This is so much fun! Just out of curiosity, as to methods and fees, this is what I received back from one of the recommended doctors out here in California:
"The pramipexole is a dopamine agonist and we no longer recommend this class of medication to treat RLS. Getting off this type of medication without proper help is extremely difficult and most patients will fail on their own. Changing to ropinirole is the last thing you want to do as it will simply magnify the augmentation problem over time as it is very similar to pramipexole.
Checking a ferritin level and iron level is important but treating an iron deficiency will only mildly help your problem for now. It may have more relevance once you are off the pramipexole.
The way we get patients off the dopamine drugs like pramipexole typically requires and opioid but most doctors have little or no knowledge or experience on how to do this. It is actually a very easy process with a doctor who knows how to treat augmentation."
OK! That's great: more ambiguity. He says that checking Ferritin levels is important but not useful, contrary to EVERYTHING I've read on this site. He also missed the statement I sent about OPIODS and the V.A.'s reluctance to use them. Not to mention that they didn't give me answer about new patients and fees. I wonder if even these experts know for sure what RLS is.
Medscape article on RLS
Dopamine Agonist doses - the new maximum
PCPs take note
