Gabapentin or not?

[Lineker]

Hello everyone. I have been on Gabapentin for 5/6 weeks now, taking 4 x 300 mgs per day. My sleep pattern has been very disturbed. I followed Sue’s advice and upped my evening dosage to 3x300 mgs. If anything my sleep pattern was worse for the next three days, so I stopped. I am sure anxiety has played a huge part in my problem.

At a useful meeting with my doctor, he was understanding. His view was that living with drugs was always going to be a problem, almost suggesting I’d be better off without. As a result I have cut out one of my 4 daily tablets . I’m still not sleeping, the Gabapentin doesn’t seem to be working and I’m not sure what to do next.

Any thoughts most welcome. Thanks in anticipation.

[SueJohnson]

If it is not helping you may be one of the people whose dopamine receptors were permanently damaged by taking pramipexole. To come off gabapentin reduce by 100 to 200 mg every couple of weeks. You need to do this slowly to avoid withdrawal effects. Since gabapentin didn't help you your next step is opioids. Or you could try is dipyridamole. You might want to discuss this with your doctor. It has helped some people on this forum and another forum I am on and has completely eliminated RLS in some. In the winter 2022 edition of Night Walkers, the publication of RLS.org there is an article by Sergi Ferre about dipyridamole discussing the effectiveness of it in a 2 week double blind placebo controlled study showing it completely ameliorated all symptoms. The study was by Dr. Garcia Borreguero movementdisorders.onlinelib... sciencedirect.com/science/a... movementdisorders.onlinelib...

[Lineker in reply to SueJohnson]

Thanks as ever Sue. As a matter of interest I only took Pramipexole for about 8 weeks before coming off. It that long enough to do such damage? The odd thing is that the Gabapentin has provided some pain relief during the day, but doesn’t seem to work at night. You can understand why I’m a bit confused.

I wonder what part anxiety can play?

[SueJohnson in reply to Lineker]

No after only 8 weeks it shouldn't damage your dopamine receptors. Yes anxiety can definitely play a part.

[SEBARTA]

Has anyone tried 100 to 150 mgs of pycnogenol for RLS? It is a good vasodilator and doesn't have any side effects except lowering BP and increasing blood flow. It has made my RLS much more manageable. I take 50 mgs three times daily.

[Simkin]

I had to add oxycodone to my gabapentin & for 3 months I have had no rls.Gabapentin did not work alone for me.

[Lineker in reply to Simkin]

Thanks very much for the info. Will look into it.

[Simkin in reply to Lineker]

Best of luck.