My experience with Darvon

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Aiken
Posts: 880
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:53 am

My experience with Darvon

Post by Aiken »

Hey folks,

Back in September I talked about my doctor letting me try Darvon for my fairly low-grade, but chronic, RLS. I thought I should post an update.

It's been five months now that I've been taking 130mg of Darvon 60-90 minutes before bedtime and I've had pretty excellent results. I sleep well, have had no side effects, and haven't yet developed any signs of tolerance. I don't recall if augmentation is a risk with opioids, but that hasn't happened either.

My RLS is tamer than that suffered by many people here, being mostly the aggravating electric/crawly/urgent sensation, but rarely painful, usually confined to my right leg and flank, and occurring only near bedtime about half to two-thirds of my nights. I do bounce my right leg all day long, so I probably have RLS all day long and only start to be bothered when I'm in bed and bounceless, but effectively it feels like I only have it at night.

I initially thought I could get away taking it three or four times a week as needed. Unfortunately, I also have reflux and my meds for that slow my digestion/absorption a lot. It usually takes 60-90 minutes, or more, for the Darvon to kick in. When I would guess incorrectly that I didn't need it that night, it really sucked, so I gave in and started taking it regularly. I was worried about developing a tolerance, but it's been several months and I still seem to be getting the same effect as the first time I took it.

Darvon seems to be very kind to my stomach, unlike codeine, which I tried on my own before the Darvon. I've experienced no nausea at all.

I've done occasional research on Darvon and I have run across people who take it recreationally. I'm not sure how they manage that, or really what they get out of it. I only seem to get a very distant sense of relief/calm, but I think that's only relative to the RLS discomfort. Maybe it's different when the opioid has no actual work to do. It may also be related to my overall resistance to most drugs. Alcohol doesn't do much for me, I don't get high on hydro/oxycodone, I need three times the usual dose of novocaine at the dentist, my anesthesiologist remarked on how hard it was to knock me out for my nose job, etc.

I can't see taking it more often. On rare occasions, I experience onset early in the evening and need to take a dose then and a half-dose later, before bed, as the first wears off. A couple of times, the overlap has produced unpleasant results, a sort of discomfort behind the eyes that I can only describe as "dry," sort of like you feel when dehydrated. It's easily as annoying as the RLS and I now prefer to put up with the early onset long enough to take only the one dose.

Really, the worst thing that's happened is that I've gotten used to not having RLS, and when I forget to take the Darvon on time, I realize just how bloody annoying it is. :)

I think that about covers it. I wanted to share so people with milder symptoms like mine would know they might have an alternative to the stronger stuff with more side effects. I'm happy with the results, but they wouldn't be adequate for a lot of people. Some people out there might also get more of a buzz off of the medication and thus find it more dangerous for addiction, or they might more easily develop a tolerance to it. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

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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.
Last edited by Aiken on Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Aiken
Posts: 880
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:53 am

Post by Aiken »

I should mention that I take name-brand Darvon, not generic propoxyphene. My experience in life is that generics are never as good as name brand as long as there's still a name brand. I think they make generics as good as they're required to be by law, but I suspect they add a little extra to the name brand to keep the notion going in comsumerdom that it's worth the expense.

_________________
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.

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