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bad side-effects from rotigotine patches

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alitom
alitom

Having posted previously about my husband's awful side-effect of having hallucinations when using rotigotine patches, I thought I'd let you know the outcome. At last he is gradually coming out of the nightmare. He now knows me as his wife, knows my name etc. On the patches he thought I was his mother and sometimes an aunt.He thought there were people in the house when there wasn't anyone except him, me and the dog. At one point he felt so low that he said 'it would be a joy to die'. It has been a frightening and worrying few weeks. I was beginning to think he was mentally ill until I thought of reading the literature that comes with the patches and read about hallucinations as a possible side-effect. I can now see a light at the end of the tunnel as there has been an improvement in the last few days.

We used to have a GP who checked the drugs book before she prescribed anything for my husband for RLS and she would say something like 'I can't give you those because they've got horrible side-effects'. Why can't all GPs work in this manner instead of doling out powerful drugs and letting the patient find out about the terrible side-effects for themselves? This nightmare has been ongoing for 2 - 3 weeks since coming off the patches before there has been any signs of improvement. Hope this helps anyone who is having to cope with the same problem.

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • graham9772
    graham9772 alitom

    Posted

    Thanks for telling us about this.  Its a reminder that a bad reaction can be really bad.

    I hope your husband achieves full recovery very quickly.   It must have been terrifying for him.

    • alitom
      alitom graham9772

      Posted

      Thanks for your kind words. Luckily, my husband seems to be getting over this bad reaction now . It was indeed a horrible experience for us. I wouldn't like anyone to suffer what we've been through recently. I think GPs should make patients aware of what can happen with these patches although some people swear by them as I've read on this forum. They did work well on my husband's RLS but not on his mind.
  • ratfancy
    ratfancy alitom

    Posted

    Thank you so much for posting.  I was sad that my insurance won't cover this patch - now maybe it's a good thing.
    • alitom
      alitom ratfancy

      Posted

      As I said in my reply to graham 9772, these patches worked well on my husband's RLS but not on his mind but, unfortunately one can not conduct one's life during the day not knowing who you are, where you live, not recognising family members etc. etc. Reading other people's comments on this forum it seems that some are lucky and do not suffer these bad side effects. I know my husband won't touch any such medication again. Hope you find something that will work safely for you. My husband now takes codeine phosphate without too many bad effects.
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