My gp has heard from the hospital about changing my meds from Mirapexin to oxycodone. I am taking Tramadol at the moment to cope with withdrawal from Mirapexin. Gp says I have to wean off Tramadol before I take Oxycodone. Help! How will I manage that. I am taking 3 or 4 100g Tramadol.
Can anyone advise me what to do
Thank you
As they're both opioids, you can make a straight swap overnight to the equivalent dose.If you're currently on tramadol 50mg x 4 a day, use the opioid conversion table to see what dose of Oxy you need.
fpm.ac.uk/opioids-aware-str...
100mg of tramadol is equivalent to around 6mg of Oxy.
So if you're on 200mg of tramadol, you would switch to 12mg Oxy. As Oxy comes in 5mg pills in the UK, you would need to take 2 or 3 Oxycontin pills x 5mg.
There's no need to taper down from one opioid before switching to a different one. You make the switch overnight, otherwise you will get opioid withdrawals - the main symptom of which is RLS.
Most people use an opioid at each dose reduction of Pramipexole, but it sounds as though you are taking tramadol every day. If that is the case, it will be difficult to taper down from opioids once off Mirapex and
you will probably need to continue an opioid once off Mirapex, but the average dose of Oxycontin for RLS is 30mg, taken evenly over 24 hours to avoid mini opioid withdrawals.
Once through withdrawal, you may need to increase the Oxycontin to cover your RLS.
Well done for starting the process. It's hellish, but once off Mirapex, your RLS will start to improve.
Hi Jools, I am off Mirapexin now just going through awful withdrawals. The hospital have told my gp that I need to taper off tramadol before I start oxycodone. They have also said 5mg of oxycodone increasing to 10mg !!How om earth am I going to cope and my gp has no idea about rls. And quite frankly uclh aren't much better.
Show your GP the opioid conversion table.It is cruel and barbaric to make you go through opioid withdrawals to start another opioid!
Seriously!
I think you should see GP and explain that you cannot go through another withdrawal.
Or, you could lie and say you're off tramadol and simply switch to oxycodone BUT you definitely need more than 5 or 10mg!
Otherwise you will have a week of severe RLS and opioid withdrawals.
nice.org.uk/advice/esnm67/c...
Here is the NICE guidance on oxycodone.
The STARTING dose is 5mg TWICE a day. Targinact is more expensive than oxycodone alone.
Use the NICE guidance to persuade your GP to prescribe 5mg twice a day. You will probably need a higher dose.
Most people on here need to take oxycodone at 6 hour intervals throughout the day to avoid mini opioid withdrawals. So, in your case 5mg every 6 hours will be 20mg a day.
I was on 25mg Oxycontin for 5 years, with 150mg pregabalin. I still had very severe RLS. My RLS is now 0/40 on.a small dose of Buprenorphine.
I switched from tramadol to morphine immediately with no problems.
No, you don't have to do that. Just go to an equivalent dose. However, if you are just using regular oxycodone, it really doesn't last the night and it made me feel too high. If you can get it, extended release oxycodone works better but is hard to find. Methadone was a better choice for me because it is longer lasting and more available than oxycodone ER and doesnt make me feel high. To get it , you might have to arm yourself with the new RLS guidelines. Getting oxycodone was really a hassle, hopefully it will work better for you.
Thank you violette254
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