Perhaps you've seen the ads on TV for people saying they have "creepy, crawly" sensations in their legs at night, or a condition otherwise known as Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). Well, I'm one of those people. I already take Mirapex, which is not the FDA-approved medication you see advertised, but it works. I also take clonazepam, the generic form of Klonopin, because I also have an sleep disorder associated with RLS called REM-behavior disorder. It's like sleepwalking, but it occurs during REM sleep -- sleepwalking occurs in non-REM sleep. And clonazepam is the only thing that seems to work in controlling it.
Anyway, I'm always on the lookout for something I can take to take a drug holiday from the clonazepam. I've read that tramadol, the generic version of Ultram, might be helpful. It's really a pain-killer, but it's a powerful one that also helps induce sleep. Some people who have RLS take tramadol for this reason and have found it to be very effective. I usually like to stop clonazepam for about a week here and there, just because it helps me stay at the same dosage throughout the year. So, I'm going to ask my doctor about tramadol as a substitute, because I don't want to increase my clonazepam dosage, as an increase only makes me feel worse the next day. We'll see what he says.
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