Suggest Treatment For Severe Muscle Cramps And Restless Leg

Brief Answer:
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Detailed Answer:
Good morning. I am a neurologist and my name if Dr. Saghafi. I practice in XXXXXXX OH and would like to let you know that the diagnosis of RLS (Restless Legs Syndrome) is sometimes a tricky thing to button down exactly. There are criteria that are followed and sometimes both patients and physicians are unaware of what they are and thereby make errors in judgement when prescribing medications.

Mind you, I'm not saying in your case your diagnosis is not accurate but then, again the medication you're taking doesn't seem to be making a clear difference to your condition. So my first suggestion is to be certain that you do suffer from RLS. If there's any doubt you should see a neurologist or movement disorder specialist to go over your case and see if there could be other things to consider.

Secondly, if ropinirole (Requip) is not consistently helping your problem then, you should speak to your physician and request something different. I find that my first drug of choice these days for a confirmed diagnosis of RLS is Mirapex or Pramipexole. I find many more patients seem to respond to that regimen than to ropinirole.

As far as the cramping is concerned RLS and cramping are often mixed together and can be related so if you find a medication that consistently works for your RLS then, I predict the cramping will also get better.

The other thing for the cramping at this time you could potentially ask your doctor to do would be consider raising the dose of your gabapentin although I've not seen a whole lot of improvement in patients when simply doing that type of a move. I don't know how much you're on plus the fact, I wouldn't want you to start experiencing side effects that can affect how you function but with gabapentin you can escalate to a fairly good amount of it with little risk of interactions between other medications. Still, as you go up with that drug you'll start feeling more tired, sleepy, slow, and fatigued. If you drive you may feel impaired...so really finding a better regimen for the RLS all the way around is probably a better option since I believe the cramps will likely get better just with that change and you could probably avoid gabapentin altogether.

If I've answered your questions I'd appreciate the favor of your providing a STAR RATING and some brief written feedback.

In addition, CLOSING THE QUERY on your end will also be most helpful to expedite the transaction allowing the information in this case to be archived for other doctors to use for similar patients.

Don't forget that my webpage to keep me abreast as to how you're doing is:

bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi

All the Best- Please send us just 10 degrees or so of the warmth you probably have down there...we are still entrapped in the ICEBOX SYNDROME and very much could use a change of temperature or we will certainly all perish! LOL...

This query has required a total of 17 minutes of physician specific time to read, research, and compile the return to the patient.

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