restless legs can be triggered in my experience by otc meds. 1st thing i would try is to eliminate them and see if it helps. the ones that hurt me are:

aleve (or in fact any NSAID)
benadryl (the same thing is in tylenol pm)
robitussin dm

also, sugar. eat fruit before noon. don't eat refined sugar at all.

i have tried the meds for restless legs and they did work for me. the one i used was sinemet. it's the same drug they prescribe for parkinsons but at a lower dose. i don't take it anymore but when i was i never noticed any side effects at all. except for the one where i dreamed george strait asked me to dance because i was purty. (i can take more of those side effects!)

i can relate to not wanting to try new drugs because of potential side effects. most of the time i feel the same way myself. but i have no bad pr for sinemet.