Daily Oxy Use Bringing on RLS at Night?

[happyneedles]

Hey! I've been taking an OP 80 each morning for the past week for a neck injury. Last night, I barely slept and kept waking up with terrible leg cramps/spasms. They continued into the morning until I took my morning dose. Tonight, it's happening again. Could this be RLS (or something similar) brought on by the oxy leaving my system as if I'm having withdrawals? I am prescribed Gabapentin and it helped a little this evening, but it's still pretty damn terrible.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this? I've taken Advil and tried an Epsom salt bath. It's been 16 hours since I took the 80 this morning, and I have some 1mg Xanax from an old prescription, but would that still be dangerous despite the amount of time that's passed?

 

[cuivre]

Yep, sounds like you're going into WDs overnight. Are these drugs from the street you're just taking because you happen to be hurting versus an RX?

It depends partially on your tolerance as for whether or not the xanax is a best idea. IDK if you have any more 80s but you'd be better off slicing off a tiny piece and taking it in the PM to hold you over and accepting that the morning dose will be a little smaller; OPs will retain their time-release even if cut and should be enough to keep you out of WDs.

Is this your only opioid use lately? As I'm thinking about it, it does seem a little odd you'd be withdrawing after only a week unless you had a previous hard habit. Doesn't have to be concurrent or anything, but were you using at any point before that? It would make a lot more sense if you were previously dependent at almost any point. I suppose I'd guess yes if you're taking 80s, though you could also be a frequent not-quite-dependent user which is why it bears asking.

If you can avoid the Xanax, try to. If you can't, try not to take the full 1mg, especially since it's more about the RLS than anxiety. However, especially if you are waiting until you're feeling a little unwell, you should be OK. Just take as little as you possibly can, if you have to take it. Honestly hot baths have always worked better for me than benzos for muscle stuff during WD but everyone is different. Sometimes even soaking my feet in hot water can make a big difference if you're not in the mood for another full bath.

 

[Runtoparadise]

Are you drinking more water with the oxy use or for any other reasons lately? I don't think it's rls, well, the way you've described it isn't textbook.

Opiate use in any form is known to cause a dry mouth. Myself, I down several litres or more a day & concurrently experience night time cramps due to low sodium & magnesium.

It's not clear from your post whether you're prescribed the oxy. 80mg, once a day at a pretty high dose, doesn't quite sound it. No judgement. Otherwise I'd say get your GP to do a blood test & check your minerals are balanced.

Sodium tablets, OTC, work wonders for leg cramps.

Rtp

 

[cuivre]

That's all true, too... I guess really the only thing I have to add is that I remember when I first started on daily pain meds and didn't have an ER medication I would go into WD overnight. Seeing as for some people the OPs don't even last the full 12 hours they're supposed to it would be wearing off even sooner than I was taking my last dose before bed and still waking up feeling horrible. So I dunno! I think it's possible but worth getting your mineral levels checked, too. Stating the obvious here but if it started up after you started taking the oxy and wasn't present before, chances are it's related in some way.

 

[Keif' Richards]

RLS is the hallmark feature of earl-mid opioid withdrawal for myself and many others I know.

The dependence creeps up on you for sure and in my opinion, this is dependence.

 

[happyneedles]

Cuivre, this is a prescription from a new doctor. Before I was put on this, I had briefly been prescribed Norco 10s (up to 4x's a day as needed), but rarely took more than 30mgs a day and never more than two days in a row. The last time I took that was almost a month ago. To go from that to OP 80s seemed like a HUGE jump to me. I have taken opioids recreationally in the past but never used them daily (still - I know that's how it starts ).

Is it possible that 80mgs was too much for me and threw my body into early WDs? Or could it be a potassium deficiency? I do have some potassium tablets, but I will probably try a banana first.

Also, after I made this thread, I continued searching online. After much digging, I found a similar post (RLS symptoms while still taking OPs) on another forum, and someone responded by saying it was possible the original poster (unknowingly) already had RLS; therefore, they were more sensitive to the effects as the OP wore off between doses. It sure would help if I still had the source - sorry! I don't believe this is the case with me, but I still thought it was interesting.

I won't be able to reach my doctor until tomorrow afternoon. I'd like to try cutting it and going down to 60mg for my next dose, but if these are early WD symptoms, I'd hate to make them worse by dropping 20mgs.


Oh, and just thought I'd let you know: I didn't take the Xanax.

 

[cuivre]

What's strange is that your doctor opted to go to oxy 80s once instead of even 40s twice a day... or of course a much lower dose, yeah. But my point is that they're just not meant for one-a-day dosing, no matter how big the dose is. Some ER formulation are meant to last a full 24 hours but I'm almost certain this is not one of them. They're 12 hour pills at best and that's all they're meant to be; for some they don't even last that long. It is undoubtably a big jump in daily dosing but more importantly it strikes me as a practically nonsensical pattern, one 12 hour pill meant to last you for 24 hours with no breakthrough medication as far as I can tell. I mean I'm not a doctor but I really can't make heads or tails of it. Sorry, not to be overly critical of your doctor it's just honestly a little confusing to say the least. Necessary disclaimer about not knowing your medical history or being a physician of any sort.

Depending on his personality and his openness to suggestion I would really consider at least asking him to break that dose in two. Even if you want to go down in overall daily dose, maybe you could do 20mg of ER oxy twice a day and have Norocs for breakthrough? I'm not trying to push more meds on you I'm just trying to think how you can have some coverage overnight both for not waking up in horrible pain nor going into withdrawals. If you wanted to go down to 60 as you said, maybe you could do 40 in the am and 20 in the PM for the oxy if your doctor was willing? Personally I'm a fan of having *some* amount of breakthrough medication even if it's just for emergencies but of course this is up to you and your doctor and again, I'm really not trying to suggest you take a single mg more than you absolutely need.

I gotta say, a banana or two works wonders for run-of-the-mill leg cramps. Glad you didn't need the Xanax.

 

[Runtoparadise]

As I said above too, 80mg oxy once in the a.m is not typical dosing in anyone's book. Since it is prescribed by a GP, I'd certainly hope he's open to discussing this.

Just don't preface it with "the folks at BL say.." Lol.

OP, 80mg wouldn't precipitate wds in a reasonably opiate naive person, it'd postpone them IMHO. Don't drop the dose on your own accord, I'd wait for a medical opinion..not sure that your current source is reliable though. Just saying.

I take oxycontin in a large dose split into 6-8hrly, but even when I for whatever reason skip 24hrs, I still don't (quite), go into wd.

Im saying that even though I metabolise opiates quicker than some, & require more frequent dosing than 12hrly for pain, some obviously stays in your system longer.

Anyhow, we're all second guessing, speak to your doctor & let us know how you go,

Quick edit, I'm 72+hrs into wd & cruising thanks to Lyrica. You did mention you'd tried Gabapentin but didn't say if you're taking it consistently. If you are, that'd be another reason I wouldn't put it down to rls from wd.

Rtp