Dextromethorphan?

[Aiken]

I've recently done some melatonin therapy and light therapy at the directions of my sleep specialist. It's actually working pretty well and I've now gotten off my sleep meds for about a week with acceptable results. It's really nice to get natural sleep.

However, not being drugged out of my gourd at night means I'm bothered by my RLS a lot more when I get it, which is 2-3 times per week. I talked to my sleep guy about what I could use that didn't have side effects. I'm not willing to take a dopamine agonist or the like until I have to. The side effects scare me. I only want to mask the problem for now.

I've taken opiates off and on for years for back problems and haven't had any problems with developing tolerances or addiction, so I asked my guy about that route for occasional use, e.g. codeine or some other weak variant. He mentioned darvon as being pretty weak, but suggested I try the dextromethorphan* version of Robitussin since I can get it OTC here.

Has anyone tried dextromethorphan for low-grade RLS relief? The drug list on rlshelp.org only says that dxm is safe to take with rls as long as you get the kind with no other active ingredients, which I knew, but it says nothing about helping rls.

Thanks...

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* - I told him I didn't know dextromethorphan was an opiate and he said it was. I've since found that that's not true. It's a morphine analogue, a mirror molecule of an opiate, but not an opiate itself due to being the wrong shape for receptors. It's actually a psychedelic and the reason why you hear about drug abusers drinking cough syrup. I always thought it was just the alcohol you get in some cough syrups. Anyway, I need to talk to him about this to see why he suggested it and told me it was an opiate. I'm concerned that he either didn't know or was misleading me to get off the subject of opiates.

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Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.

[Aiken]

Hm, the lack of response here is probably not surprising, given the results I'm getting from this stuff:

- No apparent help with RLS sensations from an adult dose, but...
- Grainy vision (like what happens with Sonata, but grainier)
- One significant gasping & swearing panic attack in the middle of the night, certain I was somewhere else and that somehow weeks had passed since I fell asleep. That *never* happens to me. I don't get panic attacks, even waking from a nightmare.

So, in short, forget it. If anyone's had a better experience, feel free to chime in, but I can't say it worked for me.

_________________
Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.

[lifejoy]

dextromethorphan is in a class of drugs called the dissociatives, which also includes PCP, Nitrous Oxide, and Ketamine. All of these drugs basically put a person outside of their normal world so that they cannot feel the pain of their current one, and therefore they are concentrating on a false world. All of the drugs in the class cause hallucinations etc, and are not considered healthy in large amounts or small amounts for long periods. Be careful if you decide to use them.