Small Mestinon Dosage Increase = Muscle Cramps/weakness

[iheartcats]

My doctor wanted me to try to go back to 60mg/Mestinon twice a day. I'm currently on 30mg/twice a day which seems to help me a bit.

Of course I went up to 45mg this morning (I know you guys understand - I wasn't going to jump into doubling it!). I had the weird muscle cramps/some weakness for a couple hours after dosage. Fortunately, it wasn't timespan so the half-life is only 3-4 hours so it was bearable, just annoying.

But what a small increase and such a noticeable change of how it worked for me! I am 90% sure I wasn't 'imagining' it. I can never prove that, but you get so tuned into things when you have our types of issues. You know when something is completely different.

I was able to push through symptoms this morning, but I think I'll stay on 30mg/twice a day and just tell my doctor the increase had negative effects next time I go in. At least I tried, right? I'm still amazed how a small change can be so troublesome sometimes. How is that normal?

[dsdmom]

I actually would consider the 15mg a pretty big jump. I go up by 1mg at a time in the liquid form. A 15mg jump would do me in!

[Tachy Phlegming]

I'm betting you're right but if it's not too terrible, I usually do more than one trial if for no other reason than to make it more scientific for when I have to discuss it; it also sometimes helps me personally to be absolutely sure that the problem is not attributable to something else. Not that this is the healthiest thing to do but every once in a while, extra testing also yields extra information which is useful. (With foods unfortunately, I end up doing more trials and too many inadvertent ones).

It could also be helpful to look at a myasthenia gravis site which will probably describe exactly those problems when you take too much Mestinon.

[iheartcats]

Well I didn't realize 15mg was a somewhat big jump - I had a few of the more standard side effects the Mestinon site talks about (weakness, fatigue, mild upset stomach, mild muscle aches). I had those symptoms and they were quite severe when I took a 180mg timed-release. That's supposed to kick out 60 right away but it sure hit me harder than that, so I won't use the timed-released as it just doesn't work for me. And the side effects lasted all day that time!

After about 4 hours I felt better so I'm fairly certain it is the Mestinon. Especially since I've had similar effects (but worse) with the timed-release version.

Tachy - I wish I could try it again to make sure! Not today. I'll see if I can get up the nerve again. It's hard to break the pill into anything but '4' as it is crumbly. It's not timed-release so I can do it into 4, but smaller is impossible.

I guess if 30mg is working, I'll accept that! I always wonder cutting it - I assume I get 25-35mg/a dose. I know it's not perfect. But I maybe today I cut it so it was more like 50mg when I was aiming for 45mg. Still too much!

[erik]

Maybe a compounding pharmacist can help out. I guess in some cases they take existing meds and "repackage" them as you desire. O as others mention the liquid form allows convenient accurate dose "titration" as they say. Just be cautious with liquids and be 100% sure what concentration you're dealing with and all that. If in doubt ask & re-ask for assistance.

[tinkerbella]

i keep both liquid and the pill form on hand as pill crumbles and it gets worse as the warmer and humid weather comes on. also being on flagyl for ibs i can't always take the liquid as it contains alcohol. the liquid you can have the dose cut in half easier. and always make sure they are giving the correct dose when they convert it to liquid, they nearly killed me when i first started it. the drug store gave me an overdose for a month which landed me in the hospital with a near bowel obstruction.

bellamia~