Thank you

[milly-22]

Thanks so much to all of you that responded to me regarding being on Ropinirole and getting off it. I will take on board all of your advice and be armed with it when I see the Doctor next week. As I live in rural England I am unsure how informed my GP will be so it will be extremely useful to have the information you have provided me with. 🤞

[ChrisColumbus]

Some GPs and specialists are as wedded to dopamine agonists despite the augmentation, as they are to statins despite the side effects. They simply haven't been taught about RLS (or in most cases about nutrition and dietetics) and haven't read the latest research.

Luckily mine (in Oxfordshire) have been prepared to listen and to amend prescriptions, taking statins, perindopril and currently ezetimibe out of my regime. Good luck!

[Joolsg]

Stand your ground Milly. RLS isn't taught to GPs in the UK and they are unaware of the scale of augmentation on Dopamine Agonists. Withdrawal is hellish for the majority, worse than getting off heroin. Your GP may need to prescribe tramadol or Oxycodone to get you through each reduction in dose. They also don't understand how slowly you have to taper down.

Here's a useful article to show your GP to explain why these drugs are overprescribed.

Cannabis really helped me get through Ropinirole withdrawal. It's now legal for medical reasons but I used it illegally because my GP refused to accept my suffering after 5 days with zero sleep & constant RLS.

Eventually my MS neurologist told her to prescribe tramadol and Oxycontin. It is appalling that we are treated so poorly.

Good luck and let us know what your GP says. You need full panel fasting bloods and a prescription for tramadol/Oxycontin to get you through withdrawal and gabapentin or pregabalin to start taking around 4 weeks before last dose of Ropinirole.

The average doses are 1800-2400mg gabapentin taken.in 600mg doses 2 hours apart in the evening or 150-200mg of pregabalin taken all in one dose or split dose if needed.

sleepreviewmag.com/sleep-tr...