Restless Legs
 

Please tell me how to stop restless legs!! I use to have them bad a long time ago, like 10 years ago, now its like the past week it has just been awful! I try to sleep, they want to play lol - when I'm sitting down they are fine. Any cures to this?!

In my mind RLS is one of the most frustrating and maddening symptom of MS. The only thing I have found to help is Pramipexole.

I take Baclofen every night before bed. My legs don't really give me much of a problem until around 6 PM. And they get increasingly restless until I go to bed. I have to take my first Baclofen around 6 PM and then every 4 hours or so afterwards.....if I want to get any sleep at all. :rolleyes:

I take Requip and it works well for me. There is no way I could ever sleep without it!

I took requip for years but am now on a new patch I replace every 24 hrs and no RLS symptoms since...one of the worst sxs I deal with...

I've taken Balcofen at 10mg per pill - says to take 1 every 3-4 hrs. I've taken even 20-30mg at a time and it doesn't help.

I was taking Pramipexole for period limb movement disorder (different than RLS, but same meds used, I think). It totally helped, but then I got edema and hives, the doc thought it was from than so I'm back to nothing. DH has a hard time sleeping next to me. I want to retry it to see if it's infact what caused the edema and hives, but I haven't gotten there yet.

I have a cure for some of you. Yes, I can say this with confidence because it worked for me for a quarter century or more, after a neuro suggested it.
I could not tolerate Baclofen or Zanaflex at all, so he suggested I get magnesium from the health store, any kind which gave the least diarrhea. 800 mg. at first. (Calcium is also needed but I was already taking it). Now it's 1000 mg a day in divided doses. As I have "progressed", I have needed more help, and E Complex and B1 have been added. Occasionally now I have breakthrough neuro symptoms in back and legs.

I too am not calling my problem Restless Legs. I think it should be called Myoclonus. It affects not only the legs but even more prominently the low back, which will jerk spasmodically if I don't take the magnesium. This is mostly at night. It only on very rare occasions occurs when I am awake and sitting up. It seems to get going when one relaxes. The whole leg up through the buttock will jerk. Also, if I didn't take the supplement, the feet would contort into very painful spasm, so it helps both of those.

It didn't cure me, I lied. But it stopped most of this for over 25 years. Whether that will continue I cannot say. Thanks to the neuro who knew about it. I forget his last name, his first name was James, at Scripps hospital years ago.

Oh, and then there is that bar of soap theory:
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2005/...oap-under-the/

I tried bar of soap but it did not work for me. Perhaps that is because I have Myoclonus rather than Restless Leg.

Ideas for resolving RLS (WED)
 

Tough question because it's such a complex disease.

First, for those who think RLS isn't a great name, good news! it's been changed. Of course, it will take years for it to permeate through all medical communities, but the new name is Wills-Ekbom disease. The International Restless Legs Society decided to recommend the name change for many reasons, including that it isn't only in our legs and that the name carried negative connotations, particularly in the US.

But, back to the question....have you ever had your serum ferritin tested or your hemoglobin? New research is clear - people with WED should have their serum ferritin as high as possible - a minimum of 100 is recommended. Your doctors likely are still unaware of this. If you know your hemoglobin levels have been low, you must take iron. In some cases, increasing iron will reduce or even stop symptoms.

As to magnesium, Vitamin D, vitamin B (all), and other vitamins and minerals. When deficient, any of these can contribute to worsened WED. It doesn't hurt to try them. Magnesium never helped me, but vitamin D did.

Because there are so many things that can contribute to WED, it's really helpful to join the WED Foundation - or at least check out their website. They have many articles and brochures that you can use to educate yourself and your doctor.

Other drugs can worsen symptoms. Anti nausea drugs, some anti depressants, anything with Benedryl, or any anti-psychotics can be problematic. So, if you have to take one so these, you can try switching to another or you may have to use medication to treat the WED.

Lyrica, gabapentin and Horizant are often very helpful if you need medication. The longer the dopamine agonists are used (ropinerole, pramipexole, Sinemet, or the new rotigotine), the more doctors realize some of the side effects they have that are very disturbing.

To me, the most important thing when you have WED/RLS is to educate yourself. Much of the research in the field in less than ten years old, meaning that most doctors are unaware of it. The more you know, the better you can help yourself.