Ropinerole withdrawal?

[dahon]

I have stopped taking Ropinerole a few weeks ago and gone onto 600mg gabapentin but still wake up with rls in the night. Is this rls Ropinerole withdrawal or augmentation. I'm hoping that this rls at night will disappear eventually with gapapentine, but when?

[SueJohnson]

You could still be suffering from withdrawal or more likely you have not found the amount of gabapentin that you need since 600 mg is a low dose, Assuming you have been on gabapentin for 3 weeks, increase by 100 mg every couple of days until you find the dose that works for you remembering my previous instructions on how to take doses above 600 mg and that most people need 1200 to 1800 mg.

[dahon in reply to SueJohnson]

I have only been prescribed 300mg capsules here in UK and only on a monthly basis of 56 300mg capsules for the daily dose of 600mg. Will it be ok for me to take 3 x 300mg one night then 4 x 300mg the next night to see what happens. I have a limited number of capsules to do this then I will have to get my doctor to re-prescribe a different dose.

[SueJohnson in reply to dahon]

Yes you can try that but I would wait a couple days before increasing the dose. Once you find out the dose that works, ask your doctor to prescribe 100 mg capsules so you can try to decrease the dose by 100 mg and if that still works by 200 mg. so you can find the lowest dose that works.

[grassgree]

It took me 6 weeks to get over withdrawal from Ropinirole, and I only used a low dose of 0.75 for a month. I quit cold turkey, unaware that a person should taper. I would give it plenty of time. And be careful of overdoing gabapentin. Its beneficial effects don't last forever and there are withdrawal from quitting gabapentin too.

[dahon in reply to grassgree]

Still getting rls at night and not sure if it's gabapentin dose not right but I suspect Ropinerole withdrawal to be honest. Will try 900 gabapentin for a few nights to see what happens.

[grassgree in reply to dahon]

When you get relief, try tapering back to 600 mg to see if you're still OK. Don't go too fast with gabapentin--it won't work forever. Ropinirole withdrawal took 6-8 weeks for me and I only took it for a month.

[yohlense]

You have to step down gradually from Ropinirole, if you go cold turkey, it's like a cocaine withdrawal. I used a product that came from the UK called Quiet Legs and it helped me to reduce how much I take. I had been up to 3mg and went into augmentation. Tried to just stop and it was the worst 72 hours of my life. I found the supplement and the representative helped me work out a step down program. Now I am back to 1 mg a day.

[TeddiJ in reply to yohlense]

Hi. You really should get off of the ROP completely, as you will continue to augment. I know-it is all brutal!

[Joolsg]

That dose is too low. Average dose for RLS is 1500-1800 a night. Also, Ropinirole withdrawal can last MONTHS.I suggest you speak to your GP again and show him/her the NHS and NICE RLS links. NICE mentions max dose of 2700mg for RLS so you are way below that.

Increase as Sue suggests by 100mg until you find a dose that helps.

cks.nice.org.uk/topics/rest...

[Irmajs]

You should never stop Ropinirole cold turkey. It took me 2 months to wean myself off of it even while I was taking other meds to get me through it. I would suggest going back on the Ropinirole at a lower dose and every week drop down another 1/4 or 1/2 mg. What ever works and still keeps the RLS away with the Gabapentine.

I would be careful increasing Gabapentine at this point as your increase in symptoms is most likely from withdrawal and augmentation. Go back and wean yourself off with the help of the Gabapentine. When augmenting my symptoms were 24/7 on Ropinirole. After two months of weaning off, my RLS went back to only being in the evenings and nights. I tried Gabapentine after I was done with the Ropinirole but wasn’t happy with the side effects at 900 mg which included chronic UTI s. I now use CBD.