Getting ready to sue

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Aipulu
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:12 am
Location: Maui, Hawaii

Re: Getting ready to sue

Post by Aipulu »

thanks Steve and Ann. Ann, do you go completely off dopamine agonists on your holiday or do you shift to different DA?

Rustsmith
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Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 9:31 pm
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado

Re: Getting ready to sue

Post by Rustsmith »

As far as I have been able to tell, I am the only one who was able to transition from one DA to another without going through a drug holiday and without using some sort of opiate to get off of the first DA. I am sure there must be others, but they have not shared their stories with us yet.
Steve

https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
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.

Aipulu
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:12 am
Location: Maui, Hawaii

Re: Getting ready to sue

Post by Aipulu »

I had no idea that going from Mirapex to Requip was difficult. Never tried it. How about alternating Neurontin and Horizant. I am wondering what to do on nights where I won't get home until later in the evening and I don't have any Horizant with me. Could I take Neurontin on such a night without any problem?

ViewsAskew
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Location: Los Angeles

Re: Getting ready to sue

Post by ViewsAskew »

In the past, other people successfully went from one to another. The key is that they hadn't augmented first. One woman, maybe 10 years ago, switched between two DAs every few months and did so for years.

So, going from pramipexole to ropinerole isn't necessarily hard. Once you've augmented, it seems to work very infrequently. I was augmented severely, so I couldn't take another DA without having off the chart symptoms. Now I do not want to alternate with another DA because I need to prevent augmentation - and while they work on slightly different receptors, there are enough similarities that my doc and I do not want to chance that. So, I alternate with an opioid.

Gabapentin and gapapentil enacarbil are metabolized differently, but are very similar in how the work and what they do. If you can take gabapentin and it works, you might not need to try the encarbil version. GE is extended release, so I suppose that could be an advantage, but the cost is definitely much higher. Any reason you couldn't have one with you and take it before you came home?
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.

Aipulu
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:12 am
Location: Maui, Hawaii

Re: Getting ready to sue

Post by Aipulu »

I have been on Horizant (gabapentin encarbil) for two nights. So far I don't find it more effective than taking gabapentin. I'll keep on using Horizant until I use up my 30 day supply before deciding what to do. tonight I go to a Man Kind Project group from 6:30 - 9:00pm. I know from past experience that I am going to end up some night an inconvenient distance from our house without the Horizant. either the pill boxes I keep in the cars run out or got misplaced. So instead of driving home and ruining the plans for the night I am hoping that I can use gabapentin, since they can be take 1-2 hours before bedtime. Even though they have different ways of getting into the blood stream, I am thinking that they are both delivering gabapentin and therefore I should be able to use them as substitutes. But I am not sure.

Rustsmith
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Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado

Re: Getting ready to sue

Post by Rustsmith »

If you are getting the same result from gabapentin and Horizant, then you should be able to use them as substitutes. The advantage of Horizant is that for some people it is able to provide a higher concentration much more reliably than gabapentin. Some people can only adsorb so much gabapentin and then taking more provides no added benefit. Gabapentin adsorption is also impacted by the rate that food and liquids flow through the intestine. So a big meal or lots of fluids can reduce gabapentin adsorption. Horizant is not subject to these limitations.

The catch is that you cannot compare the doses 1:1. I am not sure, but I think that they compare something like 600:900 Horizant:Gabapentin. But I could be off on that.
Steve

https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
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.

Aipulu
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:12 am
Location: Maui, Hawaii

Re: Getting ready to sue

Post by Aipulu »

Thanks Steve. I think your ratio of Horizant to Gabapentin sounds right. Didn't recall reading about big meals and lost of fluids reducing gabapentin absorption. I'll keep this in mind.

srgraves01
Posts: 106
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:34 am

Re: Getting ready to sue

Post by srgraves01 »

I wanted to try Horizant last year. My doctor prescribed it for me but the pharmacy said they couldn't get it.

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