My first night on Requip

broker · Post by **broker** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:42 am

For those that don't remember I got relief from Mirapex and Ambien. Doctor told me to give Requip a shot also to see which was better. I took it 2 1/2 hours ago and nothing. Does this stuff take longer to work?

Broker

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:50 am

No - it actually works a bit faster than Mirapex. BUT - it takes more of it to work. The last info I saw was that it was about 3 to 1; some people need 2:1, some 2.5:1, but 3:1 is about average.

So, if you were taking .50 Mirapex, you'd need between 1.0 and 1.5 mg of Requip. The doctors have said that you can switch directly from one to the other without needing to slowly build to your dose. Of course, I'm not a doctor, so you might want to verify that or check with your doc.

broker · Post by **broker** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:18 pm

I was taking the lowest dosage of the Mirapex starter pack. I am also taking the lowest dosage of the Requip starter pack so it appears as if I could be taking much less than I need to. I'll ask the doc about this as it's affecting my quality of life dramatically ie:

Sunday night 3 hours of sleep
Monday night 3 hours of sleep
Tuesday night 4 hours of sleep

10 hours total in 72 hours. It's maddening.

KBear · Post by **KBear** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:45 pm

Broker I feel your pain. I would be about ready to give up on the Requip especially if Mirapex and Ambien were working for you. I'm a big advocate of "don't try to fix what isn't broken".

Post by **Polar Bear** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:53 pm

Hi Broker,

I empathise with you in your present sleep pattern. I use requip and on a good night I get 5 hours, usually 4 hours, sometimes 2 hours, this includes using Ambien and a little codeine.

If you had something good going, why change, obviously your doc isn't walking the floors.... :shock:

ctravel12 · Post by **ctravel12** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:02 am

I am just wondering if you are getting relief from Mirapex and Ambien, why would your dr want you to change to Requip? Just curious.

I am on Mirapex and clonazapem and so far am doing fine with it. I have had some bouts with it but not like I used to have when I was on Requip.

Please keep us posted on how you are doing and hope that you are able to sleep better

maddielouise1 · Post by **maddielouise1** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:52 am

Ctravel,

I'm always glad (relieved) to hear when someone else is having success with Mirapex and Clonazepam. A few weeks ago I thought the Clonazepam was making me too drowsy during the day, but then realized, I was just tired from a hectic end of the school year, and am now starting to recover. My doctor went into wanting to change things up, but so far I've been successful where I am, so I'm not wanting any changes. I think sometimes we have to be the judge of what is working best for us because they aren't in our shoes.

Sincerely,

Maddie

ctravel12 · Post by **ctravel12** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:54 am

Hi Maddie glad to hear your comments. I saw my neurologist today and he is having me decrease my clonazapem (I was taking 1mg) and now he is having me take .75mg. I used to take .5mg in the beginning and wants me to eventually get to the .5mg but like he says this is one med the you have to decrease very slowly. The clonazapem never made me drowsy during the daytime.

I am still taking the lowest dosage of mirapex which is .125mg and so far am doing good.

Good luck with you and let us know how you are doing.

maddielouise1 · Post by **maddielouise1** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:51 pm

I'm always amazed when someone can take .125 of Mirapex and be successful. I think it's great. I have to take 1.5 mg. of Mirapex and 1 mg. of Clonazepam. Because some of my daytime restlessness has returned, my doc. wants me to cut back the Clonazepam to .5 at night and take .5 of Mirapex in the morning and another 1.5 Mirapex at night. I'm such a chicken, I haven't "agreed" to this yet. In other words, I haven't done it (ha!). I'm afraid my sleep will go all to bits.

ctravel12 · Post by **ctravel12** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:57 pm

maddielouise1 wrote:I'm always amazed when someone can take .125 of Mirapex and be successful. I think it's great. I have to take 1.5 mg. of Mirapex and 1 mg. of Clonazepam. Because some of my daytime restlessness has returned, my doc. wants me to cut back the Clonazepam to .5 at night and take .5 of Mirapex in the morning and another 1.5 Mirapex at night. I'm such a chicken, I haven't "agreed" to this yet. In other words, I haven't done it (ha!). I'm afraid my sleep will go all to bits.

Maddie be careful of cutting back on the clonazepam. I was taking 1mg and my neurologist had me cut back to .75mg. He said to be careful not to cut back too quick. One time I stopped it cold turkey and believe me do not ever do that. I paid for that dearly for a week. Last night was my first night at taking .75mg of clonazapem and did fine with it.

I meant to tell you that my neurologist upped my mirapex but not a lot. I take 1/4 of the .125mg at noon time and then another 1/4 at 4pm and 1/2 of the .125mg at 8 pm and the other half along with the .75mg of clonazapem about an hour before going to bed. It seems to work; however like I have said in the past I still get some of the symptoms but not as bad as it was 2 yrs ago. I hope that this makes sense to you.

When I saw my neurologist yesterday and told him that I was still having some of the symptoms he suggested that I could increase the meds if I want to but will see first how this does.

Good luck to you as I usually go with my gut feeling. Just my opinion.

maddielouise1 · Post by **maddielouise1** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:30 pm

Ctravel,

I'm thinking I'll take her suggestion for one (maybe two) day(s) and see how it goes and if I'm not happy with the results, I'll go back to what works (ha!). It's all my own fault anyway, for jumping the gun and thinking I needed a change.

Thanks for the word of caution about Clonazepam. I've heard it can be a bear to get off of.

Sincerely,

Maddie

ctravel12 · Post by **ctravel12** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:32 am

Hi Maddie
You are more than welcome and let me know how you do. I hope that you get good results. Have a nice evening.

Yes clonazapem is horrible getting off of it and believe it or not it is non-narcotic.

maddielouise1 · Post by **maddielouise1** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:15 pm

Broker,

Sorry I took this room off on a tangent. Have things improved any? Getting any sleep yet, or have you spoken to your doctor?

MaddieLouise

David · Post by **David** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:26 pm

This is my first post. I am a long time sufferer of of this crazy neurological disorder. During a sleep study I was waking myself up every 17 seconds and never reached REM 4. Sleep depravation is a normal part of my life.
I have taken Mirapex, Sinemet, Klonopin, Requip, and Neurontin. The episodes and pain occur throughout the day and night. The frequency and severity increases over time.
At the present time I take 2.0mg of Requip every 4 hours starting at 8:00 AM and at bedtime I take 4.0mg of Requip and 300mg of Neurontin. At this level I do have some relief but my alertness level is low and I am restricted in what I can do. However, without the medication I cannot function at any level of acceptability.
I was wondering if anyone has been successful or even tried to get Social Security Disability?

Thanks, David

ctravel12 · Post by **ctravel12** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:34 pm

Hi David and welcome to this group. I am sorry that you are having a rough time with your rls.

I know some of the members have tried to get social security disability. Whether they got it, I do not know but am sure they will send you a post.

I hope that you are able to get the sleep that you so much deserve. Being sleep deprived is miserable as we have all been through it.

Please keep us posted on how you are doing.