During the early years of my RLS a psychiatrist I saw because of severe post-natal-depression (worsened, I'm sure, because of having little rest and with a tiny baby), gave me Tegretol, an epilepsy drug, because there is epilepsy in my family (not me). I had described my symptoms (which I now of course know to be RLS), and he said he thought my condition may be related to epilepsy. I took Tegretol successfully for almost five years, then it stopped working and i spent the next twenty or so years with nothing, until I found Dihydrocodeine (as previously related on here).
Does anybody else have epilepsy in their family, or read any research which mentions it?
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lorrinet
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No, I think he was floundering because he just didn't have an answer. In those days, who had heard of RLS? Things are not exactly good for us today but are 100% better than they were 30-40 years ago. Most doctors know about it now, even though help is patchy.
But he gave me Tegretol, which gave me a crucial five years of relief while my children were very small and my husband away at sea.
Thank you for that Kaarina. It's very interesting. My nephew suffers from RLS and he had childhood epilepsy, but other family members with RLS don't have seizures.
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