Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

Weird.. must be something specific to me.

I get the "feeling like heat is radiating off my skin effect" but I thought it was from the reboxetine, or it was some kind of hot flash thing . I feel like I look like that emoticon and that people will be able to look at me and see that I'm red hot. I also get goose bumps, but I know that's from the reboxetine. The feeling hot/feeling cold side effects can get really annoying.

Oh, huh, I get the heat radiating off my skin, too...but I've gotten that for 30 years, so I don't even think about that as being part of anything. I often feel like the emoticon looks.

I've been experiencing feeling hot, and cold at different times. I've had methadone for a month now, wow, can't believe that. I'm horrible about taking it, I take 10mg every 48 hours, and it stimulates me so if I don't take it at 5pm i cant take it at all or I'll be up all night. I'm going to have to set a med timer I guess. Been up for 2 days now, I hope I can sleep tonight.

That sucks, unfortunately opiates do that to some people.. I know when I start hitting 30mg it will keep me up like that.

I have an appointment with my doc in a couple weeks and I'm going to ask about methadone. I've got the algorithm. Hope he is understanding, which I think he will be. When I first complained of these weird sensations in my legs he immediately recognized it as RLS (I was the one who thought BS then).

My RLS seems to be getting worse lately and my evenings are just miserable until I go to bed with .5 of xanax. The xanax does let me sleep through the night but that's not enough for me anymore. I want some real relief from those evening symptoms. Which usually start right after dinner.

Does methadone give relief from the actual symptoms without making you drowsy. Am I going to be walking around in a foggy haze during my waking hours? As someone else said earlier on. I'm resigned to probably becoming some an addict, but I can't keep living like this.

I also have a new problem, don't know wether it's related to RLS or not. My right foot is cramping a lot lately. I think it could be for a different reason, but it just make things worse.

Try taking calcium/magn for muscle cramps. I find it really helps my charlie horse type muscle cramps. I dont think the cramps are connected to the rls at all.

Hi Wayne,

Not sure how many things you've tried on the algorithm. Methadone is a great drug in many ways. It's specifically best for people who've not had any luck with other treatments. Most docs won't touch it until you've been quite a few of the others and they didn't work. If you haven't tried opioids yet, you might find a lower potency one would work. Or tramadol. None of these are perfect and each has potential concerns....hopefully your doc understands the finer points of this.

I know that for me, benzos like Xananx didn't stop my RLS. They made me pass out, then I'd wake up from the RLS and couldn't move...not fun. But, they do work for some, specifially in combo with other things, as they do help keep you asleep.

Per addiction....you won't be addicted most likely. You will be physically dependent. It doesn't sound like much of a difference, but I think it's pretty huge. I can stop methadone at any time and not suffer psychologically. I may, however, suffer physically as my body adjusts to not having it anymore. That part doesn't make me happy, but I'm out of options, so it's a small price to pay.

Have to agree. I don't know what you've tried from the Algorithm so far, but you have many options to try first such as Requip and Mirapex.. I know at the point you are at you'd rather not fuss with them and go for straight relief if you can, and I empathize with that greatly.

Methadone really is a last resport kind of option. Or at least we encourage people to make it one. It's not something you start taking on a lark, and there are many reprocussions for doing so. But it is still a great medication if you do eventually need it..

First you should assess how often you are experiencing RLS.. Is it certain hours, or is it progressing towards an all day route? If so then trying Requip or Mirapex couldn't hurt. You could also ask your doctor about Ultram ER or another controlled release opiate.

Getting off the benzos will likely be a lot better for you as well.. Opiates in comparisson provide real symptomatic relief, that lets you live a normal life and function at sit-down and sit-still events. On the sofa, in the theater, in the car, and most importantly in the bed. As long as you are medicated properly. For RLS that is near or constant 24/7 controlled release is the way to go.. Although Methadone is not controlled release, it has a super-long half-life of up to 72 hours.. So if you're lucky you get between a half day to full day of relief from your daily dose.


All in all don't walk in there, even with the algorithm and jump straight to Methadone unless you know his worst reaction would be to laugh at you for "being silly" (in his eyes). Many doctors have screwed up ideas about opiates and Methadone in particular,and the kind of people who coming looking for them without some massively painful injury.

Just make sure you go over the Algorithm with him, and let him know how you are feeling at this point.. And tell him you don't like the benzo's cause they don't work well at all and leave you drugged up. But you'd like to try an opiate or Tramadol first - and then if you get some relief and have a stable sleep schedule, that you'd be willing to try a dopamine agonist like Requip or Mirapex..

Whatever the case, hope you get your relief soon.

My RLS is mostly during the evenings. So I only use the xanax as I'm going to bed. At first the RLS was an all day thing, before any medications at all. After learning what that it was RLS and starting medication, I just learned to ignore it during the day, and it hasn't been bad for the past few years. Lately though I'm starting to get occasional symtoms at work in the late afternoon.

My doc first gave me Requip, (the starter kit and then a prescription). I didn't feel any kind of relief at all. Next was Mirapex which helped a little but only every other night. I would sleep in fits and starts one night, the next I was so tired that would sleep through. But it wasn't restful and I didn't like the side effects.

As I've said before, He prescribed the xanax because I was starting to stress out and have anxiety issues. But it allowed me to sleep, So getting a good night's sleep allowed me to cope. so that's where I'm at now. I'll be OK during the day but late afternoon and evenings it'll start and I've just tolerated/ignored it, but that's getting too hard to do now. I'm tense and just apathetic in general most of the time now.

Re: The muscle cramps in my foot

I think that my foot cramping might be because of my new car (giggle or laugh here). It has a large pedal for the accelerator with much more resistance than what I've ever driven before. My other car has a small sensitive pedal (less resistance). All I need is the tip of my shoe (toes) to easily manipulate it.

What I need to do in my new car is learn to put my whole foot on the pedal instead of just my toes. The cramps do seem to occur when I'm driving for longer than 30 mins and the cramp emanates from the middle toe of my right foot. But once I get the cramp, it bothers me for the rest of the day and makes the RLS just a bit more bothersome.

Well, with using my whole foot, I'll probably be getting some speeding tickets now!

You can try giving it a spray with some silicone based lubricant and see if that loosens it up..

Or do like my poor **** and just give it repeated treatments of WD-40 both at the pedal mounting joints and under the hood where the steel wire wraps around the throttle control. Or maybe even ask your dealer if there is any way they can loosen it up for you

I have a new question! My dosage was raised from15 to 25 mg over the last 6-7 weeks because my symptoms were being exacerbated by hormone treatments for in-vitro fertilization.

The IVF did not work and I am off the hormones until May, maybe June.

I'm thinking I should back off the methadone a bit since I probably don't need this much, and I'm feeling very sleepy and dizzy again. Do you think my doc will agree?

I'm afraid that if I don't lower the dose back down, I'll get too accustomed to this dose and then have to increase again when the hormones start up again.

Thanks!

part 2 of my question: I am also getting hot flashes still, even tho the hormone treatments are over. Could this be a methad one side effect?

Also a weird thing I noticed is that these side effects - dizzy nausea hot flashes, did not become an issue until a couple of days before I stopped taking the hormones. At first, I thought they were symptoms of the early miscarriage, but I'm still having them even though my pregnancy hormones are practically at zero levels now.

You are in uncharted water for any of my knowledge, Helen. I would try to take the methadone down if it were me; a call to the doctor is a good thing.

How are you doing? It sounds like you've been through quite a bit.