New here with new tip that works for me

[quipper]

My partner is a medical bio-chemical scientist. For me, he makes a liquid form of magnesium and a spray that has something called DMSO in it - it takes the magnesium through my skin. I see that people here talk about taking magnesium by mouth but I've found this works better for me. I rub them on my legs and feet before bed and usually have to get up to reapply them. It works! I just read that a bath with Epsom Salts also takes the magnesium through the skin. It has been my rescue and thank goodness I married this person!

[Madlegs1]

That's fantastic news.

We've always said here that topical application of mg is better absorbed by the body, and avoids any "bowel" effects.😣

Which form of magnesium does he use to make up the spray? Some find the salts can be a bit irritating on the skin!?

Thanks for posting. Useful reminder.

[Eryl]

I'll just leave this here. livestrong.com/article/4700...

[restlessstoz in reply to Eryl]

It seems it's always wise to cross reference advice and information!!! Thanks for the link Eryl.

[Not-methadone-addict]

I’ve had RLS since I was a child but of course it wasn’t recognized as that but 48 years of suffering makes one think I’d do ANYTHING to get rid of this. I don’t think that way because there are so many shall we call them “natural” products out there and because it’s “natural” how can it possibly hurt to try them? Cyanide is natural. First of all as the article pointed out DMSO is not natural and should only be used at all with doctor supervision. I constantly see where people take either the wrong type of magnesium (for instance magnesium citrate is used to help you poop not as a supplement) or megadoses of vitamins and supplements, which is NEVER a good idea unless you are truly that deficient that a doctor states that’s what you should do. The FDA (here in the US) does not regulate supplements be they “natural” or not. There isn’t even regulation for the use of the term “natural”. I don’t care what you read somewhere on a supposedly legitimate site (which can be few and far between in just your standard google search) that some quack doctor says will heal you, you still need to do the legwork. If you don’t trust your doctor (first of all find a new one) then call a pharmacist check it out on legitimate sites. Blind faith in what somebody says works for them and cured their RLS is just foolish and we should all know better. Of course we’re desperate. Of course we want it to stop. I know. I was very, very successfully treated for 15 years with methadone 10 mg only at night and no dose adjustments during that whole time.

When it was taken away, I went through literal hell (I could not lie down, sit down or even stand still nothing but pace the house) and made one trip to urgent care and two trips to the ER because 5 days/nights of zero restorative sleep had made me suicidal. At this time my primary care doctor was treating (I’ll use that term loosely) me because the sleep center I had previously been at refused to help beyond 30 days. Think you can find a neurologist in 30 days in the US? No. I finally found a neurologist that was supposed to be awesome. Hah! She tried to kill me and I say that in all seriousness. She had zero idea how to treat RLS even though she claimed to have many patients with it. I came in on, get this, 4 mg of immediate release Requip and 4 mg of Requip ER! You might think why would I let them do this and I’ll tell you because of the opioid crisis no one will prescribe opioids and definitely not the methadone I had been on. I was despite all I know at a loss because none of the medications used for RLS worked. I tried the Neupro patch and had a bad skin reaction and Horizant does nothing. Anyway my new neurologist stopped the Requip cold turkey with 0.1 me of clonidine (dangerous drug) and 25 mg of tramadol ONCE before bed. That as you can imagine went very poorly. I could have suffered DAWS (guess she never heard of that).

When I first saw her she said “we’ll get you back on methadone “. Even wrote it in her visit notes. I had to have a sleep study and came back with what I later found out to be very minimal sleep apnea. She made me do a titration study for a cpap and to obtain one. I’m so stupid for not having researched this before all that. Then there is a “doctor” at the sleep center who I stress has NEVER treated me and wouldn’t know me on the street who told my primary care physician that it was all through my chart that they had talked about this being possibly a somatic disorder (all in my head!). I’ve called Patient Relations (cover the doctor’s ass relations) and they can’t or won’t do anything because there is no documentation of this. Duh, like she’s going to write down she told a lie? I obtained all of my records from there even though I knew this wasn’t true and went through them with a fine tooth comb and not ONE instance of somatic disorder or mental health issues other than the anxiety and depression I’ve had since being in my teens. Anyway, I at one point gave my doctor and the neurologist permission to discuss muscle relaxers I had been using due to some back pain and spasm and my PCP then (without my ok) told the neurologist about this so called somatic disorder!!!! If my neurologist was a real doctor she had access to every single record from my prior sleep clinic but no instead choose to believe the lie. After that she would not only not let me have methadone but nothing other then the Requip, which she knew I was suffering bad augmentation when I first came to see her, the 0.1 mg of clonidine (doesn’t do anything at this dose and is dangerous at higher doses) and a whole 50 mg of tramadol but still only once at bedtime. Finally, she transferred my care to a neurologist who not only specializes in RLS but was trained by Dr. Buchfurher! So much suffering, wasted time and a lot of money we do not have not to mention the torture of cpap (I’m very claustrophobic and it was full face) I’m starting new with this neurologist.

My point in telling you that story is I was getting VERY desperate but rather than try some supposed cure (and let me make it clear I’m not knocking the need for some vitamin or supplements just got iron infusion and take vitamin D3 for a deficit) I wrote to Dr. Buchfurher and Dr. Winkleman for help and advice. They are awesome and heroes! Dr. Buchfurher responded that same evening and Dr. Winkleman called me though very unfortunately I missed his call. Thankfully I’m now in the care of someone who knows what they are doing but thanks to a lot of ineptitude and lies I’m going to have to suffer through getting off this much Requip. The neurologist I go to now refuses to start out with dopamine agonists and was absolutely appalled by what I was on with good reason. I never should have let this happen.

I had been through every drug used for RLS 15 years ago and knew the dangers of DAs. I can’t even drive right now because when I was on Mirapex 0.125 three times a day you know that warning it can suddenly cause you to fall asleep well no one felt I needed to know that (I was being treated by my now ex PCP at the time) and it was believed you had to be on high doses and suffering from somnolence already. No. I was awake and alert that morning after a good night’s sleep and less then a mile from our home the last thing I remember is leaving the stop sign until I woke up/came to in a very wrecked Jeep Cherokee. I had to be cut out , was administered a breathalyzer it being a single car accident and then taken with a cervical collar on in an ambulance to the hospital. My husband meanwhile was being informed by the Sheriff’s Department that I had been in an accident. I am so incredibly lucky I came out of that with basically no injuries. I truly believe someone was watching out for me. Now I know I’m sensitive to the effects of DAs that I had hoped I’d never see again and I’m stranded in my own house with no way to drive. To get through all this my husband is having to burn up all his vacation time and since November of last year I’ve had the worst experience ever. This for me and my husband has been the year from hell. My husband’s Dad died just before Thanksgiving, we are struggling financially to keep our heads above water, my wanting to kill myself (thankfully under control despite all going on), we just had to put down one of our much loved kitties who was only 11 and I’ve missed so much of life being sick as a dog and sleeping poorly, which yes I’m trying to practice good sleep hygiene.

Again, I’m not telling you these stories for sympathy but to say yes sometimes you want to try anything and everything to stop the restless legs symptoms but sometimes it’s not worth it and sometimes believing these “remedies” to be “natural” you are putting your life at risk for sometimes nothing. Please, be careful. Don’t just take everything on someone’s say so. Don’t take things you know nothing about without research from reliable resources, your doctor or a pharmacist. I don’t even trust them 100% because they are too busy and miss things. There are again legitimate sites that you can check for drug interactions, medical interactions, precautions, dosing information, etc. RLS is a disease that can make us desperate and do dangerous and desperate things I know. But there is legitimate help out there. Not all supplements and vitamins are safe and just because magnesium helps (I take it at a safe dose) doesn’t mean all types of magnesium are equal. Same with other vitamins and minerals. Also remember with some of these “remedies” people have agendas. One more word of advice is topicals. Some people don’t realize how dangerous they also can be. They get absorbed through the skin and go into your bloodstream and sometimes with additives that we know nothing about what they do in the long run. I’m sorry this is so long but it is food for thought and also to share with you I do understand being desperate more than I can even say. Right now I’m lying here trying to decide about giving up on my nap because my legs feel like they’re vibrating and just a tiny whatever from breaking out into full fledged restless legs that are going to force me to start the pacing. Unfortunately this week and last my doctor is/was on vacation and I’m in the care of the original neurologist until the 19th.

Ok, I’m going to see whether I can sleep or not. I pray I can make it until my doctor is back.

Take care of yourselves,

Sus