Follow up and Requip questions

[rajenki]

Hi there. I came on a couple months ago to ask about side effects with Neurontin. At the time I had not been diagnosed with RLS but I was sure that was what I had.

Since then I've had a sleep study and I must say I was impressed with the results. One of the most interesting things that happened was that after being awake and tossing for what I felt like had been hours...I called the nurse and asked if I could take my medication. He came in and said "do you feel like you haven't been sleeping at all?", and I was thinking "duh...can't you tell with all these wires"...well...turns out I had been asleep a few times...but never long enough to realize it. Anyway...the summery results were amazing...I moved my legs at least once every 30 seconds until 4am. I did not sleep longer than 15 minute intervals until 4am either. The irony is that I was having one of my "better" nights that night...yes tossing and turning, but little pain.

Anyway, after the test they tried me on Neurontin again, but the breathing problems I had before slowly started comming back so I've now switched to Requip. I'm on .25mg with a "take 1 to 2 one hour before bed" direction. Well...I'm on 2 now, cuz one really wasn't working much at all.

After reading a little on here, I now understand why I feel like it completely stops working after a few hours. I also now understand why I felt so sick to my stomach this morning and couldn't get up for about an hour and a half.

A few questions. Does anyone get EXTREMELY vivid dreams on this? Maybe they aren't that vivid...maybe I just haven't dreamt in so long I forgot what it felt like. But I swear I wake up emotionally disturbed by the dreams...they feel very real.

Another question...when the Requip wares off around 3am, should I take it again? I've been taking my Lorazapam when I have that problem, but when I do that, I end up being very late for work and my manager has "noticed" my late arrivals. I don't punch a clock, but I'm still expected to be at work during business hours but when I take that Lorazapam, I need to sleep it off completely.

Has anyone noticed with Requip that you have like a "sleep window"...like I get really sleep about 25 minutes after taking it, but if I wait too long to go to bed, the sleepiness goes away, and the pains come back sooner...am I just weird? Probably....

I've seen some possible side-effects that scare me. I have a spinal cord injury that makes my adductors and hamstrings mostly useless. I saw that weakness and falling is possible. That's a concern for me. I'm curious if Neurontin had a similar possible side effect because I to had a lot more falls when I was on that.

Anyway...anxious to hear your replies/experiences. Just FYI...I only take the med at night. The pain is only mildly irritating through the day...kind of like I notice it's there and I wish it weren't, but I don't need to take anything for it.

Thanks!
Becki

[mafs]

Hi Becki

I can only go on thr reactions had with requip and Neurontin. I was taking 1mg Requip (Repreve in OZ) and it made me dreadfully ill. I didn't think it was nursing the toilet bowl all night even though my legs had inproved.

I now the Neurontin is supposed to be for pain but it gave me awful migraines, I was off that within a week.

I saw my Neuro yesterday and I have a whole new cocktail of meds to take. I hope they work!!

Take care
Gayl

[ViewsAskew]

I think Jan has posted the side effects of Requip before. . .it is VERY long! Between all of us, we've had most of them at one time or another. They do work for many, but most of us have at least some side effects. Hopefully they won't be side effects that keep you from using it, as happened with Gayl, Becat, me, and others. We're in the minority, and for some of us, they worked a year or more before we had to stop.

Requip only works for a short period of time, as you've found out. But it does take at least 60 and up to 120 minutes to pass the blood/brain barrier. So, if you take it when you wake up at 4 AM, chances are it won't kick in for awhile. Sinemet kicks in very quickly, but isn't a good choice to take every night. You could see about using it every other night or only on bad nights.

The awake vs tired thing caused by the DAs is fascinating. Some of us find they wake us up, others get sleepy. Some can take them during the day, some can't. For me, I was sleepy for the first year, and then my sleep got progressively more disturbed, so I would wake up, not with RLS, but just wide awake, and couldn't go back to sleep. Over time, it took me longer and longer to get to sleep after I took it and I could take it during the day without being sleepy.

Like all of these drugs, anything can happen! There really isn't much that is the same between us! You almost have to try them and see how it works for you; it's just about a guarantee that some parts might be like someone's but who knows which it will be like - mine, Jan's, Gayl's, etc.

Ann

[TxSongBird]

I take Requip .5 mg three hours before bedtime. It helps a lot and I don't get sick to my stomach on that dosage. Last night I failed to take it until 10:0 p.m. and I was not able to get to sleep until really late and I have to get up at 4:00 a.m. each weekday morning. I also take Soma which is a muscle relaxer and Xanax for panic attacks.

TxDonna

[rajenki]

The Requip is working for me at .5 per night. I have the nausea less often but I am getting these wicked headaches now and then. I rarely ever get headaches, so it MUST be this drug, because I've had one almost every day. Last night I took two extra strength tylenol which helped for only about an hour and a half. I'm doing ok so far today though.

I am really pleased with the quality of sleep that I'm getting though.

[ViewsAskew]

Wow, are headaches on the list of side effects???? You are the fourth or fifth person lately to say they have had wicked headaches from it. I wonder what it does to cause them?

Penguin, what happened to your headaches? Cutting back stopped them, right? Did you doc say why the Requip does that? Or did you research if it is know to cause them?

Ann

[Guest]

Hi Becki

I can only go on thr reactions had with requip and Neurontin. I was taking 1mg Requip (Repreve in OZ) and it made me dreadfully ill. I didn't think it was nursing the toilet bowl all night even though my legs had inproved.

I now the Neurontin is supposed to be for pain but it gave me awful migraines, I was off that within a week.

I saw my Neuro yesterday and I have a whole new cocktail of meds to take. I hope they work!!

Take care
Gayl

[Andrea]

OK. So I've been on Requip for 3 weeks now and my legs are better at night, and in the early morning, but not much better in the early afternoon, which is when they really get going. I'm up to 2mg.

The last two nights I woke up vomitting about an hour and a half after taking my dose. I didn't notice much nasuea previously, but these were severe boughts. I'm thinking I may have eaten too close to bedtime/dose time and that might have affected me. Although, usually doesn't taking medicine with food lessen the problem of nasuea? I'm scared to keep taking it.

[mwade1]

Becky,

I have been on several drugs over the last five years, but after recently switching to Mirpex and now Requip, I have had almost nightly vivid dreams and I NEVER had dreams or remembered having any before.

I'm sorry to hear that people are having problems with symptoms in early AM and afternoons on Requip. I have never had that problem on any other drugs until requip, and it is very noticable. I have a desk jog and I don't know how I'm going to get through the long afternoons if this keeps up.

[alyseeber]

My doctors have been trying many on many different medications. I was really hoping requip would be the one becasue I guess it most commonly helps people. Anways I up the dosage like my doctor told me to and had a horrible reaction to it. I felt like I was in speed and just had a complete panic attack. I think it was one of my worst nights of my life. Has anyone ever had a similar reaction. Now I'm alwasy nervous to try new medicines and I have been having panic attacks on my own since. I'm seeking help with this but is there any medicines I should steer clear of or something that might actually work for me?
-alyse

[mwade1]

Hey Alseber,

If you haven't given up on Requip yet, give it at least a couple of days. I also had two, just two, really bad nights, but after than, it really has helped minimize the symptoms.

Mirapex was working pretty well for me, though was having vivid dreams, when the doc pulled me off to do the requip thing.

Hang tough.

[kittymama]

I was diagnosed with RLS about nine months ago. My doctor put me on mirapex which worked just fine. Then when I went in for another reason, my doctor announced that he wanted me to be his first RLS patient to try Requip. I was dubious, as the mirapex worked, but he told me that "Requip kicked butt" in tests, so I agreed to try it.

I discovered that if I took Requip on an empty stomach, I fell asleep in about half an hour. If I took it on a full stomach, it took hours and hours to work, and then not too well.

After taking it about two weeks, my elbows started aching and stiffening up at night, so much so that it would wake me up. I called the doctor twice to tell him this; both times, his nurse practicioners called me back to tell me that it wasn't a side effect of Requip and that I must have tendinitis.

Eventually my daytime RLS symptoms increased in frequency and painfulness, especially in my genital area.

Two days ago, I decided enough was enough. I went back to my old mirapex. That night was the first night in two months that I did not awake with my elbows aching. I am now recovering full use of both arms. My daytime symptoms of RLS are considerably diminished in both frequency and intensity. And I can take the mirapex about 6 PM and be ready for bed at my normal time, and not pass out in my food.

[trevb]

hi kitty,

welcome and sorry you had that experience.

my personal feelings here, hope im not out of line....(im not a doctor and dont know your whole situation and I'm sure your doctor meant best?) but im not sure why someone would change your medication when the med youre on is working fine?? was it for his research?? whatever it was for was it done for your benefit??

we are not trophys but real people.

I'm glad you had the courage to stop and go back to the med that was working for you!....

thanx for sharing that story.... every rls medication works differently for different people. some meds that work for some dont for others. some take a little longer to work than with others....it sounds like from what youre saying you felt requip wasnt your cup of tea.

[kittymama]

"I think it's best for patients to take control of their medical care, and not just blindly accept what their doctor tells them....if it ain't working, it ain't working."



absolutely!! and good for you
trev

[Rubyslipper]

Okay, great, all I've read here is not reassuring. Because of a sleep study I just had done, my doctor has decided that the Mirapex I've been on for several years is not taking care of the PLMD's. So he put me on Requip today. I had 5 movements per hour (not a lot compared to several people I know) but I woke up 137 times during the night that I was not aware of and 6 that I knew about. My total REM sleep was 49 minutes out of 380. No wonder I'm so tired! Anyway, I'm not so sure I want to be on the Requip after checking out the side effects and reading what the rest of you have to say. Guess I'll try it for 2 weeks and see. I really hate to give up the Mirapex because I thought it was working so well. I don't have sleep apnea, I have sleep hypopnea; thus the CPAP machine that I can't seem to get. Any other info you can give me on Requip would be appreciated.