My mother (77) was recently diagnosed with restless legs. Her symptoms are aching, crawling and tingling which makes her want to move her legs. Which happens when she sits too long, rides to long and at bedtime.
The doctor prescribed Carbidopa which is used for Parkinson's Disease. This drug not only makes her sleepy but also makes her shake so hard she can barely drink from a glass. We are at our wits end trying to find something other than this drug. Can anyone help?
Help!!!!!
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Butterfoot
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Medications
hello neccyeddy,
check out the discussion board "new to rls". you'll find quite a few links in those posts. there are a lot of different medications and each person is unique in what works for them. your mother's doctor shouldn't stop at the first medication he prescribes if this is not working for her. she needs to be seeing a doctor who is familiar with rls and can work with her on finding the right medication for her...and from the sounds of her side affects, the sooner the better!
hope this helps. i'm still fairly new to this site and don't know where to find all the answers, but if you look for them, you'll find them.
best wishes to you and your mother.
butterfoot
check out the discussion board "new to rls". you'll find quite a few links in those posts. there are a lot of different medications and each person is unique in what works for them. your mother's doctor shouldn't stop at the first medication he prescribes if this is not working for her. she needs to be seeing a doctor who is familiar with rls and can work with her on finding the right medication for her...and from the sounds of her side affects, the sooner the better!
hope this helps. i'm still fairly new to this site and don't know where to find all the answers, but if you look for them, you'll find them.
best wishes to you and your mother.
butterfoot
May only good come your way.
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ViewsAskew
- Moderator
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- Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2004 6:37 am
- Location: Los Angeles
Butterfoot had some great advice. The New to RLS section of the board has two 'sticky' posts. In those posts are lots of information about medications.
Sinemet used to be the drug of choice for RLS, but it is not anymore. It often is very effective, however daily use causes a Catch-22 - the symptoms get worse, so you have to take more of the drug, and they get worse again, and you have to take more drug, and so on.
Mirapex and Requip are the first-line drugs for daily RLS that requires medication. They work in about 80% of the cases. These are in the same class as Sinemet, but each have different side effects, so if one doesn't work, the other very well may. That gives her two better drugs to try. She should try the lowest dose possible and see what happens. Increase the dose every 3-4 days if it isn't effective.
The Mayo Clinic Algorithm is very helpful. It describes the drugs you can take based on the type of RLS you have. It is a good tool for her doctor and a good tool for you to make sure the doctor is making good choices. It is in the links that I mentioned.
Let us know how it goes.
Ann
Sinemet used to be the drug of choice for RLS, but it is not anymore. It often is very effective, however daily use causes a Catch-22 - the symptoms get worse, so you have to take more of the drug, and they get worse again, and you have to take more drug, and so on.
Mirapex and Requip are the first-line drugs for daily RLS that requires medication. They work in about 80% of the cases. These are in the same class as Sinemet, but each have different side effects, so if one doesn't work, the other very well may. That gives her two better drugs to try. She should try the lowest dose possible and see what happens. Increase the dose every 3-4 days if it isn't effective.
The Mayo Clinic Algorithm is very helpful. It describes the drugs you can take based on the type of RLS you have. It is a good tool for her doctor and a good tool for you to make sure the doctor is making good choices. It is in the links that I mentioned.
Let us know how it goes.
Ann
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest
Managing Your RLS
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.
Managing Your RLS
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.
help
Recently, one of my 91 year old neighbors hurt her back. They are Amish and they did what the could for her. Then her daughter drove her buggy to my house to see if I could help. I did. She is up and around again and has more energy. Please take your Mom off the med. Shaking is a very bad sign that this is doing more harm than good. I'm going to be around here for a while advocating "go natural". SJ
If you never try anything new, nothing will ever change"
I would agree with sj on taking your mom off the drug if you go to webmd and look it up you will find that shaking and tiredness is side effects of it and you should call her doctor and see if can give her something else. All of us have had to go through several different medication to find the one or combination of meds that finally work. I currently am on my 7th med due to the others did nothing or i had very bad side effects. The best thing for you to at this point is stop the med and call her doctor.