A Little Success with a combination of vitamins, minerals, sleep routing, compression socks and caffeine

[LoulouPet]

Hi everyone

i have suffered for over 30 years with restless leg since I was a small child. I go through periods of no symptons at all to more recently very broken sleep. After reading the post here I tried a combination of the following and wanted to share in case it helps anyone else....

Compression socks during the evening while I am watching TV or reading to stop the early symptons. This has really worked.

Going to bed at 10pm every night and following a routine of iron and meagnesium supplements, light yoga stretching, legs up against the wall while I read, meditation with breathing exercises and a brewed cup of tea. I think the caffeine in the tea is probably the secret ingredient to it all which I only tried after reading it on this forum. So thank you to those kind people !

I know these things are often personal but I just wanted to share my little success story in case it can help anyone else.

L

[Retro_bob]

Hello

i think its really useful to hear how others are dealing with this ambigious illness. I, like you am trying to self medicate with varying degrees of success.

At present my RLS only starts about 30mins after going to bed.

squats are my starting point and more recently following suggestions here, showering my thighs with cold water till numb. This generally works really well for me.

currently trying various supplements.

im still umming and arring over trying a late night coffee as i struggle to get to sleep most nights anyway and not keen on turning it into an all nighter ...

[Graham3196 in reply to Retro_bob]

I sent some info by PM Good Luck, Graham

[Retro_bob in reply to Graham3196]

Many thanks Graham alot of info to plough through

regards

[s_gc in reply to Retro_bob]

Just for sharing, as an alternative to the cold shower (which I did do when my RLS was extreme over few weeks) when I get up at night I get an ice block from the freezer that I wrap in a light material (so as not to hurt too much but still feel the frozen temperature) and put it under or next to my feet. Along with magnesium oil massaged into the skin, it helps 'calming' down my legs significantly 90% of the time and I go back to sleep after between a few minutes and half an hour. Occasionally this is not enough and I need to read to distract my mind for up to an hour.

[Retro_bob in reply to s_gc]

hi . thanks for that suggestion. not thought of that. certainly worth a try , or though following abit of a respite my RLS has got worse again and ive just agreed to go on Gabapentin for the first time. i was on prami briefly which worked but then read about the augmentation and took myself off it ...

magnesium oil spray didnt seem to do anything for me etc make my legs itchy ......

currently trying various supplements which "i think" are helping abit .......

[s_gc in reply to Retro_bob]

ha good luck with the Gabapentin, I don't know much about it apart from reading what people have said on this forum but hopefully will give you the respite you need 😌. I also take various supplements, no idea if they help at all, I am giving about 3 to 6 month-trial. But I just started today also water soluble CBD oil as whilst I manage to grab some sleep adding to 6-7 hours a night (used to sleep 7-8 but that's exceptional now), in the last couple of weeks I seem to be waking up twice at night and at least on one occasion it takes me an hour to get back to sleep (usually through reading)... I am also reverting back to very little sugar (i.e. once a week I allow myself a 'sweet') as in that same period I have eaten much more sweet than usual and I feel there could be a direct link there for me.

[Retro_bob in reply to s_gc]

my supplement trial is just trying different brands each month to see if one helps more than another, there all much of a muchness but a few have different ingredients and i figured its worth a try, i feel magnesium is an issue with me. i had my ferritin checked and its high at 290 so no quick fix there. I generally wake up 2 to 3 times a night to go to the toilet so just part of getting old i guess, as long as i can get straight back to sleep.

im more interested that my RLS has changed since coming off the prami, it no longer seems as bad but i seem to get it longer through the night. been waking up nearly every hour last week or so hence the call to the doctor and the Gabepentin prescription.

took some diazapan last night which i found works for me when i had a bad shoulder last year and it stopped my RLS as a nice side effect. Had some left so got a few extra hours in last night which has made today alot better ..