Moving from Ropinirole to Horizant
Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:41 pm
Hello All:
I am fairly new to the site and wanted to outline my process of getting off the Ropinirole and moving to Horizant. I purposefully went to a practice in Philadelphia that is listed on this site, but not the specific doctor as it was a long wait to see her.
I am now one week into my second month of Horizant and have been slowly tapering off the Ropinirole during this process. I was up to about 4 mg with horrible symptoms day and night to the point where every life decision was being made based on whether or not I could sit (driving, dinner out, meetings, etc.). Evenings were hit or miss and I often found myself taking more Ropinirole out of frustration when I could even sit and relax after a long day of work. Needless to say I was miserable and feeling hopeless and controlled by my RLS.
Starting Horizant wasn't easy. I prepared by taking a week off of work to adjust and I was basically a walking Zombie - foggy, dizzy, unable to think, etc.for about two weeks. I feel this was also due to the fact that I was still at a high dose of Ropinirole. Note: My doctor then did reluctantly prescribe 5 mg of Oxycodone to help with the symptoms of augmentation as I tapered off this drug - thank God! Overall it took about 3 weeks of Horizant before this symptoms described above started to dissipate.
Now that I am in week #6 of the Horizant and down to about .25 mg of Ropinirole and still 5 mg of Oxycodone. I now realize how extremely bad my augmentation was for so long and I wish I had done something sooner. No more symptoms sitting on trains or airplanes or driving! I can sit a watch a movie! I don't have to engage is all the gymnastics everytime I try to lay down - I often had to do hundreds of leg lifts, etc. because of the horrible symptoms.
My issue right now is getting off that last .25 mgs of Ropinirole. I have tried a couple of evenings but I get very slight symptoms and start to panic and end up taking it at about about 10 pm. Does anyone else have experience with this? I really want to stop the Ropinirole forever!!! I know that once I stop it the RLS was continue to improve.
One more warning for those who are tapering off the Ropinirole. I was traveling for one evening last week and forget to pack the Horizant (you must take it a 5 pm every night). I took 3 mg. of Ropinirole as I was afraid of getting symptoms and had the work the next day. Taking this high dose out of the blue made me violently ill - I won't do that again!!!!
I am fairly new to the site and wanted to outline my process of getting off the Ropinirole and moving to Horizant. I purposefully went to a practice in Philadelphia that is listed on this site, but not the specific doctor as it was a long wait to see her.
I am now one week into my second month of Horizant and have been slowly tapering off the Ropinirole during this process. I was up to about 4 mg with horrible symptoms day and night to the point where every life decision was being made based on whether or not I could sit (driving, dinner out, meetings, etc.). Evenings were hit or miss and I often found myself taking more Ropinirole out of frustration when I could even sit and relax after a long day of work. Needless to say I was miserable and feeling hopeless and controlled by my RLS.
Starting Horizant wasn't easy. I prepared by taking a week off of work to adjust and I was basically a walking Zombie - foggy, dizzy, unable to think, etc.for about two weeks. I feel this was also due to the fact that I was still at a high dose of Ropinirole. Note: My doctor then did reluctantly prescribe 5 mg of Oxycodone to help with the symptoms of augmentation as I tapered off this drug - thank God! Overall it took about 3 weeks of Horizant before this symptoms described above started to dissipate.
Now that I am in week #6 of the Horizant and down to about .25 mg of Ropinirole and still 5 mg of Oxycodone. I now realize how extremely bad my augmentation was for so long and I wish I had done something sooner. No more symptoms sitting on trains or airplanes or driving! I can sit a watch a movie! I don't have to engage is all the gymnastics everytime I try to lay down - I often had to do hundreds of leg lifts, etc. because of the horrible symptoms.
My issue right now is getting off that last .25 mgs of Ropinirole. I have tried a couple of evenings but I get very slight symptoms and start to panic and end up taking it at about about 10 pm. Does anyone else have experience with this? I really want to stop the Ropinirole forever!!! I know that once I stop it the RLS was continue to improve.
One more warning for those who are tapering off the Ropinirole. I was traveling for one evening last week and forget to pack the Horizant (you must take it a 5 pm every night). I took 3 mg. of Ropinirole as I was afraid of getting symptoms and had the work the next day. Taking this high dose out of the blue made me violently ill - I won't do that again!!!!