Hi, I have only joined the site today. I have suffered since the age of 5 with RLS. At the age of 20 my GP prescribed Amitriptyline which I have taken ever since. I have found over the years that my symptoms have been managed well with only having occasional nights of problems. Recently however my symptoms have become so bad that I only manage 3 - 4 hours sleep in 24 hours. Reading all the blogs on here advise do not take Amitriptyline as it makes RLS worse. I am not sure why my GP prescribed them to me. I have never had to have a review of the medication either. I have found recently that the RLS affects my arms, wrists, back ,neck and just about every muscle in my body. I am going to try the magnesium supplements to see whether this helps.
Thank you to everyone who has put information on the site. Sometimes I feel like I am the only person who suffers this awful problem. I feel there is not enough support or understanding for sufferers.
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pauladevilliers
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I had found that Magnesium Citrate was very helpful, however once my RLS spread to other parts of my body, it seemed that the Magnesium worked for the legs, but sadly nowhere else. If you try the Magnesium, be sure to get Magnesium Citrate and taking Vitamin B6, helps you absorb it or so l have been told.
I don't know of anyone who takes Amitriptyline for RLS, l though it was for Migraine?
Originally it was used to treat people for depression so iv found out. It is the only medication I have ever had and have sworn but it for years. Only recently about 3 months now it isn't working. When reading the "do not take" list I was surprised to see that it was a no no. I definitely will try the Magnesium Citrate thanks. I'l have a word with pharmacist about the B6.
It is very unusual to be able to take Amitriptyline but not unheard of.If it has kept your RLS under control for years then you are a lucky exception to the rule . For the vast majority of us just one pill is enough to ramp RLS up to new levels.
My consultant prescribed Amitriptyline to me a few months ago, for my RLS, and it's working wonders. I was taking magnesium before hand, and it didn't make any difference. I still take it, but it's since I've been on Amitriptyline, that my RLS has stopped.
hi! i am new to this site today as well. Your not alone. i am having trouble just sitting down to type this. i am at the end of my rope. the worsening of your symptoms sounds like augmentation , which i suffer from terribly. i have suffered from rls for 25 years (continually getting worse) little did i know that all of the medication i took over the years worsened me. the list is long ssri's etc. And here I am suffering terribly and angry at the doctors who allowed this to happen to me. Requip (ropinerol) worked great for me until it caused the augmentation. what a nightmare, i would love to watch a movie or read a book..but i cant. i spent the last 6 months taking myself off of ropinerol, which i know is a big no no, but i dont trust the doctors, i blame them for putting me here. i am off all my medication now. its very difficult. i constantly feel as if im jumping out of my skin, i am depressed and get very little sleep. i often fall asleep in the middle of the night standing up and nearly fall down. i am sorry this reply is so depressing (i think i am venting) .. But i have finally decided i need to trust someone to help me. i will be making an appointment with a restless leg specialist( neurologist) at jefferson hospital. i hope i will have good news to share with you after that! Hang in there we will get thru this!!
Hang in there, we who have this know exactly what your going threw, I to feel in the same boat with my RLS worsening all the time I to would love to try to get off the med's but I would be a walking zombie at work and I think hurt my work. I sure wish this was a condition a person could get disability for, I said I might me able to get off the drugs if I did not have to hold down a full time job. Good Luck with your Doctor I hope you get more then lets try this drug on you. ( I was told it starts in the brain) so unless they do brain surgery I think we are screwed.
The medicine you mentioned is used as a medicine to stop an attack of migrane. I once carried a pin loaded with it and had a pill in a shrink package to stop the headache that was triggered by some different food additives such as MSG. The hadaches lessened with age and have mostly disappeared since I take the dopamine agonist's. Right now I take time released ropinirole, in a dose so large my doctor at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix AZ was alarmed and wanted me to reduce the dose immediately. I complied temporarily but had so much misery, not sleeping and walking the floor for hours that I went back to the heavy dose to get some rest.
If I don't take 4 mg a day I have the maddening feeling starting about 1 PM and non stop until I can get something inside me to stop the madness. When anyone tells me that have RLS and manage somehow without meds, I think right away that they don't expierence it as I do.
When I first got relief for a brief period so I could sleep a little, I was suicidal caused by sleep deprivation, it was Maripex that calmed me down. It was the best medicine for calmness but it triggered more compulsive behavior than I has previously had. I gambled away a fortune and couldn't see anything wrong with the behavior until I almost lost my family because of it. I had to stop Maripex and that is when I started ropinirole. When that becomes ineffective, as they all do, I will have to try other things.
Mayo Clinic has done a study that proved the judicious use of codine and other opiates were not addictive and worked on everyone who participated in the study.
Doctors are reluctant to follow the study because of laws governing prescription medicines . In most states the doctors who over prescribe it loose their license to write prescriptions for any class 2 drugs. The AMA says that it is a gateway to drug addiction that is epidemic in most states right now.
Retren I am glad to see someone verifying my comments regarding the Mayo clinic and opiates. For my-self they worked fine for me for many years until I had a heart attack.Since which time I have had unrelenting RLS as I seem to have side effects from everything prescribed.The mirapex was the worst.I am still trying to get rid of the weight gain I had been a size 8for 50 Years and suddenly ballooned to a 16! Not only that but the shopping was also a problem.It could have been worse.
Just to let you know I take 1200 mg of magnesium at night and I can now sleep. Sometimes, depending on the sensations I take 600 mg as soon as they start (sometimes around 7pm) and the other 600 right before I go to bed. Mirapex worked for a few years but I experienced severe augmentation. Magnesium has been the only thing that has helped. I have avoided narcotics because it is so easy to develop an addiction. Best to you.
This is what I take and it works most of the time. Bluebonnet buffered Chelated magnesium 600-800mg at night starting a few hours before bed. Taurine 500 mg, up to 2000mg a night; stimulates dopamine production. GABA calm sublingual. There is an her call Jamaican dogwood that is great for muscle spasming. I found it in this product Crystal Star Muscle Relaxer, but note this product contains kava, valerian plus other herbs for women's hormones. You can order Jamaican Dogwood online. This company in New Mexico makes a muscle relaxer herbal tincture that works, but it takes quite a bit. artemisiaherbsonling.com I don't know if they ship. St. John's wort oil also works well just by rubbing on the legs, spine, shoulders (sometimes several applications are required). The one product that has worked consistently at really stopping RLS is called Etherium Black Powder at @[]. This is a monotomic mineral that absorbs toxic buildup from negative energies like emf's and toxins in general. I have had consistant results by taking the magnesium, taurine, GABA and etherium black; still though I do have my bad nights sometimes even in the spine as if someone is punching me causing my back to arch.
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