RLS MEDICATION

[Turkeylife]

My doctor has changed my medication from Pramapexole to Gabapentin, does anyone know when Gabapentin will kick in, I’ve been on Gabapentin one week today and I say seriously I’ve had no sleep for 1 week because of serious vicious RLS, I’m so tired. My doctor did say it take two weeks but I cannot do another week with no sleep, plus does Gabapentin work. Kind Regards.

[Madlegs1]

If you stopped Pramipexol cold turkey, and depending on the dose, you could be suffering horrendous withdrawals.

If it's too bad to cope with, then you

could go back on a slightly lower dose of Pramipexol than you were on previously.

Gabapentin generally takes about 3 weeks to be effective, and will not help in any way with the withdrawals.

Your doctor has not cared for you in any way responsibly.

Good luck.

[Joolsg]

Did your GP warn you about DAWS ( dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome)? Did he advise you to take a few months mininum to reduce?What dose were you taking?

Stopping Pramipexole cold turkey is EXTREMELY dangerous.

Gabapentin doesn't help severe withdrawals and only starts to work 3 to 4 weeks after the last dose of Pramipexole.

Has GP taken full iron panel blood tests?

Has GP prescribed gabapentin correctly?Only at night and in split 600mg doses 2 hour's apart?

If not, then do please send a written complaint, copied to RCGPs.

And look at RLS-UK website which sets out safe withdrawal schedule under Useful Resources and an Iron therapy sheet.

Your GP needs to learn about RLS and how to treat it safely and effectively.

[SueJohnson]

11 days ago you were taking 6 pills of pramipexole which is one and a half times the maximum dosage. It should take you 24 weeks to come off it as I advised you then. Your doctor is criminal to take you off it cold turkey. I strongly advise you to go back on the 6 pills and come off it the correct way. If your doctor won't prescribe you enough pills to do this show him the withdrawal schedule Joolsg mentioned.

Please look back at my reply to you on the post "Sorry Just venting."

As the others have said it takes 3 weeks to be fully effective and won't help very much until your withdrawal symptoms have settled. And your doctor shouldn't have started you on 1200 mg because you may not need that much.

[Joolsg in reply to SueJohnson]

Aagh! That's terrible. To stop 6 Pramipexole pills in less than 6 months is traumatic.

[Jules1953]

I am so sorry you are going through hell. As others have mentioned, Pramipexole can not be just suddenly stopped. You need to very very slowly wean off the dosage you were taking. I spent 2 years slowly reducing my dosage. Over a period of 10 years, various doctors kept increasing my dosage of Pramipexole, eventually I was taking 3.00mg each evening. It was not till a pharmacist questioned me about the dosage, that I found out I was taking well over the recommended dosage for RLS. At this point I had not heard about this Health Unlocked Site. And I had trusted Doctors, thinking they knew what they were doing. I came across this site when I had reduced to 0.125mg of Pramipexole and I was looking for advice on what medication to turn to next. I used 5mg of oxycodone to help me during the final weeks of weaning off Pramipexole. The oxycodone was a life saver. I tried Gabapentin but it did not help me with my RLS. I think that after taking Pramipexole for a 12 year period, a part of my brain has been permanently damaged. I heard about Temgesic, which is a low dosage of Buprenorphine. My sleep specialist Dr in Perth Western Australia prescribes this for me now. I place 2 tablets under my tongue before bed each night. This calms my restless legs down for me. My GP will not prescribe Temgesic for me. I hope you can find the help you need.

[Turkeylife in reply to Jules1953]

Thank you, you sound so kind.