Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

Hello all

I haven't been on in a while and was wondering out there if anyone has tried Symmetrel (Amantadine) As quiet a few of you know I have tried several medications that either caused worsening of my RLS or not help at all.

I know several of you have tried several things here and hope that one has tried this medication. I have a new Doctor now and she wants to try some new things to help me. My RLS is becoming worse, where it is starting to happen earlier in the evening while sitting in my chair and causing more sleepiness in the morning. It is becoming harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning from lack of sleep.

My RLS has been diagnosed at movement every 6 mins while sleeping and I think now that has increased. I take wellbutrin and gabapentin now but that is because of other uses rather than the RLS. I am sure it helps some but not enough to cause limiting effects of the RLS.
So if any of you have any experience of this medication I would appreciate your response.

Thanks a million

Hi Jan - haven't seen you in a long time.

Amantadine isn't a drug commonly used at all. There is only one study that I know of - from 2000. According to the Clinical Management of RLS book, it's one of those that some specialists use when all of the other options have been used.

Opioids still work for me, so I haven't had to try anything that isn't really studied.

I don't recall anyone mentioning this drug for a LONG time. Hope you get someone with some knowledge.

Welcome back, Jan. That drug seems a bit out-there for WED. I seemed to recall hearing about it so I searched the board; two people have used it in my time here (since about 2008), but one of them (karalea) was on so many meds it would be hard to determine what effect the amantadine had on the WED, and the other (veldon7) was only on it for a few months and reported that it had a lot of side effects - but she also was on other meds as well.

So it's a big unknown as far as I can tell. Please let us know how it works for you, so others can benefit from your experiences, which I hope very much are good.

But it seems weird that your doctor is going that route. Have you been through the opioids and been unable to tolerate any? Or were opioids unacceptable for a different reason? Gabapentin is hardly enough to counter serious WED (for most but not all people on this board), so it's no wonder you're having problems. I know you've been around the block with this so you've probably been through the DAs - - but have you tried the newish patch DA, rotigotine/Neupro? Maybe that would be a better option than amantadine? I don't know the history so I might be missing something important, but it's less likely to cause augmentation.

Have you asked your new doc what her experience with WED/RLS is? (how many patients has she treated, and has she treated any refractory WED)