can RLS be caused by a drug addiction?
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:26 am
SWIM (someone who isnt me) is recovering from 10 years of drug abuse and addiction and since quitting methamphetamine almost 3 months ago she has rarely had a good night sleep. From research on the net she first figured that the problem was akathisia as it affects more than just her legs (though it is worse in her legs). She initially brushed off RLS because of this, but after reading a lot of very informative and helpful posts on this forum she is sure that her problem is RLS.
SWIMs history includes addiction to heroin and more recently methamphetamine (past 3-4 years), and heavy use of ecstasy and GBL (GHB analogue). Over the past 10 years she has also been prescribed a range of medications for bipolar, depression, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and anxiety.
The first time SWIM experienced RLS was going through heroin withdrawal. Many addicts seem to experience this during heroin withdrawal but it can be relieved with a few days of methadone & clonidine. SWIM has never heard of this happening to someone withdrawing from methamphetamine though, and it has been 3 months since she last had methamphetamine and things are not getting better.
SWIM has been taking 15mgs Zopiclone to help her sleep for the last 3 years also, but when she stopped methamphetamine and found she couldnt sleep (usually the opposite is the case) she started to heavily abuse her sleeping pills, but is seemed the more she took, the worse she slept. SWIM went to her Doctor and asked to be switched to melatonin (not registered for prescription in NZ, schedule 28 or 29) but as her Dr had never prescribed this before she wanted to try something else first and put her on Amitiptyline (tricyclic antidepressant) SWIM reacted very badly to this, it seemed she was not getting any deep sleep. SWIM was doing crazy things in her sleep like eating canned food cold, cooking dinners (wakes up to burnt food and the oven on) Front door was open one morning and she had a vague recollection of feeling hot and standing outside naked to cool down. This she assumes to be SRED (sleep related eating disorder) most likely brought on by the high doses of Zopiclone, combine that with the worsening of the RLS symptoms after taking Amitriptyline and SWIM was a mess. She was taking more pills in a semi conscious state and waking up in the bath, cause the bath was the only place she found some relief.
SWIM thought what she had might be akathisia, but she thought it was weird that there wasnt much info about this disease causing insomnia. In total desperation she returned to her Dr and asked for Clonidine and Melatonin. Her sleep improved slightly, she thought it would keep getting better but it seems to have stabalised and she is getting a few hours sleep most nights, but not every night, and finds herself napping during the day very often as it seems this is the only time she can rest and sleep easy.
SWIM had a lot of difficulty describing her symptoms to her Dr as there just didnt seem to be a right word in the english language that described accurately enough what she was/is experiencing. Restlessness just did not cover it. Torture seemed a closer word. SWIM describes it as "kicking out" "body jerks" and a feeling like her body just wanted to escape from its skin. This feeling was occuring every 30-50secs and lasted about 3 secs each time. It was never ending, SWIM could just not lie still for long enough to get any sleep at all and if SWIM did manage to fall asleep (usually straight after a bath) she would wake up within an hour or two with the same horrible thing still happening.
Currently SWIM has no regular pattern of affects. Some nights she takes 3 baths and sleeps for 5 hours, some nights only 1 hour. A few days ago SWIM even woke up at 7.30 am with the same feeling and she needed a bath just to be able to get up and do anything.
SWM is not very active during the day and spends a lot of time at a computer, she is almost constantly moving a foot or her leg back and forth while sitting, she has done this her whole life but never found it to be a problem in the past cause it did not affect sleep, and also because it relaxed her, but she thinks now that the reason it relaxed her was because her body was needing to move due to RLS and moving her legs then relieved her symptoms. SWIMs brother and mother also do this but but it doesn not affect ther sleep.
SWIM also started smoking twice as many ciggies after quitting methamphetamine and is now smoking approx 50 ciggies a day at a price of close to $200 NZ per week. She is smoking more becasue she is not as active and because she is up for more hours due to lack of sleep. But she also thinks the nicotine is contributing to her sleeplessness. Its a vicious circle.
SWIM is going back to her Dr is a few days and she is going to print out some info on RLS for her and hopefully find something more affective then clonidine and also have some blood tests for iron levels. she has decreased her Zopiclone to 11mgs per night and she stopped the Amitriptyline a few weeks ago. SWIM also very rarely eats meat and was anaemic once as a teen.
SWIMs questions are as follows:
1. Could one of the long term effects of using methamphetamine (a drug which mainly effects the neurotransmitter dopamine) be RLS
2. What blood tests should be taken by SWIM'S Dr
3. What is the best medication to start on for RLS (in NZ), SWIM cannot be prescribed with Opiates or Benzos due to past addictions
If anyone can help me here with my questions or regarding any of the other points made in this post it would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
searching gurl
SWIMs history includes addiction to heroin and more recently methamphetamine (past 3-4 years), and heavy use of ecstasy and GBL (GHB analogue). Over the past 10 years she has also been prescribed a range of medications for bipolar, depression, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and anxiety.
The first time SWIM experienced RLS was going through heroin withdrawal. Many addicts seem to experience this during heroin withdrawal but it can be relieved with a few days of methadone & clonidine. SWIM has never heard of this happening to someone withdrawing from methamphetamine though, and it has been 3 months since she last had methamphetamine and things are not getting better.
SWIM has been taking 15mgs Zopiclone to help her sleep for the last 3 years also, but when she stopped methamphetamine and found she couldnt sleep (usually the opposite is the case) she started to heavily abuse her sleeping pills, but is seemed the more she took, the worse she slept. SWIM went to her Doctor and asked to be switched to melatonin (not registered for prescription in NZ, schedule 28 or 29) but as her Dr had never prescribed this before she wanted to try something else first and put her on Amitiptyline (tricyclic antidepressant) SWIM reacted very badly to this, it seemed she was not getting any deep sleep. SWIM was doing crazy things in her sleep like eating canned food cold, cooking dinners (wakes up to burnt food and the oven on) Front door was open one morning and she had a vague recollection of feeling hot and standing outside naked to cool down. This she assumes to be SRED (sleep related eating disorder) most likely brought on by the high doses of Zopiclone, combine that with the worsening of the RLS symptoms after taking Amitriptyline and SWIM was a mess. She was taking more pills in a semi conscious state and waking up in the bath, cause the bath was the only place she found some relief.
SWIM thought what she had might be akathisia, but she thought it was weird that there wasnt much info about this disease causing insomnia. In total desperation she returned to her Dr and asked for Clonidine and Melatonin. Her sleep improved slightly, she thought it would keep getting better but it seems to have stabalised and she is getting a few hours sleep most nights, but not every night, and finds herself napping during the day very often as it seems this is the only time she can rest and sleep easy.
SWIM had a lot of difficulty describing her symptoms to her Dr as there just didnt seem to be a right word in the english language that described accurately enough what she was/is experiencing. Restlessness just did not cover it. Torture seemed a closer word. SWIM describes it as "kicking out" "body jerks" and a feeling like her body just wanted to escape from its skin. This feeling was occuring every 30-50secs and lasted about 3 secs each time. It was never ending, SWIM could just not lie still for long enough to get any sleep at all and if SWIM did manage to fall asleep (usually straight after a bath) she would wake up within an hour or two with the same horrible thing still happening.
Currently SWIM has no regular pattern of affects. Some nights she takes 3 baths and sleeps for 5 hours, some nights only 1 hour. A few days ago SWIM even woke up at 7.30 am with the same feeling and she needed a bath just to be able to get up and do anything.
SWM is not very active during the day and spends a lot of time at a computer, she is almost constantly moving a foot or her leg back and forth while sitting, she has done this her whole life but never found it to be a problem in the past cause it did not affect sleep, and also because it relaxed her, but she thinks now that the reason it relaxed her was because her body was needing to move due to RLS and moving her legs then relieved her symptoms. SWIMs brother and mother also do this but but it doesn not affect ther sleep.
SWIM also started smoking twice as many ciggies after quitting methamphetamine and is now smoking approx 50 ciggies a day at a price of close to $200 NZ per week. She is smoking more becasue she is not as active and because she is up for more hours due to lack of sleep. But she also thinks the nicotine is contributing to her sleeplessness. Its a vicious circle.
SWIM is going back to her Dr is a few days and she is going to print out some info on RLS for her and hopefully find something more affective then clonidine and also have some blood tests for iron levels. she has decreased her Zopiclone to 11mgs per night and she stopped the Amitriptyline a few weeks ago. SWIM also very rarely eats meat and was anaemic once as a teen.
SWIMs questions are as follows:
1. Could one of the long term effects of using methamphetamine (a drug which mainly effects the neurotransmitter dopamine) be RLS
2. What blood tests should be taken by SWIM'S Dr
3. What is the best medication to start on for RLS (in NZ), SWIM cannot be prescribed with Opiates or Benzos due to past addictions
If anyone can help me here with my questions or regarding any of the other points made in this post it would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
searching gurl