lingually. They may give you a Buprenorphine patch to cover post op pain and it would also work for your RLS.

Did you manage to get off the dopamine agonists? What meds are you now taking?

[SueJohnson]

Tell your doctors and anesthesiologists about your RLS and its symptoms and that you need your medicine and ask if there will be any drug interactions from what they will give you. Also talk with the patient representative ahead of time. Tell them not to give you any sedating antihistamines or sedating anti-nausea medications. Instead insist they use Zofran for anti-nausea as Joolsg pointed out. You can download the Medical Alert Card that you can show your doctors, that tells them about the condition and what will happen after surgery and what medicines to avoid at rlshelp.org/ although you will need to join the RLS foundation. An international membership is $40, but they have some good information on it and you get their monthly magazine. However the safe antidepressants listed on medical alert card are not antidepressants: Lamotrigine, Carbamazepine, Oxcarbazepine.