Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

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ViewsAskew
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by ViewsAskew »

rvjimzhr1 wrote:Wow. I guess I was spoiled my first two nights because last night the legs started moving earlier and I couldn't sit at all. I stood in a corner to read, when able, but mostly walked from 1130 til 530 when the symptoms seemed to quiet slightly and I sat in my recliner. I was pretty much a zombie, without sleep for about 46 hours, when finally got 3 hours sleep in bed. I found that neither the edible or the vape did a thing for the movements. All it did was keep me stoned while walking and standing. I'd also read where sitting and playing a musical instrument some how calmed the legs. So in the middle of the night when I could not sit in any kind of chair, I sat down with my mandolin and played.....and the legs calmed! Who'da thunk it? Problem was I was so stoned and tired that I could hardly play. But it did break up the routine to that point which was nice! Onward.....

Jim


Yes, ONWARD! I am impressed by your fortitude.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

rvjimzhr1
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by rvjimzhr1 »

Once again, I really appreciate all the feedback I'm getting here. Thanks to y'all! I started this process with my last dose of Requip on Tues evening and it's now Sunday morning just after midnight. It seems like it's been 2 weeks but I guess when you're not sleeping the time will drag. In the last couple of days I've gotten a little sleep. Yesterday morning I got 2 good hours after the motion stopped about 9AM and then another good hour after I decided to stay in bed rather than head to the recliner. I just now left bed for the recliner when my arms started flailing.

Last night I avoided the edibles and the vape. I spent a lot of time walking since sitting, even in the recliner, was impossible. Twice for about 3 hours total I sat and played with the mandolin again. It was much easier this being sober.

I'm wondering if I'm bringing on my symptoms by eating certain things. I've given up coffee, alcohol and artificial sweeteners. I've been drinking decaf tea now and then sweetened with honey. Night before last I ate about 1/2 cup of greek yoghurt, which contains sugar, and within 10 minutes the RLS was crazy and lasted til early the next morning. Yesterday morning about 5, RLS had stopped, I ate a small bowl of grape nuts cereal, with blueberries, and sweetened it with Stevia, a plant based sweetener. RLS was back with 20 minutes and lasted until I spent 15 minutes in my hot tub about 9AM. I've know for years that liquor, wine or dessert in the evening seems to start the RLS. So maybe the honey, the sugar in the yoghurt and the cereal and fruit are a trigger. I know we're all different but, for me, it's tough to pin down triggers for sure because sometimes I can eat/drink the suspected trigger and there's no subsequent RLS.

Anyway, I'm just rambling here but the process will get through this ordeal.....and maybe I'll stumble onto something important. I've been meaning to comment on my RLS history and how fortunate I really am. I'm reminded of that every time I read this forum or go to a RLS support group and see just how many people have symptoms which are so much more severe than mine. I've had RLS for many years but only diagnosed and medicated for 14 years. I'm physically active, seldom nap or recline during the day and my RLS , with very rare exceptions, is never a problem until 5 or 6 at night and generally not until 8 or 9.

I've spent some time in the last few days reading a lot about Kratom. I was going to buy some and try it but I'm not sure now. The side effects seem many and I note that it is addictive and will require increasing the dose. I read that withdrawal from Kratom is similar to withdrawal from opiates and RLS is common in withdrawal. Right now that's the last road I want to go down. Maybe in tandem with opiates it would work to keep the dosage of each to a minimum.

Jim

legsbestill
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by legsbestill »

Hi Jim,

You write very lucidly by any standards and particularly after the days and nights you have had recently. You are right to be aware of potential triggers but I would be surprised if any dietary changes will make an enormous difference to you at present as your symptoms will be appreciably exaggerated by the withdrawal process. You show great fortitude in your capacity to focus on the positives of your rls in the midst of the trauma of d/a withdrawal.

I am one who takes kratom for my rls. I am aware of the difficulties it presents but I find that it is not as quick to cause dependency as oxycontin and is easier to come off when it does. You are quite right to consider it in tandem with other options - I have found, post-augmentation, that the systems that work best for me have involved the use of more than one drug which has enabled me to keep the dose of each to a minimum - just as you say.

Hoping that things start to improve soon for you. The first few days are by far the worst and every day brings you closer to being d/a free.

Rachel

rvjimzhr1
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by rvjimzhr1 »

Thank you Rachel!

Are you suggesting that once I complete the withdrawal process, and the RLS is stable, that these and other dietary changes still might have a significant effect? I can look forward to that! Do you mean that the sugar and carbs really played no significant part in my RLS symptoms in the last few nights?

Your comments about combinations of drugs, to include kratom, are encouraging.

After getting a couple of hours sleep each of a couple of days ago last night was a disappointment. I walked and stood, as usual, for about 8 hours. When the symptoms stopped, I went to bed expecting that 2 and maybe 3 hours of sleep. It never came so I'm headed into tonight already tired. Maybe tonight will be different. Since withdrawal periods and symptoms vary from person to person, then maybe I'm on the downhill slide of my journey.

Jim

ViewsAskew
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by ViewsAskew »

Just my two cents...almost nothing except opioids works during augmentation and the withdrawal from DAs. One the RLS is back to whatever level it goes back to, then many things have a chance of working not at all to significantly, depending on you, your physiology, etc.

What day is this for you in the overall withdrawal from the DA?
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

rvjimzhr1
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by rvjimzhr1 »

I took my last 1.5MG dose of Requip at 7PM on Tues 3/21. So tonight is my 5th night w/o the meds. I keep thinking that since my case of RLS is so much less severe than many others, my withdrawal will take fewer days. I've been told that the dose I had taken for so long, 1.5 and more and more frequently another 1MG, was a high dose and therefore I could expect a longer withdrawal period. Who knows? It will be interesting to see how my "new" symptoms compare to the old after this reset.

Jim

Polar Bear
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by Polar Bear »

5 nights in and you are still there, I hope you realize how impressive that is. Well done.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

rvjimzhr1
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Location: Medford, OR

Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by rvjimzhr1 »

Last night was my 5th night without Requip. Symptoms and onset seem to be getting a little worse. Last night movements started the earliest so far at 1030 and lasted 'til 0800. No sitting was allowed other than 2-3 minutes now and then. AT 0200 I walked in the neighborhood for over an hour. This did nothing to help. Thirty minutes reading in the hot tub had the same results. Both these diversions were relaxing and worth the effort. I got two hours sleep from 0830 and today is normal with no RLS at all. I got an appointment at a local hospital Sleep Center with a Pulmonologist . Unfortunately the appt is not until May though I'm on a cancellation list. Friends keep asking me if I've been to a Naturopath or holistic type of physician or explored natural remedies. Being the skeptic that I am I've never even considered that route. I have arrived however and am ready to try most anything. Still, I don't see any consistent, successful treatments other than traditional docs and prescription drugs. I can't help but believe that were such remedies to exist then I'd have read or heard about them by now.

Jim

ViewsAskew
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by ViewsAskew »

You would have heard, Jim.

Hopefully you are close to the hump day/night and it will get better. It WILL get better...we just do not know how much.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

Polar Bear
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by Polar Bear »

Jim - I'm a bit of a skeptic also - and yet I've been to a Faith Healer, done the Holistic bit, bought the snake oil, bought the Halcyon Bracelets, and had several bars of soap under the bed.

I'd guess that anything ever having a tag to RLS - Someone here would have heard of it.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

rvjimzhr1
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by rvjimzhr1 »

It's 0400 on Tues and this is the 6th night with no Requip. I got the 'usual' 2 hours sleep after the end of the 5th night.

I made it til 0310 and was starting to have hopes of NO RLS but no such luck. Several times tonight I actually got sleepy and I felt I could turn off the lights and go to sleep but I was afraid to try. I've been very tired but this is the first time I've felt like I might actually sleep. It was such a nice change, without the movements, that I decided to take that and be satisfied rather than go horizontal and screw it up.

This is the first time I've been online, in the middle of the night, since I started this 'washout' and this is the farthest I've gotten into the night before the RLS kicked in. My thought on this night has been to get up from my recliner more often and I've been doing that so maybe that's helped and maybe I'm about to 'turn the corner'. Right now I'm sitting at the dining room table with no symptoms since I showered and shaved 45 minutes ago.

I briefly left the table and went back to the recliner but had movement again...so back to the table sitting and reading til 0500. Then to bed where I got 1 hour sleep and just awoke. Gonna go try again in bed.

Thanks for your comment Ann....thought so. And Polar Bear, I hear ya....I remember sleeping with the bar of Irish Spring under my bed sheet for 4 nights back around 2000. Then, and now, I'll try pretty much anything. I think I got the idea from this site. I see now that the soap is no longer brand specific.

I continue to be the sponge and spend time reading these boards and learning about the experiences of others. it seems I saw a post somewhere about Circadian Rhythms but there no real discussion about it, just the term in some context I don't recall. It caused me to wonder if the many years of working rotating shifts, with many years on graveyard, might have had something to do with my having RLS. Any thoughts on that?

Jim

legsbestill
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by legsbestill »

I don't think the shift work will have been the problem. What you are going through is absolutely typical of post-augmentation dopamine agonist withdrawal. There can be an insomnia dimension to rls (over and above the sleep disturbance caused by the urge-to-move). I doubt that shift work would have a significant exacerbating effect on it but I would imagine that at the stage you are at it is purely the withdrawal that is causing the problems.

I would doubt that you will achieve much success with homeopathic/herbal remedies. In my experience this condition only responds really effectively to strong medication but you will find some passionate advocates out there (not so much on this forum).

That said, it is possible that once you are over the withdrawal stage your rls will settle down to the point where you can get away with less severe drugs.

Re dietary changes which I mentioned earlier, unfortunately I have not found that my rls responds particularly to any dietary changes (though at one time I pursued a rigorous programme of no-carb, no-sugar etc and I have a suspicion my legs were a bit better - was on mirapexin at the time however so don't know for sure). There are those who swear by diet - I have seen strong recommendations for the fodmap diet, the wahls diet, a low oxalic acid diet etc. I doubt any will assist much during d/a withdrawal but worth thinking about down the line.

It is probably worth taking oral iron even at this stage however - or at least get your serum ferritin levels checked.

Good luck, Jim, you are showing tremendous fortitude and an amazingly positive attitude. You will not regret getting off the dopamine agonist. And you now know just what a resilient person you are.

stjohnh
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by stjohnh »

rvjimzhr1 wrote: ...Still, I don't see any consistent, successful treatments other than traditional docs and prescription drugs...

Jim


Well, marijuana helps many of us sleep and helps a few with leg jumping. Kratom helps many. Neither are traditional or prescription.
Blessings,
Holland

rvjimzhr1
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by rvjimzhr1 »

Stjohnh....you are right. I've had prolonged periods of confusion in the last week. I've had lots of good luck with marijuana prior to this withdrawal process though not during the process. I've read a lot about Kratom and know many report the positive effects. I wouldn't rule out using it but I'm ruling out further use of either until I bottom out and see where my RLS is.

Thanks Legs! Your comments, along with so many others, are making my efforts here sooooo much easier.....well 'easy' is not really the right word.....and provide lots of comfort while shedding so much light on the dark path this process takes us down.

Well last night was, relatively speaking, a 'piece of cake' compared to the previous 5 nights. Much later onset of movements were halted by moving to a different chair. NICE! I hoped for equal improvement in morning sleep but didn't get it. I ended up getting 3 hours sleep in 1 and 2 hour segments which has been pretty normal. Looking forward to tonight!

Jim

ViewsAskew
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Re: Requip & Erectile Dysfunction ???

Post by ViewsAskew »

YAY! You sound like you have turned the corner!
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

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