In Olden Days

[Woody4]

With the knowledge on this site I'm sure someone knows this. What did our forefathers and mothers, do for rls??

[Hidden]

Suffered!

[Lapsedrunner]

Doesn’t bear thinking about. See also childbirth, infections etc etc

[Madlegs1]

There was less rls around for two reasons.

1,---people didn't live as long, and rls seems to get worse with old age.

2,-- people ate a more natural diet then, so less to trigger episodes.

Otherwise, as Raffs says, they suffered!😎

[Hidden]

They took opiates. Philip M Becker, in Restless Legs Syndrome, 2009

Reports of the benefit of opioids for the symptoms of RLS and periodic limb movements of sleep go back at least 300 years. Sir Thomas Willis1 recommended laudanum for a condition that would likely meet current diagnostic criteria for restless legs syndrome. In 1945, Ekbom2 reported on the benefits of codeine and morphine in his seminal paper about RLS. He offered further support for the use of opioids in his paper of 1960

[Hidden]

In olden days, i.e. pre 20th century, since.the condition was little written about, and the majority of people were illiterate anyway, it was probable that most people who had it, didn't even know what it was.

Furthermore since nobody was collecting statistics on it anyway, then there's no knowing what proportion of the population had it. Since it appears genetic, it was most probably in the gene pool unless it's a recent mutation.

Since an undeterminable number of people had a largely unknown disorder for which there was no known or accessible treatment I think raffs answer is the best fit. It was the first answer that came to my mind too, they suffered!

They were probably distracted from it by the other things they suffered however, plague, bad teeth, infected wounds, smallpox, infant mortality etc.

[Parminter]

Various opium products.

[Jelbea]

In days gone by most people were a lot more active than to-day. They did not have so much "sitting down time" which is when we are all at our worst. I don't know how they kept going with little sleep and certainly life was much harder. Most people probably never saw a doctor unless they were wealthy so no help was available. Hard times or what!!!!

[Graham3196]

My parents treated their RLS with a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate in a glass of warm water. After some years they became worried about the amount of sodium they were taking and it's effect on their hearts. Some how they discovered an antacid called Quick Eze that helped with the RLS. As they aged the RLS worsened and my father was prescribed a strong sleeping pill which meant that his daytimes were ruined by the effect of the sleeping pill. He became addicted to the sleeping pill which was a pretty bad outcome.

Sodium and potassium are both risky. I think most doctors would be appalled if I told them I was taking a teaspoon full every day. Potassium must be taken with your doctors knowledge and monitoring, I think it can harm all kinds of favourite organs including liver and kidneys.

[Boo-boo]

I remember my dear father saying mid evening “Right then, I can’t stand it any longer....I’ll have to go out for a walk”.....and off he went....in all types of weather! I remember he mentioned the condition to his doctor but there was no medication available then.....so yes he definitely suffered! Little did I know that this affliction would affect me too and I often wonder if I’m any better off on the meds with no panacea & all the associated problems!!

[Raven123]

In the United States the go to drug for rls was hydrocodone.