I have been experimenting with potassium citrate following a report of an experiment where 68 patients out of a sample of 68 (ie 100%) were free of the symptoms of RLS after taking one potassium citrate tablet per day for 45 days.
I took this dose for 55 days and the result was no improvement in my RLS symptoms. I have a slight suspicion that I am a little bit worse off now that when I started but that might be something else. We have had very cold weather for the last month so perhaps that has something to do with it.
This experiment on a sample size of ONE doesn't prove that potasium citrate does not work on every one and if we tried it on another 67 people I might be the only one it doesn't work on.
I am continuing to discuss this with the original experimenter to see if he can suggest why my result was negative. He's busy so its a slow process, this experiment was a by-product of other work.
If someone else wants to try I will pass on details but PLEASE check with your doctor because potassium citrate can be bad for some people, particularly for major parts like hearts and kidneys. Don't dismiss the risk lightly.
Cheers
Graham
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Graham3196
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I've been researching about restless legs syndrome in ernest again and have discovered that it might be something connected with neuropathy of the legs .
I was reading about Neupro patch.
Rotigitine transdermal system.
For treatment of signs and symptoms of parkinsons disease and of moderate to severe primary restless legs syndrome.
Also I've been looking into transdermal patches in iron or B vitamins.
Much better than having tablets I'm sure.
I also get very painful left leg..and there is Licocaine anaesthetic patches and cream for the pain.
These are other helpful things.
Capsaicin cream.
Lipoic acid.
Acetyl l carnitine
Inositol.
B vitamins..
B12 improves nerve system function... preventing involuntary muscle contraction..
Bit Confused strengthen s immune system protect s sciatic nerve from permanent damage.. repairs nerve damage and improves nervous system function.
It decreases nerve inflammation.
Folate and Vitamin D are good for nerve system too.
Something called Honokiol (magnolia bark extract for inflammatory pain.
And lots more about protecting nerve damage.. which I'm wondering if it's connected with rls and neuropathy in legs.
I also think.. dopamine is the key word in all this.
Just wish gps would be more understanding.
I did try potassium citrate..not as dedicated as you did..but I felt no help from it.
That's a long list of things that all reasonably sound like they might be able to contribute to a fix. It makes clear the problem of researchers to identify beneficial things. To do it scientifically we should understand the reason for the problem and then we can properly determine how to overcome it. Sounds good but that process will require lots of money and time. In the meantime we might find things we can do to to relieve the symptoms without curing the root cause. For us there is a big difference between a cure in 15 years time and a good nights sleep in three months time. If, for example, someone takes vitamin B for three or six months and gets an improvement then it can be hoped that all of us might benefit.
It would be good if 20 people tried potassium citrate for 50 days to see what happened but they would have to be sure that it didn't react with any current medicines as well as the usual heart and kidneys stuff.
I've been taking potassium citrate (sometimes chloride) for nearly a year now and I still need my ropinirole. I've really just taken it as a supplement, since, using those Lo-Salt products, my sodium level was still rather high compared to my potassium level.
I also take magnesium citrate which I believe does help (without it, I might be taking a couple of extra milligrams of ropinirole a day). There's good scientific biological reasoning behind taking magnesium, of course.
If you look at my original post at the top of these replies you will see that this is an experiment with potassium citrate. Ironbrain above refers to both potsassium chloride and magnesium citrate. We try to cover all bases but, like most things we end up scratching our heads and saying "Well it worked for someone somewhere."
I can't recommend potassium citrate from personal experience because it didn't work for me but there is a hint of something when you read about 68 out of 68 people in Bangledash taking potassium citrate and getting 100% relief!!!! It is meant to be character building!
I will post the communications I had with the good professor although I don't remember them getting very far. From memory I think nI just got a reply but it didn't really explain why he got 100% fix and I got 0% fix or suggest any where to go from there.
We are still entitled to hope that he is on to something that might benefit us if we keep trying.
That would be great Graham I have emailed the address on the article but had no reply.
A couple of thoughts I had on your response were did you take the same dosage and did you have any magnesium issues. Low magnesium levels means you lose potassium levels too.
I take a magnesium supplement to ward away cramps during the night. It works well for that but I can't remember if I was doing that when I tried the pottassium citrate. I take magnesium biglycinate. The magnesium doesn't seem to help with the RLS. Next time I am getting an iron measurement I will ask the doctor to include a magnesium measurement as well. Thanks
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Potassium deficiency?
RLS linked to a potassium deficiency. I found an electrolyte supplement and my RLS is history! 
Potassium deficiency
