Finasteride and RLS

[Bloodhound669]

One of the meds I take is Finasteride (5mg.). If I read this right: the study, on Finasteride, interferes with the actions or the purpose of taking Pramipexole (.75mg) that I take every night. I find it difficult to read these studies. Am I on the right track?

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[ChrisColumbus]

This purports to show that - in tests using rats - taking finasteride alongside pramipexole reduces the types of behaviour that in humans taking prami lead to impulse control disorders (gambling, binge eating etc). SueJohnson mentioned this attribute of finasteride in a reply to your first post here a month ago.

Sue, Joolsg and others also pointed out the problems of augmentation (worsening of RLS) linked with pramipexole use, and Sue told you that the maximum recommended dose for most for RLS is 0.5 mg/day and how to taper off pramipexole. People didn't know at that point that you were already taking 50% more than recommended. Sue and others also wrote about issues with some of the other meds that you were/are taking, suggesting some alternatives. Perhaps you could go back and re-read the replies to that first post? And good luck!

[Bloodhound669 in reply to ChrisColumbus]

Here is what I meant to post about Omeprazole and iron depletion. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/199.... In my haste, I confused this article, about Finasteride, with the Omeprazole one. I didn't recall reading the part about omeprazole and Iron in the initial report from Sue Johnson. BTW! Where, in the article that I sent, does it mention augmentation? Maybe, in the convoluted paper, it says something, but I didn't catch that either. I really would like you to show me Because I wouldn't want Sue, Joolsg, and others to get their shorts in a knot either.

[ChrisColumbus in reply to Bloodhound669]

I'm sorry that you are upset, for whatever reason. Your post was titled, and the words and the link, were all about finasteride and pramipexole so that's what I initially replied to.

As far as your new piece and link about omeprazole goes, both Sue and Madlegs1 - again in replies to that first post - pointed out that omeprazole (and other PPIs) make RLS worse. Sue often points out that this is probably linked to iron absorption, but I don't think that she did in that reply.

But the replies to that first post - that you titled Worsening RLS - which I pointed you back to, apparently annoying you, were very informative and helpful about the dangers of augmentation, about alternative meds etc etc etc. They gave you *everything* that you need to improve your situation.

You wrote that you would reduce your prami dose but that you wouldn't be seeing your doctor again until late in the year, so Sue suggested that - without a prescription for an alternative medication - you should wait to taper slowly off pramipexole until then.

It is of course completely up to you whether you choose to follow all the helpful advice that you've been given or whether you choose to ignore it. But it came from people who have been where you've been and had to work out the solutions themselves: they've given you the benefit of what they learned, to help YOU. They didn't have to do it.

My reason for pointing you back to those replies was because you hadn't previously revealed that you were on excessive pramipexole and I felt that you couldn't have read all the replies a month ago. If you did but you chose not to follow their advice that's completely up to you.

I still wish you good luck in your fight with your various conditions and the medications that you take.

[Eryl]

The right track would be to find what's causing the nerves to send out the signals which are pecieved as RLS, not to interfere with the signals once they're produced.