Sue I spoke to you before about going on Buprenorphine and what seems to be the affects I am going through. I am breathless, I am suffering with Giddiness. I am terribly stressed and depressed to a stage where I don t see the point in living anymore. I have contacted Dr Fackrell who suggested me going on Bup in the first instance and he seems to think that it is not the Bup but symptoms of weening off Neupro Patches a few weeks ago. He has advised me to reintroduce a 1mg patch as well as taking the Bup and see if my symptoms get better and then ween off the patches gradually with his help. I believe you take Bup and did you get these bad side effects when you started on them and what do you think about Dr Fackrell suggestion. I definitely need some help.
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Gonzo123
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SueJohnson will respond I'm sure. But she doesn't take Buprenorphine.
When did you stop the Neupro patch?
I remember you were prescribed Buprenorphine and it worked brilliantly but your GP refused to continue prescribing it, even though Dr Fackrell recommended it. So when did you stop Neupro? How quickly did you taper off it?
Buprenorphine caused panic attacks for me around 3 to 4 weeks after I started it.
Adding pregabalin for 4 weeks stopped them completely. I then reduced pregabalin and I have no panic.
I responded to your previous post.
You went to A&E and they couldn't find any issues.
I mentioned that it sounded like Buprenorphine induced panic attacks and to speak to your doctor about adding a small dose of a sedating medication like pregabalin.
I also suggested you take 200mcg Buprenorphine pills only at night so that the side effects are reduced.
I am not sure Dr Fackrell is correct about Neupro patch withdrawal symptoms.
It's much more likely to be opioid induced panic attacks.
So I would stay on 200mcg of Buprenorphine taken at 9pm and add either 50 to 75mg of pregabalin OR diazepam every other night for a while.
Thankyou Joolsg I weened off the patches as advised by Dr Fackrell. I get so depressed and confused and cannot remember how long ago but I suspect it would be about 3 weeks ago now. My GP isn’t very helpful but you state it will get better is that right. Sorry I forgot it was you who spoke to me
Don't worry Gonzo.I suggest you speak to your GP tomorrow.
Withdrawal from Neupro causes anxiety & depression. That's because the happy hormone dopamine has suddenly 'disappeared' & your body takes time to settle and repair. So the depression should settle within weeks as your dopamine receptors start to heal.
So ask your GP for a small dose of pregabalin to counter the opioid panic attacks/breathlessness.
Start at 25mg. Add another 25mg a few days later and monitor.
If the depression/suicidal feelings do not settle within a week- you must ask your GP for help. The only RLS safe anti depressants are trazodone and wellbutrin.
Dr Fackrell may suspect you have DAWS ( dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome) & that's why he wants you to take 1mg Neupro patch. But I would wait a week or two before considering that. You have only been off Neupro for around a month and it takes time to 'recover'.
Try to do something that gives you pleasure every day to 'kick start' dopamine production.
And if you still feel very depressed in 2 weeks- ask for trazodone.
I have started on a 1mg patch for the last 2 days already . This is because my GP listened to what Dr Fackrell suggested. If I still get down in the next few days I will go back to the GP. I do honestly thank you all for your advice and help
Ok. But you will definitely need to withdraw VERY slowly from that 1mg patch. You will get severe withdrawals again.So follow the withdrawal schedule on the RLS-UK website.
Joolsg that link as so informative and I think I will ask to speak to Dr Fackrell again and show him this schedule. The word tortuous is used and that is exactly how it feels. Thank you so much again
Good morning from a fellow sufferer of buprenorphine ("bup") side effects.
I am in full agreement with Jools and Sue J but thought i would add my own experience to try give you some support in your tough situation
The side effects from bup that affected me were, and to some extent still are, nausea, hot/cold sweats, depression, anxiety and constipation. It takes a lot of "experimentation" to find a formula that minimises all of these problems. The formula may include, as Jools indicated, pregabalin, but care needs to be taken as that drug gives problems, in my experience with dizziness and weight gain.
I use bup patches and sublingual bup tablets (in tiny portions) to balance the blocking of RLS and to overcome nausea and depression which I suspect is the result of opioid withdrawal. I have found that if I allow the bup level to drop even slightly below a certain concentration in the blood then I get nausea, severe depression even though that concentration is still enough to block RLS. (0.5mg/day in my case).
The problem in finding the "formula" that suits an individual is the long half life of Bup and what I suspect is the varying effectivity of Bup supposedly weekly patches.
Please don't be too angry with yourself over the depression etc because that is I suspect a problem that we have, whilst trying of course to minimise it, to put up with in return for the benefit of a good nights sleep free of RLS. Incidentally Trazadone didn't help me but it of course varies person to person
Hope this is of some support and let me know if I can help further
I also developed anxiety four weeks after starting Suboxone (containing Buprenorphine). The Suboxone was good for the first few days but I spent the next six months feeling spaced out and having no initiative. The hope was that I could use Suboxone instead of Neupro. I did manage to taper down from 1.5 mgs (a 3 cut in half) to 1 mg of Neupro, but no more than that.
Since I was only taking 0.5 mgs of Suboxone I tried quitting all at once, but the withdrawal was too uncomfortable, so now I’m down to a bit more than 0.125 mgs a day, just at night, and should be able to stop soon. I’ve had to go back up to 1.5 mgs Neupro.
My main reason for posting is to add two observations:
1) Within five days of weaning off the Suboxone, my anxiety almost completely improved.
2) I’m reading that Trazodone is “safe” for RLS, but I find it dramatically worsens my RLS since I stopped taking Klonopin. (Klonopin worked great for 25 years, and due to taking occasional difficult “holidays” from it, I was able to avoid increasing my dose for many years. Finally, it got to be too much, and was causing confusion.)
i’m sure I’m an outlier, but I found a combination that works for me. I take oxycodone and switch to buprenorphine for one night every now and then. After a week of straight oxy I can’t sleep because the withdrawals wake me up with terrible hand pain. So I’ll take a buprenorphine for the next jugbt night. I’ll get a fantastic night’s sleep, feel great the next day and then go back to oxy the next evening. I don’t like the way buprenorphine feels but with the pattern I’m using it’s OK for now.
I think you have reinforced my belief that to find a "formula" for Buprenorphine side effect control is not only exhausting but differs from person to person. I did not have any success in controlling my RLS with oxycodone alone but never tried a combination as you use.
i am interested to know how much buprenorphine do you take (sublingually?) on that one night and don't you get any withdrawal symptoms on such a timetable?
hi there. I have a 2–0.5 mg of buprenorphine and naloxone. I take one fourth of this tab at a time. The oxy is 5 mg. I take around two before I go to sleep. If I wake up in between five and six, I take another one in the morning. Most of the time this is the case and when it gets really bad, I will take the Suboxone the next night.
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