Anxiety is now a side effect.

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Gordon
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:37 pm

Anxiety is now a side effect.

Post by Gordon »

I have had WED/RLS for a long time but only in the past five years have we attempted to control the symptoms. I started with Mirapex until augmentation made it ineffective. Since then I have been on gabapentin 2 x 300 mg taken at night just before bedtime and more recently Ziplocone 7.5 mg, because I couldn't sleep and Sinemet CR100/25mg to help with the RLS. I am now on Ziplocone 7.5 mg, Gabapentin 2x300 mg, Sinemet CR 100/25 mg and then add Wellbutrin (Sandoz-Bupropion SR 100 mg) to address the anxiety which have emerged in the past 8 months. It is beginning to dawn on me, given that the onset of anxiety could be quite complicated in origin, that the anxiety symptoms may be drug induced. Has anyone else experienced such a thing?

Polar Bear
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: Anxiety is now a side effect.

Post by Polar Bear »

Gordon, sorry that it all seems to be complicated - I'm afraid this is how it is for most of us as we try to control symtoms with medications which come with their own side effects.
For instance my WED symptoms of 24/7 have a big trade off of insomnia... which might be part of the alerting of WED and also could be a side effect of a medication.

When I mention the alterting affect of WED/RLS.... this can made it so hard for us to get to sleep, or to remain asleep.
Zopiclone 7.5mg is prescribed to help me sleep and I don't know that it helps much.
However if my WED is at peace, and if a side effect of the medication which gives me this peace is insomnia - then I guess being awake without WED symptoms is better than being awake with WED symptoms - bit of a trade off.

General feelings of anxiousness can come with the symptoms of WED/RLS as a part of the disease, not all of us suffer the same, and not all of us are helped in the same manner.
Wellbrutin is considered to be WED friendly, but I think I've read that it is not so efficient as an anti anxiety medication as some others may be. Another medication in this class may be more efficient but carry a little more risk that it could have a negative impact on your WED symptoms.

The one thing that jumps out at me is that you are using Sinemet for your WED. Do you take this every day.
My understanding is that it is a very efficient medication for occasional use, and that it works very quickly.
However - regular daily use of Sinement will almost inevitably cause augmention. Please check out your usage of Sinemet.

Also has your ferritin blood level serum been checked. You need it up around 100 -- regardless of whether your GP/lab consideres that around 20 is normal. 20 is not good enough for us sufferers. Check if you've had this test done and ask for the reading, the actual figures, don't take 'normal' as an answer.
If it hasn't been done - get it done.
It's not normally done in routine blood testing.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
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Yankiwi
Posts: 548
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:20 am
Location: West Coast, South Island, New Zealand

Re: Anxiety is now a side effect.

Post by Yankiwi »

I used Sinemet about 10-15 years ago until it augmented very quickly. With nothing else available in New Zealand, and because it worked fast, I kept it for drives, concerts and movies. Last year after being prescribed ropinerole (Requip) I asked Dr. B. via email if it would be okay to take Sinemet on the rare occasions of enforced confinement as before. He said not to,that although it might not increase the risk of augmentation there isn't a lot of clinical experience available and that RLS practitioners generally try to avoid prescribing Sinemet to patients on dopamine agonists like ropinirole.
As well as Sinemet worked when used occasionally, the thought of increasing augmentation made me not pursue using it.

badnights
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Location: Northwest Territories, Canada

Re: Anxiety is now a side effect.

Post by badnights »

The anxiety question is interesting. I wouldn't doubt it's caused by meds, though as pb says, it does travel with WED as well. The reason I suspect meds is because you never had it before - right? or did you? Also, gabapentin can cause anxiety as a side effect. I personally have experienced bouts of deep depression from gabapentin, and stopped taking it for that reason. It's always a better idea to change meds, if possible, than take a med to treat a side effect of another med.

Re the Sinemet discussion: I tried Sinemet CR every night for a while, to supplement my main med, which was hydromorph contin, but I stopped taking it when I started to augment. It was not a bad augmentation because I was very aware of what might happen and stopped in time.

I now keep a supply of regular Sinemet and use it for "emergencies" when I really need to sleep. I don't bother using it in the evening and early night, since it's ineffective then, nor in the daytime unless I'm desperate for a nap, but if I can't get to sleep later in the night because of lingering symptoms, I take one. It's the only thing that will provide relief within 30 minutes (not counting evening or early nighttime, when nothing will help).

I won't use it more than once a day nor more than two days in a row, and this seems to be working for me. God alone knows what it's doing to me, though; maybe I'm perpetrating damage of some insidious kind.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
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