RLS

[Pampinky]

When my legs act up..along with taking some gapepentin it helps tremendously to get off the couch and the bed to lie on the floor. I make a makeshift pallet of blankets to leave e on. Getting n the floor really helps with the twitching. Try it Phogan!

[DicCarlson]

I read somewhere that a fellow got relief by building a box out of wood to place at the foot of his bed - pressing his feet into the board, mimicking standing. The same thing could be perhaps be accomplished by pressing into a foot board in a bed.

[CoMtWo]

I take gabapentin and pramipexole - 200 mg of gab, 0.5 mg of pram nightly. I find that if I take at least half of each med's dosage about 2-3 hours before bed, my symptoms are generally controllable. For several years my dosage was 400 mg and 1.0 mg of these meds - at the top of what my sleep doc recommended.

At a sleep seminar he attended in 2015, my doc found out about Relaxis, a vibrating type of pad approved by Federal Drug Administration for RLS treatment (not covered at all by any US insurer that I could find though - about $900 in cost).

I tried the pad (they offered a partial price trial period, full device return) and found that things seemed to settle down in the two months I tried the device. I then bit the bullet and paid the full amount. I started use in August 2015 and by year end I was able to reduce my RLS to their now-maintenance dosage and actually stop using one med (Klonipam , which my doc had added in to the brew of meds to chase this problem after he didn't want to increase the other meds' dosage).

I no longer regularly use the Relaxis pad now - and my med levels remain down. However, about every 4-5 months my symptoms start to increase and I go back on the pad for a few nights instead of increasing my meds - and that calms things down again for me.

I DO note that some nights NOTHING works (as we all know), even upping my meds by one 1/2 to 1 full dose , so about every 4-5 months I've a night of wandering and trying various beds, the floor, couch, etc.

On those miserable nights, I find that using a foam roller on the floor as well as really stretching out my quads, hamstrings and Achilles tendons helps such that I'm able to at least get a few hours of semi-good sleep.

I think the Relaxis pad (it may also be medically approved in Europe - I'm a US resident) really helped me. A warning about it though - force yourself to stay on it for the two 30 minute sessions you should start at. Adjust the intensity of the vibrations up as far as you can tolerate. Struggle through it and after about 2-3 weeks of being on it you start to get used to it. The manufacturer's rep I've spoke with said that some of their patients are totally off their RLS meds, others like me have been able to reduce dosages, and most don't need to regularly use the pad after the first few months (like me - only an occasional user).

Note that my regular doc thinks something like the Relaxis pad is a "if you believe its working, that's good for you" type - he's a super traditional medicine type guy. I was lucky enough my sleep doc was a bit more open to new things (he's a RLS sufferer himself).