Newbie wondering about food and RLS

[legsofloki]

Hi, Ive had RLS for as long as I can remember. there seems to be something 'wired up' incorrectly that means that bowels and legs are connected. The symptoms that I have are made worse by cows milk; I now avoid this and it does help. Given that this has helped, what other foods do folk find make things worse ...or better.

[Madlegs1]

This comes up constantly.It's different for everyone.

Keeping a food diary for at least 3 weeks should give an indication of your own particular triggers.

Try a search for that on this site.

Good luck.

[legsofloki in reply to Madlegs1]

Thanks!

[Hidden]

Hi, the connection between your legs and bowels is probably inflammation as this is a known mediating factor in RLS.

However the connection is between bowels and nervous system and then between nervous system and legs.

If you have any food sensitivities (rather than a full blown "allergy"), this may cause "sub-clinical" inflammation, meaning : you may have no symptoms.

You may therefore be "sensitive" to lactose.

As Madlegs says, try keeping a food diary as you may have other sensitivities as well.

Other common causes of inflammation are excess carbohydrates, oxalates and gluten. It could be anything though.

Alcohol and sugar are major triggers for RLS. Also caffeine ( for some).

As well as sensitivities if you do have gastronitestinal symptoms then conditions such as H Pylori, SIBO and IBS are also associated with RLS.

Be aware that if you're taking any medications for anything these may be aggravating your RLS. There is quite a long list of commonly used medicines that can make RLS worse.

The very first thing you should look at if you have RLS is if you have any iron deficiency. This involves having blood tests for serum iron, transferrin and ferritin. Possibly haemoglobin as well.

If these are abnormally low then you may have iron deficiency anaemia.

If serum iron, transferrin and haemoglobin are all OK, but ferritin is below 75, then your RLS may be relieved by taking an oral iron supplement. Note that 75 would be OK for somebody who doesn't have RLS, but for somebody that does, it may indicate low brain iron, a major casusative factor in RLS.

Have a look at this article

sciencedirect.com/science/a...

[legsofloki in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Manerva, I will have a read at that properly later! I am intolerant of lactose so that is, pretty much out of my diet although it does sneak in when I’m not looking and I then get three days of really bad jumping legs! It seems that it almost doesn’t matter what I eat - pretty much every meal and off they go. The only things I seem to get away with are Porage (with salt of course because i am Scottish!) and ine particular brand of pot noodles. Hardly a balanced diet !

[Hidden in reply to legsofloki]

When you say pretty much every meal, does that include breakfast & lunch?

Also are you taking any medication for RLS?

[legsofloki in reply to Hidden]

Less so for breakfast and if it happens at lunch then I’m moving about in the pm so it’s manageable. After trying many meds over a couple of decades, I’m taking pregabalin which, for a year, seemed to work well but now seems less effective. Chat with doc is planned! I’m lucky in having a great medical practice to use.

[Madlegs1 in reply to legsofloki]

Pot noodles=msg. + Flavourings, colourings and sweeteners.Just saying!

🥴🙄

[legsofloki in reply to Madlegs1]

I know - empty calories at best! It’s one of the few things I can eat with impunity though!

[Munroist]

I am currently suspicious of foods with high glutamate content- walnuts, tomatoes, soy, fish sauce, anything with an ingredient labelled “hydrolysed”. However it doesn’t seem very consistent. In general plain foods are better for me. Given that so many manufactured foods contain unexpected ingredients it would possibly be best to cut almost everything out for a week and see if there’s an improvement and if so re-introduce food types one at a time to see if you don’t tolerate them. Could be a long process though!

[Jules1953]

I avoid alcohol, sugar, any sweet drinks, food and sauces etc with artificial additives, colouring etc.Avoid msg. I now use lactose free milk.

If I am going to have any of these things, and I do, best to have earlier in the day.

[Graham3196]

I have sent some information by private message Good Luck

Graham

[legsofloki in reply to Graham3196]

Thanks Graham - it’s a lot of info, but a quick glance shows that it contains lots of stuff that I am doing as well as new ideas. Looking forward to reading it properly! Thanks!!!