Just wondering if anyone out there is overweight?
Not a little bit, but significantly. As my RLS got worse, I steadily increased in weight, and have not found dieting effective. Granted, with so many waking hours.... and various medications possibly account for some of it. Anyone else?
I am a qiute skinny type, but after 11 years with Sifrol I had 12 kilos overweight. When I got my morphine pump I lost 9 of them in two months.
This is a well known side effects of dopamin agonists.
Thank you! Will take a look.
The dopamine agonist meds can make people put on weight. But it hasnt for me. I did find when i tried Gabapentin for a month i DID put on weight. I have lost that weight now. I do try to keep to a low fat diet. I am 5' 1" tall and weight approx. 8 stone. I see in other groups where people are up and pacing in the night, they are inclined to nibble. 
I gained weight with gabapentin and pregablin and as Elisse says I would nibble during the nights spent pacing so it all adds up.i am around a stone overweight now .
Great find Bigleg. Amazing what that one woman said about cheating even once will provoke symptoms. I would love to know the whys and wherefores and what happens to the body in terms of iron and dopamine and the transport of dopamine when we overeat or when we are obese. Here's one for you Bigleg..
Hi gretakmac
I have put on almost 3 stone in the last 1.5 years (since the menopause) , my GP put me on anti depressants which lead to an increase in my craving for sugar. I don't believe the weight gain was due to my RLS though, and dieting has become a no go area, I have neither the motivation or energy.... I know... Exercise is supposed to give you an increase in your Serotonin and Dopamine levels but you have to actually get started first!!! Ok so now I'm rambling....
dieting has such a bad rap - if you start eating to get the nutrition in - cram in those servings suggested by the food pyramid, then you should be successful. Setting a
goal to eat 5 full servings of vegetables will start filling you up so you won't have a
lot of room in that tummy for cake.. lol....Have the fruits, veggies, nuts, protein snacks
all cut up ready to consume immediately.. add some low fat dips and a low fat sweet such as jelly beans or candy lifesavers nearby so you can pass up the foods that are fatty. Cut up cold watermelon is like a dessert anytime. . cut it all up as soon as you get it in the house. You can bag up some of it to throw in lunches. =)
I gave up chocolate and biscuits for Lent a couple of years ago and in that time, my sweet tooth for both of these disappeared. I rarely ever feel inclined to eat a biscuit now and if I do one is enough. Unheard of before I decided to give both up for Lent. Before an opened box of chocs "worried me" until they were gone! Perhaps my age has something to do with it as well. I am in my 60's. I have always loved fruit and vegetables/salad stuff. I like to take exercise too so that helps to keep weight down. If I eat in the night it is usually fruit or a bowl of cereal.
Yes that is likely the first place to start with every illness - a primitive diet. How primitive is the question. No cooked foods? Consumption of soil organisms? What if any credence should be given to blood type and place of origin of ancestors. You have your work cut out for you. Remember, remove one card and the whole house falls. Caesarean section instead of birth canal means certain bacteria will never reach the baby. Or formula instead of breast milk.
I'm taking second looks at those 100 trillion bacteria that make up our gut micro biome. I feel like they are the masters of our universe yet we really don't know what a healthy microbiome is composed of.
Just to toss in my 2 cents- I had run across this quite some time ago and put it in my blog post on RLS, a quote from someone who went on an alkaline diet:
I would like to answer the question, "Does it really work". YES!!! It works like a miracle! I suffered for years with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel, dizziness, ulcers, restless leg syndrome, acid reflux, irregular heart beat and more health problems than I have room to list here! I got my body to a healthy PH and immediately my problems began to leave one by one. . . . Sue at High Alkaline Diet: Does It Really Help? Or Is it a Myth?
Hmmm- the clickable link didn't translate, so here it is- acidalkalinediet.com/alkali...
An alkaline diet is close to vegetarian- limited protein, limited carbs and very heavy on the fruits and vegetables to avoid losing calcium and other alkaline minerals that neutralize acidic foods, which protein is. I know weight loss isn't mentioned in that quote, but I imagine you aren't going to gain any on this kind of diet. My thoughts are that since it's carbs that put on the weight, if you limit those you will lose weight as well as remove a source of acid from your diet. No clue if it's the acidic nature of carbs or the fact that they go to glucose and stimulate your system that they trigger RLS. Maybe both.
The tendancy is to nibble on something to take your mind off the feeling. Many years I stood up at night leaning against the wall, reading or drinking and eating. When I finally found something that gave some relief, I was up to 215 pounds. I started to be very strict about what I ate. Nothing between meals, no pie, no cake, no cookies and no candy. When the meal is over, it is over. I lost very slowly and today I am 180 pounds. It is hard work to stay at that weight. I start to drift up and have to cut the amount I eat.
weight loss medication 
Augmentation issues
Thyroid issues
Big issues
