Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

About 2 weeks ago the neuro gave me Lyrica to try. He gave me a bunch of samples and suggested starting at 50mg nightly for a few days and then moving to 100mg. Eventually he suggested 125mg in the morning and the same at night. I am at 125mg 2x daily now and I don't seem to be resting any better than before. I'm not having the side effects that are common other than feeling a little dizzy sometimes.
Should I ramp up to 200mg or more? What are others out there having success with?
I augmented with Requip and Mirapex so there is no going back that direction.

Z, Just from what reading I have done, sounds like 125 mg 2x per day is close to the upper limits. 200 mg 2x per day would seem high. Certainly wouldn't do it without consulting with the doc.

I'm much like you. I currently am on 600 mg or neurontin 3x daily and it has been pretty effective for me for about a year now. I also have a script for Vicodin. Most recently, I have been able to get by on 1/2 of a 500 mg tab and many evenings I am able to forgo it.

I know we have had several threads about lyrica. Have you done a search for it? Not sure how long it takes for lyrica to begin settling in. How long have you been on it? Seems to me that if you have not experienced some success with it at your current dose that it may not be the right med for you.

In the scheme of the algorithm, it may be that the opioids may be in the offing. Have you ever be prescribed Ultram? Hopefully, others currently taking lyrica will respond to your post.

Best wishes, Z,

M.

Yeah, I've looked through the posts and haven't read anything definite. One person was taking 300mg 2x daily and said it was working. This is the end of my second week on it but only my 2nd day on the higher dosage.

So far I've tried Mirapex and Requip with bad results. I haven't gotten into the opiods and am hoping not to have to. I can deal with the discomfort but the PLMs are causing the problem so I never get good sleep.

Hi Zombie...I have been on 150 mg Lyrica 2xs a day. I hate it. I am being weaned off and last night was my last one. YEA!!! I don't think it helped me at all. But we will see and everybody's different...My pain clinic doctor did say this was a fairly high dose...Pat

haven't seen a dose for RLS in package insert.. another case of a drug being used despite no FDA approval... "off label" is another term for it. very common for medication to be used without being FDA approved for that condition. listen to those here and to your physician.

Ed

I'm guessing, but I think it's about 30 or so drugs that are used for RLS...only 2 are approved, so the rest are all off label. I highly recommend all of us have either of the Hening and Buchfurer books on RLS because they list the dosages that the RLS specialists have been using successfully. Then, when our docs list something or aren't sure themselves, we have a resource to ensure we're getting the right amount. This is just still too new of territory for doctors to know this stuff all of the time.

You know, I really think a lot of meds are "let's try this and see if it works". And probably many do and that's how we figure it out...Maybeee..pat

pat,

the drug companies are notorious for having 2 sets of literature when their reps visit a MD. one set is FDA approved, the other is sometimes called a "war book"... usually is full of studies using the drug off label!! friends i have in the industry will never admit publically to the war book, but brag about it in private. such is the way of the FDA

Ed

e, for what it's worth... a table in Dr. B's book (page 96) lists (as the upper range in the table column "individual dose range") as 75 to 150 mg twice daily for Lyrica. Certainly, every doc would view that differently and use their own judgement.

M.

Saw the neuro again today and he set me at 150 MG 2x daily on the Lyrica and Hydro/APAP 7.5-325 at night if needed. I'm a little concerned about the Hydro and being knocked out. Any thoughts? I know the opiates are discussed in the boards. I'm thinking about maybe breaking one in half to see how I tolerate it.

It's sort of different (weird, but true)...most opioids wake me up, rather than putting me out. Don't know if that's the case with more or less people.

Ultram certainly contributed big time to my insomnia even though it is technically not an opioid but acts on some of the same receptors. Vicodin also does not make me drowsy in the least though I don't think it interfers with whatever sleep I can get. I find that with the Vidodin, it definitely takes a good bit of time (90 minutes) to work its way into my system.

z, if your worried, just take 1/2 a tab or so until your body tells you how it's going.

M.

Vicodin knocked me out for 2-3 days, but after that I found it a bit energizing and it certainly made it harder to sleep. I think my experience with it is fairly typical, from stories of others here in this forum.

One vicodin (5mg hydrocodone) used to knock me flat within 60 minutes. Now I take that that much twice a night and it doesn't really put me out anymore.

I think drowsiness tends to fade away at the same time the "woo!" factor fades away.

Oh my goodness, does Lyrica work on RLS? I had no idea.

zombie76 wrote:About 2 weeks ago the neuro gave me Lyrica to try. He gave me a bunch of samples and suggested starting at 50mg nightly for a few days and then moving to 100mg. Eventually he suggested 125mg in the morning and the same at night. I am at 125mg 2x daily now and I don't seem to be resting any better than before. I'm not having the side effects that are common other than feeling a little dizzy sometimes.
Should I ramp up to 200mg or more? What are others out there having success with?
I augmented with Requip and Mirapex so there is no going back that direction.