My Regime - Kratom/Neupro - and Thanks
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:51 pm
It is just over a year since I came off 1.5mg per day of mirapexin and suffered the torment of post-augmentation withdrawal. It took months for my severe symptoms to settle down - my sleep consultant was only prepared to prescribe pregabalin which sadly did nothing for my RLS and made me feel even more miserable. From about September, when I was finally prescribed oxycontin by my PCP and started to see an appreciable rise in my iron levels from oral iron intake, life became a little more bearable. Since then I have suffered some set-backs. A sleep study identified that I was suffering from central sleep apnea which was attributable to the oxycontin and I was advised to reduce or stop oxycontin - my sleep consultant wanted me to take neupro instead as according to her it is not possible to augment on neupro. I also developed terrible problems with nocturnal alerting which I initially thought were also due to oxycontin but which still persist even though I have now eliminated oxycontin (I never had any problems falling asleep prior to stopping mirapexin).
After the central sleep apnea diagnosis I ordered kratom which I had read about on this forum and my RLS responded well to it so that I was able gradually to eliminate oxycontin. I also ordered a Relaxis pad.
I currently use kratom - 1 dose in the evening about 9pm, 1 dose at about 1 am and, if I require it, 1 dose about 4am. I estimate that I take about 6 grams per dose (a well heaped teaspoon). This keeps symptoms more or less under control - aided by my Relaxis pad. Sometimes my RLS is so good that I only require the 9pm dose, other times I go through three or four days where even the three doses are insufficient and I am kept awake by urge to move symptoms. I still have great difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep on this regime and although I use marijuana, taken as an edible, which does help, it is not 100% reliable and can leave a dopey hangover the following day - depending on how much I take.
I intermittently replace the kratom with neupro for short periods. Nothing works so well for me as dopamine agonists - 1mg neupro works a dream at present and I seem to sleep better when I am on neupro than when I am taking kratom but I am paranoid about augmenting. I never use neupro for more than 3 weeks at at time. The time on neupro helps to reset my kratom sensitivity so that I can then reduce the kratom dose a little when I return to it. I am currently experimenting (again) with reintroducing pregabalin to see if it helps with the alerting/insomnia.
I am planning to persist with this regime of using kratom for 3 or 4 weeks and then using neupro for 2 or 3 weeks. I hope the addition of pregabalin might help with the insomnia as I would ideally like to reduce my use of mmj. If it does not help I am planning to ask my PCP to prescribe zopiclone or one of the other zs to address my difficulty falling asleep.
I plan also to try a more restrictive diet - perhaps the low oxalate or fodmap diet - although my observations to date are that my RLS does not seem to be diet related.
I would like to thank everyone on this forum for all the help, advice and encouragement I received over the course of the last year while I made this journey. Although I only joined the forum in, I think, August, I had been a long term lurker and, as such, was receiving help long before I even asked for it.
I am posting these details in the hope that they may be of assistance to anyone who is unfortunate enough to be embarking on the difficult road of post-augmentation treatment. I found it of great help to read of regimes that other people were using.
After the central sleep apnea diagnosis I ordered kratom which I had read about on this forum and my RLS responded well to it so that I was able gradually to eliminate oxycontin. I also ordered a Relaxis pad.
I currently use kratom - 1 dose in the evening about 9pm, 1 dose at about 1 am and, if I require it, 1 dose about 4am. I estimate that I take about 6 grams per dose (a well heaped teaspoon). This keeps symptoms more or less under control - aided by my Relaxis pad. Sometimes my RLS is so good that I only require the 9pm dose, other times I go through three or four days where even the three doses are insufficient and I am kept awake by urge to move symptoms. I still have great difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep on this regime and although I use marijuana, taken as an edible, which does help, it is not 100% reliable and can leave a dopey hangover the following day - depending on how much I take.
I intermittently replace the kratom with neupro for short periods. Nothing works so well for me as dopamine agonists - 1mg neupro works a dream at present and I seem to sleep better when I am on neupro than when I am taking kratom but I am paranoid about augmenting. I never use neupro for more than 3 weeks at at time. The time on neupro helps to reset my kratom sensitivity so that I can then reduce the kratom dose a little when I return to it. I am currently experimenting (again) with reintroducing pregabalin to see if it helps with the alerting/insomnia.
I am planning to persist with this regime of using kratom for 3 or 4 weeks and then using neupro for 2 or 3 weeks. I hope the addition of pregabalin might help with the insomnia as I would ideally like to reduce my use of mmj. If it does not help I am planning to ask my PCP to prescribe zopiclone or one of the other zs to address my difficulty falling asleep.
I plan also to try a more restrictive diet - perhaps the low oxalate or fodmap diet - although my observations to date are that my RLS does not seem to be diet related.
I would like to thank everyone on this forum for all the help, advice and encouragement I received over the course of the last year while I made this journey. Although I only joined the forum in, I think, August, I had been a long term lurker and, as such, was receiving help long before I even asked for it.
I am posting these details in the hope that they may be of assistance to anyone who is unfortunate enough to be embarking on the difficult road of post-augmentation treatment. I found it of great help to read of regimes that other people were using.