Withdrawal from Ropinirole – Morphine prescribed

[LondonGir]

I have been following the dopamine agonist withdrawal schedule as outlined by SueJ and the RLS-UK.org, and after a careful 20-week taper, from 3.5 to 0.00, I am now 21 days post-withdrawal. The withdrawal process was extremely difficult, especially during the final four weeks where I experienced severe insomnia with minimal sleep.

Codeine was prescribed for the restless legs and I took between 30mg and 75mg nightly over two doses to alleviate leg restlessness. Zopiclone 3.75mg was prescribed to help with sleep but even if I doubled dose to 7.50mg I continued to experience fragmented and insufficient sleep totalling approximately 5 hours per day, broken over two or three phases.

Codeine is calming my restless legs but the issue is insomnia. I am hesitant to try Gabapentin or Pregabalin as the issue is now insomnia and not so much the restless legs.

GP today has taken my off of Codeine and Zopiclone instead given me slow release Morphine, a longer-acting opioid a low dose of just 5mg just at night

I have gained so much information and knowledge from this forum and hope that there may be some thoughts as to effectiveness of the Morphine

I also take Magnesium Glycinate every night and Iron Bisglycinate (56mg) and Vitamin C tablets (3000mg) every other morning

Any comments to help this transitional process between different opiods would be very much appreciated

[SueJohnson]

The morphine should eventually cover your RLS but 5 mg is a low dose. The usual starting dose is 10 to 15 mg and the usual effective dose is 15 to 45 mg according to the Mayo Algorithm.

[LondonGir in reply to SueJohnson]

Thanks for your reply Sue, what the GP did was give me a straight swap, for the two codeine doses @ 30mg (60mg total) which I was taking through the night (9pm and midnight) and gave me 5mg Morphine, which he said was the eqivalent to 50mg Codiene. But night 1 of Morphine is tonight and with all these medications its 'trial and error'

[Joolsg]

Opioids can cause 'alerting' for many patients. That results in insomnia.You could therefore add a sedating med like pregabalin or gabapentin.

As Dr Buchfuhrer says- 2 meds at low dose often work better than one med at higher dose.

If 5mg morphine completely stops your RLS- that's brilliant. If the insomnia continues, add a small dose of pregabalin (75mg -100mg) & it might settle the insomnia.

[LondonGir in reply to Joolsg]

thank you for your knowledge and advice, which is always appreciated, and makes sense, just wish my GP had such clear responses 🙂

[Joolsg in reply to LondonGir]

Sadly your GP has been taught zero about RLS.

But the RCGPs has now told RLS-UK & the BBC that they will add RLS to the GP teaching curriculum from August '25. Perhaps mention this to your GP & tell the surgery to read RLS-UK website.

[LondonGir in reply to Joolsg]

👍