mirapex and weird symptom

[vickyb]

Hi everyone. I recently switched from gabapentin to mirapex. I'm currently trying to figure out the dosage that works for me, and just started .25 at night three days ago after .125 didn't seem to help. I'm having nightmares, and they increased once I switched to the higher dose. But that isn't what's bothering me. Once I switched to the higher dose, I started doing something strange - turning on the lamp by my bed in the middle of the night and then falling back asleep. I've never done this before. I'm awake enough to remember doing it, but I have no idea what compels me to do it. The first two nights, I kept waking up and turning it off, but then I'd turn it back on a short while later. Last night I gave up and when I realized I turned it on I just left it on and went back to sleep.

So I'm wondering if anyone has had weird symptoms like this before. Maybe not this exact symptom, but something out of character at night. I can't imagine it isn't related to the mirapex because I've never done something like this before. I am aware of the compulsive behavior side effects, but I don't know if this counts.

[Polar Bear]

I'm not sure if it counts either.

It kind of reminds me of what I do.
My sleeping has improved somewhat but I still waken up about 2 hours after falling asleep. Usually fall asleep anywhere between midnight and 2am, and wake up around 3 or 4. I am not having wed symptoms, just awake. I always get up out of bed, tootle about, go on the pc for maybe an hour and catch up on emails and the discussion board, then back to bed to sleep. If I awaken again I just go back to sleep. But the on the first awakening I always get up - and I don't know why. Perhaps it is a residual habit formed during a much worse sleep pattern and this bit still lingers. Or perhaps it is a bad habit with the pc. Who knows.

[ViewsAskew]

I totally did weird stuff when I first started taking it. The nightmares were awful initially - but they went away. So did the lucid dreams.

I was having sex with hubby after taking it and had been taking it for a few nights....and fell asleep in the middle of it When it hit me, I was out. Instantly. I learned that I couldn't take it and be farther then 1 hour from home and I had to be in my bed within 90 minutes of taking it, or I'd just fall asleep wherever I was.

Over time, that's stopped. It still makes me sleepy, but I don't ever pass out anymore.

Of all the drugs I've tried, the most bizarre side effects were with Mirapex. I can actually have multiple songs playing in my head simultaneously. I can have multiple threads of thought occurring simultaneously. I have to talk out loud to make sense of the jumble of thoughts, songs, and snippets in my brain. I dream songs and wake up with them playing in my head. I couldn't orgasm without a LOT of effort - it was like hanging on a cliff - no fun. I think the list of side effects was 15 or more long. I would walk down the street (I didn't have a car) and all the sudden I'd be suffused with incredible sadness and would start crying - no reason at all.

Now that I take it one day and a different drug the next, I only have a few mild issues with it and the vast majority of these symptoms are gone. And, that's a good thing, 'cus I wouldn't take it again otherwise!

[badnights]

The range of side effects serves as a good reminder of the intricate functioning of our brains, and the unintended far reach of messing with neurotransmitters.

I would say you're pretty safe with turning on a lamp.

I have a half-baked theory in the back of my brain that WED is improved by sleeping with the light on, based on some melatonin research that I can 't remember now, - I think , melatonin increase in the body and onset of WED symptoms coincides. So maybe we want to avoid melatonin, maybe bright nights at night will prevent the rise of melatonin. That's only a valid theory if melatonin itself is causing the problem,it must be more complicated becasue some of us use melatonin to sleep (successfully?)

I am convinced that it has off and on done some good, but I never can count on it.

[debbluebird]

They had me up 5mg twice at night, and it back fired on me. I realized my legs were getting worse. It was a nightmare gettin off of it. Now I'm at .125mg and trying to get off of that. I also take methadone. I have learned that taking small doses of more than one thing works better than increasing doses.