Ropinirole

[jblackburn67]

Has anyone switched from the ER Ropinirole to the Instant Release? I am in the process of weaning off Ropinirole and am on 4MG of the ER. I went down to 2 MG and have been not been getting any sleep. You can’t cut the ER tablets so this is the only option. I am going to request the IR tablets from my primary. That way I can wean off allot slower.
It’s my understanding that I might need to take a higher dose of the IR as they act differently. For instance I may have to take 4mg of the IR to mimic the 2MG of the ER I’m on now.

[Rustsmith]

I haven't made that switch for ropinerole, but have done it several times for tramadol. I was able to stay at the same dose, but the catch is that with IR tablets you may need to take it several times a day because you will not be getting the 24hr coverage you get with ER. That means that your doctor may need to write your prescription for more pills just to get the same number of days of coverage.

[badnights]

jblackburn67, I don't think it will be that different. You might find - for example - that 0.8 mg IM is needed to match the effect of 0.7 mg ER. I suspect it will be a small difference like that. I am basing this on my experience with ER and IR opioids, so it might not be relevant.

We'll see what other people have to say, I hope people chime in!

Even the IR takes so long to kick in! An hour, even up to 2 hours in some people. So planning your reduction might be tricky, in that if you reduce too much, by the time you find out, it is bedtime, and taking a bit more won't take effect until 1-2 hr later. It would be nice if you could have 1 mg pills of hydromorphone to take in case of that kind of breakthrough during the taper.

[Stainless]

I was on 4 mg Ropinirole ER for most of the worst year of my life. I now think I was severely augmented most of the time and was just miserable with 24/7 RLS. I went back on 2 mg Clonazepam in one day and never thought about ER again. Now I'm again dependant on Clonazepam to sleep. I would never recommend Clonazepam as a long term solution but if you can get your doctor to prescribe something in the Clonazepam family it may get you past the ER.

Then the question is what to do next. If you find out, let me know. I would go through the horrible withdrawal from Clonazepam again if I knew something was on the other side. Rick

[jblackburn67]

Have you tried Gabapentin Rick? I’m taking 600mg while weaning off Ropinirole and it seems to be working. I only have RLS at night so my situation is a little different than yours. I was also able to transition from the ER Ropinirole to the IR with no issues. Going to try to go down to 1MG tonight.

[Stainless]

A decade ago I took Gabapentin while I slowly got off Clonazepam. Maybe I expected too much and should have given it more of a chance. Then I went through the DAs and ended up back on Clonazepam with Lyrica added a few years later. I’m thinking about switching the Lyrica for Gabapentin since I’m not having much success. The side effects look as bad or worse but I don’t remember any issues. Thx for reply

[jblackburn67]

Took me almost 2 weeks to get used to Gabapentin. Was feeling dizzy and out of it for awhile. Now I don’t notice any symptoms.