restless legs!!!

[confusedasfeck]

Awake now for the 3rd time already tonight. Restless legs are driving me INSANE. Advice, suggestions, preventatives , anything to save me going mad. Pleas helpppp nothing works

Do you take medication for it?

No
Nothing. I didn't think there was anything

Magnesium. Pills or the spray.

Drink a large glass of tonic water containing quinine every night. Takes about a week but it will go away for months.

Pramipexole, worked from day one for dp. Does seem to get less effective over time but I think it's a tolerance thing.

I have had rls in arms and legs 24/7 for 30+ years and use medication.
Be careful with Pramipexole, it works, but very often leads to augmentation which is when the medication actually makes the symptoms worse.
There are also the anti seizure medications which help.
If you go to www.rls.org it is a brilliant site. You can also go to their discussion board which very good, very active, and really supportive.
Quinine which is what his in tonic water doesn't really work for true rls.
Sometimes a long hot shower or a very cold shower on your legs will calm them enough to get to sleep. Cold works best for me.

Often raising your iron levels will help. Not your ordinary levels but the level of your ferritin serum which is the iron stored in your brain. You should get a specific blood test for this. Normal levels can be acceptable at around 20 but an rls sufferer needs it up around 75/100. Ask for your levels, don't accept just being told that they are normal. Many doctors don't know how to properly treat rls.

In the meantime if you have cocodamol/codeine it usually helps. I.e. an opiate but drs often don't want to prescribe it for rls. I take 2x 30/500 cocodamol as well as my specific rls medication.

If it is true rls you will have an uncontrollable urge to move your legs and sometimes can eventually 'walk it off'

Triggers can be certain foods, certain medications such as an antidepressant or antihistamines etc.

Try the rls.org site for great info. An understanding GP will be your greatest friend.

This is a horrible disease and is often minimalised by non sufferers who have no idea of the distress it causes.

I'm suffering aswell best thing that works for me is atleast 2 bananas a day and a hot water bottle on the back of my knees. If I don't do this I'm up pacing all night. It's horrendous!! I hope you find something that works for you!!

Up again I can't stand it. Will let ok into all these things thank you

Look into

I suffered terribly when pregnant. I also found that cooling my legs helped. I ran them under cold water and then lay on a chilling pillow/pad and tried to fall asleep before they gor warm again.
Also streching exercises before bed helped.
Agree with pp that unless you've had it you really can't understand how awful this is. Good luck

Oh I had this when pregnant - I also got it on antihistamines and antipsychotics - it really really is the pits isn't it?

Cooling the legs helped a bit, but I hope you find something that works

Mine is caused by my autoimmune condition fortunately the main drug I take hydroxycholorquinine stops it, if tonic water works it would be really worth considering if it autoimmune related as it is usually these causes that respond of quinine.

Stick your feet and lower legs into cold, really cold, water. I was given that tip by my midwife when pg. it works a treat.

It would be worth getting your iron levels checked- my legs are much twitchier if I'm low on iron.

My partner has this - it's better if he exercises in the evening and, as a PP said, when he takes magnesium tablets. These are pretty harmless with no side effects unless you take too many so may be worth a go?

Magnesium spray helped me.

I used to really suffer with this...to the point that I would kick the ever-living-shit out of DH most nights. I had a bit of relief with tonic water (would drink about half a litre a night) but not much, and if ever I forgot or couldn't for one night, I would have it much worse for the next week or so.

It has got drastically better since I was started on both a high dose folate and high dose vitamin D3 tablet. I'm not sure which one it is because I started them at the same time. (I have always taken a multi-vitamin with magnesium in).

I have known a few people who suffer from rls..and the thing that's worked for them is plain soap in the bed..I kid you not..look it up, many people swear by it.

Agree with drinking tonic water and also try having coolish baths with Epsom salts in, they contain magnesium in it which helps.

I was so desperate that I put a bar of soap at the end of the bed under the sheet & it worked!

My restless legs had gone from restless to very often just plain agonizing over the last year. I discovered quite by accident that when I hadn't eaten dairy products for several days (I had just refused to go to the store until other items in my refrigerator had been eaten) the very worst of the symptoms seemed to have just gone away. I really didn't have any faith in the idea that there was any connection with my restless legs and so finally purchased and ate cheddar cheese , frozen yogurt, cream cheese I love dairy! and ended up crying that night with the worst leg pain I've ever experienced. Just realized this sounds like a fake testimonial!

Anyway, I'm not lactose intolerant but must have developed a sensitivity to one or more of the proteins in milk products. A really strange but nice bonus is that I'm not having the very frightening nightmares I'd been plagued with recently. I'm finally getting accustomed to eating other foods -- as is my digestive system (had gastritis and acid reflux at first after giving up all dairy in my diet).

My legs still feel a little restless and I still take a mild pain killer (Tramadol/Ultram) before bed but the improvement in my symptoms is quite unbelievable. OP, I hope you find something that will help you.

Yy to soap. My husband tried it and swears by it. PLUS the bed smells nice

Magnesium is great for it

I take a full A-Z vitamin/mineral tablet daily, which has helped enormously, but I have also found that alcohol is a trigger - even in very small amounts: one glass of wine will do it. Walking sometimes works, too.