What Causes Hypersomnia, Terrible Mood Swings And Restlessness While On Budesonide?

Posted on Tue, 21 Jun 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 21 Jun 2016 Answered on

Thu, 14 Jul 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I am in my 3rd wk of taking budesonide for collagenous colitis, and my restlessness is increasing, and I also have restlesslegsa thatI takeneurontin for plus vicodin for severe chronic pain; I am having terriblemood swings, yell for hrs at my poor husband, and then will cry for hours; I just left a msg with my ns practitioner who startedme on it, while my gi doc was on vacation, but it was her last day; i calle d last wk with a stool change and anohter dr came back with advice...........but they still have the ns practitionerwith supposedlysomeone answering it............I have not seen the dr who did the original workup since '09, and the CC part was missed; I was told I just have IBS, with a chuckle. I spoke indetail with my primary physician about this whole situation last week, as I am also a legal ns consultant and a good primary doc................sorry.........is this is disjointed, I am falling asleep while writing this, having takeny neurontin with vicodin for the severe restless legs for the 2nd time tonite/day. I realize this is a complicated mess; any immediate advice?

Answered by Dr. Anshul Varshney (2 days later)

Brief Answer:
Avoid Neurontin and Vicodin.

Detailed Answer:
Welcome To HCM. I am Dr Anshul Varshney. I understand your concern.
Your all symptoms including excessive sleepiness seem to be related to Neurontin and Vicodin.
These Medicines cause excessive sleepiness as well as drowsiness.
So, I would recommend you to see a neurologist as he would evaluate you for your leg pains.
It seems you have Restless leg Syndrome (RLS).
My recommendations in your case would be to switch to Pregabalin sustained release instead of Neurontin and to take Duloxetine which would help you in your all pains in long-term.
Avoid Vicodin as far as possible as it can damage your liver as well in long term use.

So, that's my best opinion for you.
If you have any further query, please ask me.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Anshul Varshney (33 minutes later)

I already am on duloxetine and ropinirole.....isn't pregabalin lyrica? and it comes in an SR form? have been on vicodin since my first back surgery in '03.....SINCE then I've had 2 more back surgeries,fused to T 9 now; both kknees replaced, a hip pinned, that had to be totally replaced when the pin came out after 3.5 mos.......and the latest surgery: ankle repair/fusion/bunion repair for arthritis.........which healed, but poorly due to my own not following wt bearing instructions immed. postop......doc has just started talking about being off vicodin which I cant imagine but supposed given the new restrictions, will have to happen sometime.....I am also sleepy from not being able to sleep since on budesinide....and 6mos of sleep deprivation from diahrrea before giventhe CC dx...

Answered by Dr. Anshul Varshney (10 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Yes Pregabalin is Lyrica

Detailed Answer:
Hi, yes Pregabalin is Lyrica only and you can ask your doctor to prescribe you
Pregabalin in Extended release preparation of any company.

See, i understand your pain, but there is no other alternative as these issues don't respond well.

However, the pain can only be masked off with pain killers that don't cause you drowsiness.

Since you have high grade sedation with Gabapentin and Vicodin, you can switch to Pregabalin ER as discussed and ask your doctor regarding Flupirtine instead of Vicodin as Flupirtine has similar pain killer efficacy without any sedation.

I hope it helps you.
Stay Healthy.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar