Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

100mg of Tramadol doesn't work in a car or movie either. I think Dihydrocodeine is available in New Zealand, I'll check with my doctor. The NZ drug buying agency has a website and it showed up there.
On Christmas day I had a drive from 6am until 9.30am with no problem at all because it was early. Coming home in the afternoon the next day was a different story, aching legs after an hour in the car. I drove the last hour which helped.
Then yesterday I had another long drive, 2.5 hours each way. Going wasn't too bad as it was mid day and to prepare for going home I took two ropinerol tablets (.5mg) at 8.00pm for the drive. That worked well. In an earlier post on this topic I said I took 1.5 ropinerol equaling .62mg. That's incorrect, it is about .375mg. The higher dose caused augmentation and I cut that back months ago. I take two tablets once in a while when I think I'll really need the higher dose then I return to the lower dose.

Hope you find something.

I never had to take a long drive when using tramadol. I found that it worked well (but I was taking 300 mg throughout the day) for the daytime symptoms, but it didn't come close to covering the nighttime ones. I also liked that it lifted my mood slightly.

I wonder if my doc would consider allowing me to use it during the day (I'm thinking while typing, lol)...sorry for derailing your thread!

also hope that the lowered ropinerole dose keeps working.

I use ropinerole 24/7 for symptom relief. Plus controlled release tramadol, 100mg twice daily.
If I am going to have a lengthy spell in a car, movies, going out to dinner, I add codeine.
And if I (foolishly for me) haven't taken any codeine and get caught out with symptoms when driving, I stop to take a codeine and go walkabout for a half hour until it kicks in.

Well done on lowering your ropinerole.

CRAP!!!! I thought I'd taken my last dose of meds tonight, but I did not. I was about to go to bed and looked at my water glass - there, right beside it, was the last pill. I just took it and am hopeful all will be OK, but it's about two hours too late. The worst part is that I am tired and want to be in bed - I've not had the opioid insomnia lately for some reason. I've been using a special blue light each morning to try and reset my clock - maybe that is helping????

You know, when I first checked into the board, I thought I could feel that pre-WED feeling - I never can explain it, but it's that awareness of your legs that happens before active symptoms start. For me, it's what makes me start to pay attention to my legs. And, of course, as I sit here typing, the buzzing has started and my right leg just got hit with the sensations.

I am screwed!!!!!!!!

I just hate when that happens...... you know it's going to take a while before the med gets going.
And yes, the pre alert of the alert !! The 'feeling' that a little fizz is just around the corner that will become a buzz.

Interesting that you wrote this Ann. I started getting those pre-WED jitters shortly after I first read your note. I ignored them and hoped they would go away and of course the didn't. About 10 minutes later my legs went crazy. I was finally able to calm them by changing my task on the computer to one that required more concentration. At the time I was blaming a vitamin mix that my chiro gave me yesterday. I even got to the point of pulling out the little blue book and checking all the components of the vitamin - and didn't find anything listed.

About a half hour later I found out that the Neupro patch that I had applied several hours earlier had peeled off of my thigh and was stuck to the inside of jeans. I put it back on my leg and covered it with some athletic tape and got back to "normal".

Rustsmith wrote:Interesting that you wrote this Ann. I started getting those pre-WED jitters shortly after I first read your note. I ignored them and hoped they would go away and of course the didn't. About 10 minutes later my legs went crazy. I was finally able to calm them by changing my task on the computer to one that required more concentration. At the time I was blaming a vitamin mix that my chiro gave me yesterday. I even got to the point of pulling out the little blue book and checking all the components of the vitamin - and didn't find anything listed.

About a half hour later I found out that the Neupro patch that I had applied several hours earlier had peeled off of my thigh and was stuck to the inside of jeans. I put it back on my leg and covered it with some athletic tape and got back to "normal".

Well, guess we were doing the dance together, 1300 miles apart .

Hey, I seem to remember that I did some research when I briefly used the patch - some places on the body had much better absorption than others. You likely already know that...in case not, may be worth looking up. I, of course, do not remember what those places were! I remember using my pectorals and abdomen, so it could be that those were considered optimal...or just where I could easily do it!

The website of the drug company that produces Neupro has a diagram with the recommended locations for the patch as well as a 14-day rotation schedule to allow the skin to recover between patch applications. The locations are on the shoulders, the abdomen and the upper thighs. The only hard guidance that they provide is to avoid sites that would be rubbed by tight clothing such as waist bands. I suspect that they also tried to avoid locations that would be visible. That helps reduce the number of questions about stopping smoking when someone does see the patch.

Polar Bear, how much codeine do you take for periods of enforced inactivity such as car drives? One night, out of desperation, I took 30mg of codeine sulphate from a 14 year old prescription my husband had. It did absolutely nothing. Maybe it was too little or no longer viable.

I can just say that codeine never helped me - and I do get good results from stronger opioids. But, 14 years is a LONG time...could be that it just was too old.

Yankiwi - If I'm going to be in a confined situation I make sure that I've taken my WED meds on time or even a little early i.e. ropinerole and slow release tramadol... maxitram.
About an hour before the journey I'll take 1 x 30/500 cocodamol.
If it is going to be exceptionally long or difficult I'm likely to take 2 x 30/500 cocodamol.

I reckon you couldn't be trusting the efficacy of a 14 year old medication.

Thanks, I guess I'll toss the old codeine. We hadn't needed it before and for one reason or the other it doesn't work for me.

Perhaps it was too old to work for anyone (the codeine)

Polar Bear, how much codeine do you take for periods of enforced inactivity such as car drives? One night, out of desperation, I took 30mg of codeine sulphate from a 14 year old prescription my husband had. It did absolutely nothing. Maybe it was too little or no longer viable.

When I was taking codeine and gabapentin, 30 mg did nothing. I needed at LEAST 60 mg to feel any relief. I was actually taking 150-180 mg codeine AND 1200-1800 gabapentin by the end. But even after I got off that, I had leftover codeine, and I learned not to waste it by taking one 30mg pill and hoping for results.

I would suspect it might still be good after 14 years and you simply didn't take enough. Based of course on my experience.

When I would take only 1 x 30mg codeine it would be as well as regular WED meds, but if I wanted to be sure I'd need to take 2 x 30mg ( as well as regular meds).
If the 1 top up doesn't do anything within about 45 minutes I'd add another.
Perhaps there's a case for just taking the 2 pills i.e. 60mg and be done with it.
I guess it's me trying to keep the codeine low.