Long term DA damage

[Fly007]

Curious if any other augmented DA users have experienced long term effects after weaning off of DA's? I was on 3.75mg of Pramapexole ER and severely augmented and had to wean off of it last summer. Oddly enough after weaning and starting Gabapenton 900 mg per day along with oral iron, a ton of supplements, a gluten and sugar free diet my RLS is pretty much gone, and now just have mild PLMD. It has been over 4 months since my last DA and I can tell my dopamine levels are still all over the place, one day I will be fine, the next agitated, sad, scared, anxious, its just all over the place. Considering going back on an extremely low dose DA to try and balance things back out, my Dr actually prescribed Ropinorole a couple weeks ago, but I havent started it because of the fear of augmenting and having to go through the hell of withdrawal again.

Anyone out there experienced this before?

[Rustsmith]

One of our moderators takes a dopamine agonist every few days, but not daily. She augmented very quickly and now alternates between an opioid and an dopamine agonist to avoid issues with each of them.

So, if you decide to try it the keys would be 1) not daily, 2) lowest dose possible and 3) keep your iron levels up as high as you can without getting your ferritin so high that your doctor starts to get concerned (I was as high as 600 before I was told to cut back).

[Fly007]

Thanks Rust, I wonder if the DA every few days is for RLS control or for brain and dopamine balance? I pretty much have the RLS fully under control with iron, supplements and gabapenton, now I just have some slight PLMD. I’m looking more to control my mood, depression, agitation, etc… but don’t want to risk augmenting again at the same time. I used to be a fun, outgoing, optimistic, energetic person and it’s like since I got off the DA I have turned into a huge downer with depression, anxiety and lack of motivation. Have tried Citalopram and Wellbutrin with minimal success, starting to think all the years on the DA damaged my dopamine receptors.

[Rustsmith]

Many people are under the mistaken impression that those of us with RLS have a deficiency in dopamine and that we take dopamine agonists to make up for this deficiency. The truth of the matter is that it is our receptors that are deficient and taking dopamine agonists helps treat our symptoms by forcing the remaining receptors to work harder.

Since you are now taking gabapentin, that could be part of your problem. Gabapentin can cause increases in anxiety, depression and rapid mood swings in some people. You might want to check out the side effects of gabapentin to see if this is something to discuss with your doctor.