Hello Barbara,
For around four months now, my mom has been on 1 - Sinemet CR 25/100 six times a
day, including one at 11pm, one at 3 am, followed by one at 7am. (Others at
11am, 3 pm, and 7pm). Due to periods of restlessness and anxiety that were
occuring at periods, her MDS has just started her on a regimen of Requip
starting about 3 weeks ago. We are currently taking .5 mg of Requip at 7am, 3pm
and 11pm. We are working our way up to 1mg for each dose.
This regimen of medications does wonders, allowing her to sleep better than she
had been in a very long time. We know this is the case, because we have
conducted an experiment over the last four days. We thought that with the
addition of the Requip, we were ready to start eliminating one of the doses of
Sinemet - the 3am dose. For four days, we stopped that dose, and sure enough,
she had the dystonia return during the night - her legs cramping, her lower back
hurting, her tremors increasing. So last night, we put her back on the 3am
Sinemet and bam - back to a good night sleep, no problems.
So, at least for now our nightime medication regimen is as follows:
11pm: 1 - CR 25/100, 0.5 mg Requip
3am: 1 - CR 25/100
7am: 1 - CR 25/100, 0.5 mg Requip
Of course, as we increase the Requip over the course of the next several weeks,
we will try to eliminate the 3am Sinemet again. At least until we find the
right combination.
Just letting you know you are not alone in this regard.
David
care provider for Patricia (mother), 69 / diag 64
Barbara wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> Regarding the message about taking Requip 2mg at night. Can I just take
> this one
> dose? Does it stop tremors and cramps for 6 - 8 hours?
>
> Some people only have to get to sleep, then symptoms go away until they wake
> up, Mine do not go away when I am asleep unless I am medicated through out
> the night.
>
> I went through the PD archives, there are others with the same problem. It
> sounds like they are the ones forced to take Sinemet through the night, not
> to get sleepy, just to removed the cramps and tremors so they can stay
> asleep until med wears off, which seems to vary from person to person. Some
> lucky people just take a CR, stay asleep all night.
>
> Would like to hear from others who medicate through the night.
>
> Thanks for your kind replies ....... BJ
