Success (I hope) with Gabapentin

[Coeso]

I have had RLS for more years than I can remember. For years I took mirapexin till I augmented. I tried Pregabalin but I felt dizzy all the time and I put on a lot of weight quickly. I started tramadol and then alternated between that and mirapexin ( yes I went back on it). I coped like this for a long time. Often with the help of Kratom. Recently my legs were very bad, up nearly all night. I can't get buprenorphine where I live but my GP is lovely and tried to help me. We decided to try gabapentin and believe it or not it seems to be working. I've had the best sleeps in years with the help of some codeine. I've been cutting down every night on the codeine and adding a bit more gaba. I'm crossing my fingers that I can cut out the codeine completely and praying that it's not just a phase. I even had a little siesta today with no horrible legs. So it seems that my dopamine receptors may not be completely damaged as I thought. I never took more than 0.09mg mirapexin for the last 5years and have stopped taking it for at least a month before starting the gaba. I'm writing this to give some encouragement to everyone that there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Oh yes I have stopped sugars and wine and have fructose and Stevia which I think helps

[Coeso]

I forgot to say that I augmented on tramadol too

[Purpleyam in reply to Coeso]

Would you mind telling me what dose of Tramadol you were at when you realized it also caused you augmentation? I'm taking 900 mg Gabapentin plus 25 mg Tramadol each night and can't seem to manage without the Tramadol. But it does concern me.

[Coeso in reply to Purpleyam]

I've never taken more than 50mgs tramadol. It worked beautifully for many years but suddenly really bad rls with it. Try not to increase your dose. Hope it carries on working for you

[Joolsg]

That's really encouraging news.

[Munroist]

I’m really glad you are getting some decent hhhhrest. Well done for keeping trying and thanks for passing back the good news.

[AmazedAnt]

awesome to hear that! I’ve used ropinirole and just got off that - big thanks to this Group and its contributors!!

Equally big boos for the mass ignorance that many off us have to continue to face amongst the gate-keepers to our well being👎👎 My GP just recommended Sinemet after I carefully explained augmentation issues with him from ropinirole.. I can’t find a dopamine based treatment with a worse rate of augmentation than Sinemet 🤦🏻‍♂️!

Gabapentin has helped me sleep tremendously and also helped the sensations - although admittedly not as much as the “ticking time bomb” dopamine agonists.

[Coeso in reply to AmazedAnt]

I agree, the dopamine agonists worked so well. It's a shame they cause so many problems

[DogsCatsFamily]

That's encouraging, as I'm about to go through the process to get off of Ropinarole after I read up on it and found it was making things worse than it originally was. My doctor has been no help through this at all and in fact after reading some of the information here I never should have been prescribed it. She tried Gabapentin first but only had me on 300 mg so it didn't work which again as I've read you need a way higher dose for it to work for some people. So I'm really happy for you and hope to be there in time once I get the courage to get off this nasty Ropinarole!

[Coeso in reply to DogsCatsFamily]

I hope so too. It takes patience. Good luck

[RestlessNinja]

I used to take Co-codamol for my RLS and it never really helped to get rid of the pain in my legs. Gabapentin has immediately helped me. The pharmacist told me to only take Paracetamol if I occasionally need a painkiller for other types of pain. He said I should not take any Co-codamol, Aspirin, or Ibuprofen together with Gabapentin.

[SueJohnson in reply to RestlessNinja]

You can take aspirin or ibuprofen with gabapentin. But check with your doctor about co-codamol as gabapentin can potentiate the effect of codeine and increase potential side effects and possibly be dangerous.

[Rushgram]

How are you doing now? I am trying to switch from Pramipex to Gabapent- I’m getting discouraged- wondering if you had long term success?

[Coeso in reply to Rushgram]

I seem to be doing ok. I'm actually alternating mirapexin and trampoline. 10 days each. At the moment it's working well. I take gabapentin every day too. Gaba alone does not work for me