Restless Leg Syndrome?

is this the right place to start a topic about RLS?

after talking with some other people, i think RLS is the cause of my leg pain, so i was hoping to hear from some of you around here what you do to treat it... i heard a lot about ropinirole and pramipexole, but didn't really get a consensus on which one is more affective

thanks for the reply. i have gone to the dr, several times. i'm actually a little embarrassed now. the dr. suggested RLS, but i thought that was a "stupid" diagnosis - my understanding of RLS at the time was that it's a feeling of things crawling on your legs at night and/or an irresistible impulse to move your legs and/or leg twitching... having learned more about it, i think the dr. might have been right after all.

my RLS, if that's what it is, presents as a constant throbbing "muscle" pain (like i had been running or working out for too long) that makes it very difficult to sit at my desk and work during the day (unless i sit cross legged, which hurts my knees after awhile, or constantly bounce my legs up and down)... and makes it almost impossible to sit on the couch at night to relax and watch tv... and just forget about being able to lay in bed at night trying to fall asleep! i get some relief by moving my legs, but the pain comes right back when i stop moving them (rubbing them also helps, but again, the pain comes right back once the rubbing stops).

Funny you should mention sciatica. I had (have?) that a little while ago. While trying to get to the bottom of my leg pain (i'm sure there's a pun in there somewhere), i was sent for an MRI and they found a bulging disc between L4 and L5... i was having the classic sciatica pain that shoots down the leg, but i didn't pay much attention to it/didn't care much about it since that pain was sporadic (vs the other leg pain i was having, which is constant). anyway, after the mri, i was sent to physical therapy (after various medicine didn't work and i woke up one morning unable to move without having severe back spasms)... the dr assumes the disc has healed since the shooting sciatica pain has gone away (only way to know for sure would be to do another MRI), but due to the nerve being ignored and pinched for so long, i probably have permanent nerve damage (which manifests as an occasional flare from from buttock to my groin to mid-thigh)... anyway, the whole point of this long message was - when i was being treated by the neurosurgeon for the sciatica he made a big deal about where the shooting pain stopped... for me, it never made it past mid-calf... he said if it gets to the foot, that could be trouble. so, if you're having sciatica pain traveling all the way down to your foot, i hope you're getting it checked out.

i haven't seen that one, don't know anything about it... you recommend it?

ookla76 what your describing with your legs sounds allot like RLS, my ex had it really bad, as did her father, and uncles and several of her brothers and sisters, it has a tendency of running in families but doesn't have to.  Anyway after many, many, many years of fighting this, she finally got it diagnosed a few years back and was giving medication for it, actually the medication was a low dose Parkinsons medication, and it really workd well for her. She had allot of problems sitting in a car for any period of time, and would be constantly moving her legs, and complaining about how they kind of hurt, and moving them seemed to help??? Sleeping was another matter, often she would get up and just pace the floor or walk around the house, because she could not lay still!  Anyway it is a real condition, and can be treated with medications, it is not cureable as of right now but with some trial and error on the dosing of the medications they can control it fairly well. I can empathize at least a bit, because, I know what my ex went through with having it, and  her family, and it is not something that I would wish on anybody to have!

 

Good Luck and I do hope medication will help you! I know it was a real Godsend for my ex and allot of members in her side of the family!

 

White Beard

I'm not a doctor so all I can do is say what works for me. I have rls bad and I was always struggling with it until hubby convinced me to try the calcium/magnesium tabs that he bought. He said it really helps with his and lo and behold it works for me as well. I usually take one at night about two hours or so before bed and voila, no rls all night long. If I have it during the day then I take one and in a couple of hours it's gone. I'm not saying it will help everyone but it's cheap and won't hurt you if it doesn't work. Just my two cents worth.

Lynnster - where do you get calcium/magnesium tabs? is that something you can get OTC at walgreens?

Kaely - is pramipexole the only med you've tried? what dose are you on? have you had any side effects from it? did you have RLS during the day? are you on any other meds? sorry if these questions are too personal. i tried neurontin awhile ago and didn't get any relief from it, but i was on a really low dose, so i guess i need to consider giving that a try at the right dose as well.

Ookla yes you can get it over the counter. Just make sure you get the one with calcium/magnesium. Also you can take one in the morning and one at night if you really need to but don't take more than that or you will be in the bathroom as taking too much does have a laxative effect. I do hope it works for you because it's cheap and no side effects. Good luck to having calm legs.

thanks, everyone... i wonder if the "type" of RLS matters... i don't have the crawling sensation or the kicking/involuntary leg movements... i wonder if diff meds/treatments are more effective for certain symptoms

dr diagnosed me with it awhile back, but i, um, ignored it cuz i didn't know much about RLS and thought he was way off (i thought RLS was *only* creepy crawly sensations on your legs and/or involuntary leg movements while asleep)... still waiting for my dec. 5 dr appt to figure out what to do next - have been debating whether or not to ask to try ropinirole again or pramipexole or a higher dose of neurontin (i made an earlier pledge here that i wouldn't screw around with my meds on my own anymore)

OK first I'd like to say check with a doctor before taking magnesium or potassium. The symptoms of having too much magnesium in your body are similar to the side effects that occur when you do not get enough of it. These include muscle weakness, breathing problems, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, low blood pressure, a slow pulse, confusion and other types of altered mental status. A potassium overdose can kill you.

People love to push 'natural' things but if you don't need these things you can damage your body. We are not doctors here. Please have your doctor check if you need these supplements (most likely you do not) BEFORE you try them.

To answer your questions to me. Yes, Pramipexole is the only med my doctor has given me for RLS. I take .125 mg once a day. I have no side effects. Most of my RLS symptoms were at night, though long car rides and sitting too long could set it off. All of that is gone now.

I'd like to stress that everyone is different. This drug may or may not work for you. I'm not a doctor so I can't tell you how it will work for you. It works for me and I'd recommend it to anyone.