This last 'new' doc called me a hypochondriac, overdosed my vitamin D levels, and then never returned any of my 5 phone calls regarding the vitamin D problems.... I'm done with him. I must start from scratch, find a new doc and hopefully a new neurologist who will take interest in my health concerns. While 8 weeks on Requip has improved my stiffness and slowness a lot, I feel I must get off the medication and let my body go back to 'normal' before I consult a new doctor. Would you be able to tell me how to wean off 1 mg at bedtime? Could I go 1/2 mg at bedtime for a week, then 1/4 mg for a week and stop? Could I just cold turkey stop (that's what I would prefer)?

Thanks for any advice you could share.

i would only recommend this if under the care of a doctor.

Glad to see you back! I finally made it to the new neuro doc and the first apt he said I had definite neuro symptoms but he thought they were more like autoimmune driven so he said Stiff-Man or perhaps a rare form of dystonia as I have 'too much increased muscle tone, stiffness, and cramping'. He ran a grundle more blood tests telling me he really was leaning to an autoimmune condition and he'd be happy to get me to figure this out and get me to a good doc.

I went back two weeks later to review all the 'weird' tests he had done. He was funny- scratched his head- all my previous autoimmune tests were normal and these new (many weird off the wall tests he said- including Stiff-Man autoimmune test) came back normal too. He said he didn't think it was PD because I did not present with a worse side and my symptoms are not very typical for early onset. He said he thought my slowness is related to the increased muscle tone and not a symptom in itself. I again told him my slowness started first in 2003 before the stiffness/increased muscle tone started in 2006. He jumped off the exam table he was sitting on the re-check the movement of my arms and legs as I sat in the chair. He finished and told me I now have cogwheel rigidity on my right side. I have always thought my left side worse so I questioned was he sure my right side, most definitely.

Because I did have positive response to the Requip, he gave me a PD starter pack for it and said he'll see me every 3-4 months and while he wasn't comfortable saying even possible PD, I definitely have a movement disorder.

Sorry for the long update- now my question for you is I'm up to 1.5 mg 3 x day now and I've much improvement- my walking is much more fluid and faster (still a tad slow, but I keep up to hubby's medium walk, he's not slowing down to snail pace to walk with me anymore). My toe/feet cramps seem to happen now only before/after taking my doses- they're pretty intense, but during the peak periods between doses I don't feel them at all, my left-sided facial numbness is almost gone, my left shoulder pain is about 1/2 what is has been, my swallowing/slurred speech issues improved slightly in the very first week or so of the med, but quickly leveled off and have not improved more. The internal tremor feelings and the tremor present almost constantly now in the back of my upper left arm has not changed one bit. Oh, and funny enough, my improvements are quite pronounced on my left side to the point now I feel like my right side is much worse than my left- go figure?!!

The side effects have included nightmares, up/down blood pressure when moving too quickly, and edema in hands/feet/calves.... but this week I started having balance problems- dizziness, slight nausea if I moved head too quickly- never had this before and know I'm not sick and I don't have allergies- I think it's this Requip. What I'm wondering is if this is an indication that my body doesn't like the Requip anymore, or is it that 1.5 mg 3xday is too high a dose and I should back it down? I can handle the other side effects and the improvements are nice, but I'd like to really get my swallowing/speech issues better- not sure the Requip is going to do that at any dose? The doc said if I decided I did not like the Requip he'd switch me to Mirapex.

Any thoughts/ideas you could throw at me?