If you search in the NIH or Johns Hopkins Hospital web sites, you can see information about RLS. Below is one thing I found after realizing that the codeine cough syrup I had been prescribed was 100% effective in eliminating RLS overnight. Instead of getting up twice/night I sleep 8 hours without interruption. The challenge will be to find a doctor who is willing to prescribe this for the rest of your life. I have not yet been successful in doing so.
"Dr. Willis in his description of this disease in 1685 also reported on the benefits of opiates for treating the symptoms. Thus for over 300 years opiates remained the only truly effective treatment for this disease. This category of medications includes codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, hydromorphone, methadone, buprenorphine and pentazocine.
An estimated 85 percent to 90 percent of patients with RLS will respond very well to opiates. An analysis of drug responses in RLS over a 2-10 year period showed that 85 percent of RLS patients who started on methadone were still on it compared to less than 20 percent of those started on a dopamine drug. The median starting dose for methadone in this study was 10 mg per day with a range between 2.5 mg and 20 mg per day.
It is important to realize that RLS for a majority of patients is not about pain; it is an abnormal, uncomfortable sensation. Tolerance to the opiates when treating RLS seems to be less of a problem than that seen with treatment of chronic pain disorders."