I'm 28, Male and have been living with it for 10 years, on/ off and manageable in earlier life, it's progressively getting worse, especially recently as I've lost weight/ exercising more. Have tried Gabapentin and Iron supplements in the past to no avail.
Usually it comes on like an attack either when trying to sleep or it wakes me up, and was managed very successfully after taking over the counter co-codamol ( 2 x 500mg/12.8mg Paracetamol/ Codeine). Lately, it's stopped working and I've been left awake until exhaustion or my alarm goes off and I have to make a difficult call on work.
I always have a hot bath before bed, do regular stretching (As part of exercise nor especially) and follow strict sleep hygiene (If I don't do the latter I'm susceptible to sleep walking/ paralysis).
Do I need to wean myself off and suffer for a week or so and try again with the codeine or is there something else I can do? My GP isn't sure, and healthcare at the moment has other priorities in this country.
Appreciate any/ all advice, hope you're keeping safe and with rested legs.
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Dabbskebabs
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Gabapentin, can't remember dosage but it started before bed as 1 per day up to 3 per day but GP and I were reluctant to increase frequency as it made no difference.
With gabapentin, for people under 65 years, a starting dose is 300mg (100 for those over 65) per day, taken at once (for RLS, different for pain relief), however for many people it only becomes effective between 600 and 900mg per day (maybe a bit less for those over 65) and even then for some people you have to take it daily for up tp 4 weeks or so before you notice any effect. It's not an immediate medication.
What you are referring to are physical treatments. There are many which impact different areas and require varying levels of skill; and luck. No offence intended, but I have typed dissertations in the past with no response.
If you are interest let me know. I'd link to some previous posts but they have been deleted by mods, who run a very weird ship here.
I've taken co-codamol for years at night for RLS with reasonable success. They are on prescription from my GP, 500mg/30mg paracetamol/codeine. I take 2 before going to bed and have never felt the need to take them at any other time.
I've recently tried other meds as I wondered if the co-codamol was contributing to my itchy skin (I have eczema), but I wasn't able to tolerate any of them and I'm now back to old faithful.
Many people find a cup of coffee helps when symptoms strike - I believe it has something to do with the adenosine receptors. I have been told that decaffeinated coffee works equally but haven’t tried that.
Excessive exercise can also trigger rls so watch out for that in your regime.
Kratom (not legal in UK but can be orders from suppliers in the Netherlands who post it in ‘stealth’ packages) is very effective for many sufferers and is useful as an ‘as-and-when’ remedy. I believe some people also take it to assist with their exercise programmes.
Some people also find support tights helpful. I find running cold water on the legs works sometimes. 20 minutes of a very diverting activity such as a computer game can afford a few hours of symptom free sleep. There are lots of other suggestions littered through this forum.
Have you had your serum ferritin measured (a simple test by your GP)? It is worth getting this done and if you are below 100 (make sure you get the actual figure - not just that you are ‘normal’) you could consider an iv iron infusion.
Hi, yes the codeine takes larger and larger doses to keep working ... I have used it 9 years now and take 60, 90 or even 120 mg to get relief now ... when the barometer is dropping my attacks are worse, when dehydrated, drink alcohol, when my system is more acidic. Taking a teaspoon of bicarb in water sometimes alleviates it completely. It always helps as does spiralina. Tyrosine helps. Eating cheese and high carbs helps ... maybe it makes tyrosine available ...? I just found Wilsons Temperature Syndrome and my T3 / reverse T3 ratio is 2.2 and should be 20. So I am going down that track .... as my RLS has always correlated with temperature, even cold sweats, going into hyperthermic shock.
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In my belief this is what caused my RLS!
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Eight days into withdrawal
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