Herbal tea and RLS

[Laurapaul]

Are herbal tea’s okay to drink with RLS? If so, which ones are the best, and which ones should I avoid? (Caffeine free of course)

[Joannebbk]

I have tried making my own tea with valerian and chamomile. Neither of them worked. That does not mean it wont work for you though. I did read that it is best to buy the dried herbs and make your own tea as the ready made teabags that you buy don't usually have much of the actual herb in them. I used a cafetiere to make mine.

[Laurapaul in reply to Joannebbk]

Good to know on the herb strengths. Thank you!

[restlessinlondon]

When I found that normal tea and coffee made the RLS worse for me I turned to herbal tea. None of the caffeine free varieties have caused any problems - go for the taste, there's a huge variety!

[Laurapaul in reply to restlessinlondon]

Awesome! Just want I was hoping to hear. I need my hot drinks. Thank you!

[Lapsedrunner]

You only need to avoid caffeine if it clearly affects your RLS.

Some of us find it makes no difference (and can even help to settle jittery legs..seriously!)

[Laurapaul in reply to Lapsedrunner]

Oh wow!

[involuntarydancer]

Coffee affects the adenosine receptors in some science-y way that I repeatedly fail to master. Adenosine receptors are implicated in rls (again, I can't explain why or how - it's a leap of faith based on scientific studies I have read). For some RLS sufferers coffee does actually settle rls symptoms and for others it worsens them. I deduce from this (full disclosure: I use folksy, it-makes-sense-so-it-must-be-right logic) that some rls sufferer's adenosine receptors are affected in different ways to those of others.

Maybe this also accounts for a more general widely diverse and idiosyncratic response by sufferers to some treatments. For example, a small study into dipyridamole (which also acts on the adenosine receptors) found a significant improvement in the symptoms of the test group who were treated with it in a double blind trial when it often doesn't produce a huge improvement in the rls symptoms of sufferers who take it in the 'real' world.

I drink a wide variety of herbal teas and haven't noticed any of them had any impact on my rls symptoms.

[Laurapaul in reply to involuntarydancer]

Thank you!

[RLSofManyYears]

Any fruit/herbal tea is fine (I will often take one in the middle of the night when my RLS wakes me up). It's the caffeine that's the problem at night. A cup of coffee early in the day will have washed out of your system by the evening and regular tea has much less caffeine than coffee.

[Laurapaul in reply to RLSofManyYears]

Good to know. Thank you!

[Lunawildwolf]

I drink green tea throughout the day and camamile before bed.

On nights when I'm up pacing, I drink another camamile.

Not sure if it helps but it's just become routine for me now.

[Laurapaul in reply to Lunawildwolf]

Thank you!

[wantokporo]

Watch out for "natural flavors" and licorice in herbal teas. I am sensitive to both. It is not possible to find out what are the "natural flavors". I have called the companies and they say it is "proprietary".