I've had restless legs since my early 20s, I could manage it by exercise, 100 press-ups, 150 leg raises, severe stretching of my legs until they almost cramped. In my late 40s I started with severe back cramps, always in the cold season, it was so severe I spent week's inside walking around the house holding on to everything I could, it was so debilitating. I had physio, which helped slightly, but on the onset of every winter at no certain times it would spasm and severely limit my movement. In 2019 my legs became unbearable, non of my usual ways of treating my legs worked. So I contacted the doctors and she prescribed Gabapentin. My legs improved but to my surprise my back problems have completely gone, no muscle spasms, no holding onto anything I could to get around the house. Im now in my seventies, I walk average 40miles a week, I can tie my shoelaces, pick things up off the floor, garden etc . My legs still get the better of me and im now on a small dose of Ropinerole 500mg to compliment the Gabapentin 300mg X2 and 100mg dailyMy back gives me very little pain, I'm so happy I can live a life outside of my house as well as inside. I have no back problems other than a few age related pains, I can prep food to create lovely meals, work out in the garden, its as good as it gets.
Yes Restless legs is a very very uncomfortable, irritable, stressful problem, so is Back Problems. I don't think there's a cure, just trial and error treatment's.
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whitney2044
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Glad you have found some relief. Gabapentin is very good for neuropathic (nerve) pain as well as RLS. There is a link between back and nerve issues (yours sounds a little like sciatica) so your back issues may have been exacerbating the RLS.
Munroist, I've was surprised at your response to my back and RLS issues, you gave me food for thought, I used to have serious back spasms in winter before I started on Gabapentin since then I've not had one. You mentioned Sciatica, I walk 40plus miles a week, I sometimes get a slight Sciatica which quickly goes away. However your response made me think further, I've realised at night Sciatica returns and exacerbates my legs, I've referred myself to a Physiotherapist and she is the first person to ask me about my restless legs, she said she had suffered with it when she was pregnant. Well she asked me about Sciatica problems and as a result she gave me a very brief Acupuncture session. It seemed strange, but my goodness last night I had the best sleep this century. I can't thank you and everyone on this website enough. I'm having three more sessions I'll let you know the results. Thank you
I have a situation where my discs are abutting the spine, not pressing it. That means that if I don't do a lot then things are ok, but if I do a lot of cycling and walking and don't pace myself the extra motion seems to aggravate the spine and cause a variety of sensations which evolve over a day or two and include twinges, tingling, soreness, some lower back pain and worst case some sciatica type symptoms. Given the risks of back surgery my approach has been to avoid it and do what I can to minimise any impact on my spine through careful pacing, losing weight and being careful about my range of movement which by and large means I can remain quite active. What you describe isn't dissimilar e.g. after walking and exercise (which is good for RLS) you might get sciatica type symptoms and also there is a view that exercising muscles makes the nerve slightly more sensitive which can then make them more susceptible to the RLS twitching. Pregabalin (very similar to gabapentin) helped me a bit by reducing the nerve sensitivity. Regarding acupuncture most people report here that it doesn't help and it's never helped me. However I have a close relative who is generally very sceptical about treatments like acupuncture, who, after a major back operation to alleviate serious slipped disc where the disc was pressing on the nerve and causing paralysis of the leg, ended up in a lot of pain. He found medication didn't work and in desperation resorted to acupuncture and to his amazement it initially relieved the severe neuropathic pain and eventually cured it. That's enough for me to believe that it can help in certain circumstances to reduce and remove nerve pain and I hope it continues to work for you.
I'm glad you've found relief for your back & RLS. There does seem to be a link between the two. Keep the Ropinirole dose at 0.5mg. It's no longer first line treatment amongst experts because of the very high risk of increase in severity of RLS (augmentation). Keeping the dose low and not increasing will delay augmentation. If the RLS gets worse, don't increase Ropinirole. Instead, see your GP and reduce the Ropinirole and increase the gabapentin. Average dose is 1800-2400 in the evening( in 600mg split doses to improve absorption).
Wonderful to hear the back spasms have resolved. Gabapentin is used for nerve pain as well.
Thank you Joolsg, I really appreciate your help and support and advice. Id like to stop Ropinerole and see if my crawling legs start up, any advice would be appreciated
I stopped Ropinirole in 2016 and it was really tough, but now it's completely controlled and I'm glad I stopped. The RLS was just getting more and more intense.If you stop, reduce very slowly. 0.25mg every 3 weeks and you may need an opioid to reduce the withdrawal symptoms which flare up in each reduction.
Raising serum ferritin can help reduce the intensity of the withdrawal and can really help the majority.
Have a chat with your doctor and ask for smaller 0.25mg Ropinirole pills and see if they'll prescribe tramadol, codeine or oxycodone for the withdrawals.
Once off Ropinirole, you can increase the gabapentin and take at night only.
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