blizzardboy wrote:I took myself of fluoxetine 2 weeks ago.
You are tapering off fluoxetine, not going cold turkey, right?? Are you doing this under the supervision of the doctor who prescribed the fluoxetine? If there is reason to think that you still need an antidepressant, maybe the doctor can get you on another one (e.g., Wellbutrin? I don't know). Maybe there is even a way of doing some sort of cross-tapering?
How will you know if your PLMS have remitted once you are fully off fluoxetine and it's all washed out? Are you going to do another sleep study?
I would NOT be in a hurry to introduce any medications for treatment of PLMS until you're sure that you still have them well after Fluoxetine is washed out, and that they are the cause of your arousals.
BTW, I started going down very slowly on my dose of Neurontin after I was told that my PLMS are not true PLMS (they are respiratory-related muscle contractions) -- although I still don't know how that can be known with any certainty given that I was on 1200mg of Neurontin during the sleep study (couldn't the Neurontin have been treating the "true" PLMS and all that was left for them to see were the respiratory-related leg movements?). I got down to 700mg and I started having a lot of pain (carpal tunnel flaring, etc.). I didn't have most of these pains before I went on Neurontin (I did have some carpal tunnel). I would like to get off it because I don't know if the Neurontin is making me less alert during the day. Still, given what I've read about augmentation with dopaminergics, and given your recent pain, if the pain doesn't remit, perhaps you would want to consider Neurontin before considering dopaminergics.
But let me re-reiterate: I don't think you want to go down this road AT ALL until you are 100% sure that you have PLMS apart from Fluoxetine-induced, and they are responsible for your symptoms. Medications can cause a whole host of other problems, and who needs that?!
Never put your fate entirely in the hands of someone who cares less about it than you do. --Sleeping Ugly