Bridging the gap between RLS and ADD
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 11:48 am
Hello,
I am new to this site so i will start by introducing myself. I am an eighteen-year-old college student who has had rls for a definite 2 years, possibly longer. With a big botchup, I was prescribed temazepam, which is marketed as a hypnotic, meaning that it's more of an insomnia drug. I started at 15mg and about 8 months later i was consuming many times the largest dosage; I wanted a cure so badly. Eventually my psychiatrist (who was an understanding and sweet woman) decided it was time for me to go to a specialist. I agreed; something needed to be done.
I went to this sleep specialist and he decided we'd try the good ol' cardo/levo at 25/100. A month later we finally stabalized the med at 3 tablets of 25/100. It worked wonders..it even helped put me to sleep. 3 months later the drug stopped working altogether and had me waking up with a ridiculous headache that lasted most of the morning. This doctor acted soooo suprised...why "none" of his other patients had this problem. Made me wonder how many rls patients he has. From here he decided we'd give an epilepsy benzo drug that seems to be working pretty well..but not quite there. Now I have to explain the other half of my story. Just 6 months ago I was diagnosed with ADD (no hyperactivity, just lack of focus and concentration.) It is documented in many journals that add and sleeping problems go hand in hand. I'm curious to whether or not there would be two impeticuliar drugs that would work together to help the add and rls. I suffer from mild (sometimes severe) rls which coincides with add quite simply because lack of my brain regerating its energy. I'm afraid if I was to go onto an add drug than my sleep specialist would set a distance from drugs such as methadone because of 2 addictive drugs that work wonders for 2/3 of people that use them. I'm at college and he's very hard to get a hold of because he's so busy, and because of this I want something that I know will work. I had lortab for my wisdom teeth and remember sleeping like a baby. If it works why are we being denied the very thing that will help. It seems instead every drug except for the most obvious/likely to work are waited until the last step. The process of going through every parkinsons disease, benzo, and seizure medication takes a good year (atleast I know it would with my doc.) If I know that the only painkiller i've ever had (lortab for wisdom teeth) worked for a good night's sleep should I ask doc? I mentioned oxycodone at our last meeting and he looked at me and his facial expression said, "do you honestly think i'm a dumbass?!?" and then he continued to laugh with the "ridiculous" question just asked. I've done my research and oxycodone and methadone are two of the best working rls treatments.
Mayo Clinics put out a report saying that 2/3 of rls patients treated with opiates do extremely well on the treatment..why can't doctors look at this and realize they are specialized in finding a cure with the medicines we have out right now. It's just kind of tough right now, because I see him, we talk for 5 minutes and it's over, and i'm not able to put any input into the final decision. Methadone is a good drug in that its not highly addictive because of its duration, which would deem it (imo) a good drug to start using so that we all might be able to live our lives to the fullest as they were meant. Sorry it was so long, but I appreciate everyone who read it through..thanks Much Love, God Bless, and KEEP YOUR HEADS UP--WE WILL WIN THIS FIGHT!! [/i]
I am new to this site so i will start by introducing myself. I am an eighteen-year-old college student who has had rls for a definite 2 years, possibly longer. With a big botchup, I was prescribed temazepam, which is marketed as a hypnotic, meaning that it's more of an insomnia drug. I started at 15mg and about 8 months later i was consuming many times the largest dosage; I wanted a cure so badly. Eventually my psychiatrist (who was an understanding and sweet woman) decided it was time for me to go to a specialist. I agreed; something needed to be done.
I went to this sleep specialist and he decided we'd try the good ol' cardo/levo at 25/100. A month later we finally stabalized the med at 3 tablets of 25/100. It worked wonders..it even helped put me to sleep. 3 months later the drug stopped working altogether and had me waking up with a ridiculous headache that lasted most of the morning. This doctor acted soooo suprised...why "none" of his other patients had this problem. Made me wonder how many rls patients he has. From here he decided we'd give an epilepsy benzo drug that seems to be working pretty well..but not quite there. Now I have to explain the other half of my story. Just 6 months ago I was diagnosed with ADD (no hyperactivity, just lack of focus and concentration.) It is documented in many journals that add and sleeping problems go hand in hand. I'm curious to whether or not there would be two impeticuliar drugs that would work together to help the add and rls. I suffer from mild (sometimes severe) rls which coincides with add quite simply because lack of my brain regerating its energy. I'm afraid if I was to go onto an add drug than my sleep specialist would set a distance from drugs such as methadone because of 2 addictive drugs that work wonders for 2/3 of people that use them. I'm at college and he's very hard to get a hold of because he's so busy, and because of this I want something that I know will work. I had lortab for my wisdom teeth and remember sleeping like a baby. If it works why are we being denied the very thing that will help. It seems instead every drug except for the most obvious/likely to work are waited until the last step. The process of going through every parkinsons disease, benzo, and seizure medication takes a good year (atleast I know it would with my doc.) If I know that the only painkiller i've ever had (lortab for wisdom teeth) worked for a good night's sleep should I ask doc? I mentioned oxycodone at our last meeting and he looked at me and his facial expression said, "do you honestly think i'm a dumbass?!?" and then he continued to laugh with the "ridiculous" question just asked. I've done my research and oxycodone and methadone are two of the best working rls treatments.
Mayo Clinics put out a report saying that 2/3 of rls patients treated with opiates do extremely well on the treatment..why can't doctors look at this and realize they are specialized in finding a cure with the medicines we have out right now. It's just kind of tough right now, because I see him, we talk for 5 minutes and it's over, and i'm not able to put any input into the final decision. Methadone is a good drug in that its not highly addictive because of its duration, which would deem it (imo) a good drug to start using so that we all might be able to live our lives to the fullest as they were meant. Sorry it was so long, but I appreciate everyone who read it through..thanks Much Love, God Bless, and KEEP YOUR HEADS UP--WE WILL WIN THIS FIGHT!! [/i]