Dopatone?

[kicker2]

Friend's husband has Parkinson's and RLS. He just started using Dopatone by Apec. Anyone here try this? My naturo did put me on B6 and told me to eat Brazil nuts daily (which contain selenium) . These are 2 of the main ingredients in Dopatone.

mthfrdoctors.com/product/do...

[Hidden]

The main ingredient of this as regards RLS (or parkinsons) is velvet beans which is claimed to boost dopamine levels. Dopamine is made from some amino acids and one claim is that taking these acids can also boost dopamine levels. The other ingredient.

Parkinsons is caused by a lack of dopamine, so if this product can boost dopamine levels it could help with parkinsons.

However, this product is only a food supplement not a tried and tested medicine, so there's no gurantee that it will boost dopamine levels.

Furthermore, RLS is not due to a lack of dopamine. People with RLS can have too much dopamine. If this product does increase dopamine levels then it may have the same effect as the dopamine boosting drugs, levodopa or a dopamine agonist.

I don't want to put you off trying the product, I just want to make you aware of the possible drawbacks.

Look up other posts about velvet beans or mucuna pruriens.

I do recommend some food supplements, there is some evidence that they can work for RLS.

The main one is iron which is really the first treatment officially recommended for RLS if you have a deficiency. Since iron deficiency is a major cause of RLS, if you have RLS then it's likely you have iron deficiency.

Vitamin B12 and vitamin D supplements can help if you deficiencies.

Celery juice is known to contain a strong anti-oxidant which may be better than selenium. (You don't have to squeeze lots of celery - you can get tablets).

Since I currently have some bowel inflammation and inflammation generally I take pomegranate extract which contains elements that can help combat inflammation. However, those elements need to be converted into urolithins in the gut and for that I need "good" bacteria. Hence I take a probiotic supplement.

I'm not sure if this is helping yet.

Inflammation is a factor in RLS

The other thing is that.supplementing your diet with some things is one thing, but there may also be things in your diet making RLS worse. This varies between individuals.

It is known that alcohol and sugar can make RLS worse in the short term and carbohydrates can cause chronic inflammation.

[kicker2 in reply to Hidden]

Super good info, as always, Manerva! Not sure why I thought RLS could be helped by raising dopamine. I did follow the Medical Medium protocol for several years which included juicing celery. I actually got pretty used to it. Perhaps I'll go back to juicing it. I do take iron, B12 and D and eat anti-inflammatory plant based. My RLS is not severe, but it has increased over the years despite never having taken meds. I'm starting a food diary to see if I can find any patterns.

[Hidden in reply to kicker2]

A food diary is a good idea. One drawback is that if you do have any food sensitivity, e.g. gluten or lactose, the consequences will have built up over time and will, if you exclude them, that may also take some time to have any effect.

A food diary is really, I think good for identifying short term triggers like alcohol, sugar, caffeine, msg and some medicines.

I envy that you don't take meds and hope you can continue to manage without.

I had mild RLS for yours had a mental health problem in Sept 2008 which led to me taking an SSRI antidepressant. It literally took months to worsen my RLS to such an extent I was referred to a neurologist who I saw about Nov 2009. He put me on a dopamine against. I was completely ignorant about RLS and what followed was about 4 years of relative ease, a couple years of increasing symptoms then 4 - 5 years of augmentation.

I managed to get off the dopamine agonist and would say my RLS has been mild and only occasional since. However to achieve that I have had to continue to take gabapentin. My symptoms, when they occur, I would call "augmentation - like". The agonist seems to have caused permanent damage.

[kicker2 in reply to Hidden]

Plant based so no dairy/lactose for me. Gluten... not much... but like you point out, it may take a long time to notice the effect.

So your antidepressant worsened your RLS? Oh how sad. (Pun not intended.) That must have been a horrible time for you.

[Hidden in reply to kicker2]

Pretty bad, working, driving 54 miles to work, 54 miles back. Never saw daylight in winter and 2 - 3 hours sleep a night.

You get desperate and it's easy to accept a quick fix, i.e. a drug.

[kicker2 in reply to Hidden]

Driving 54 miles each way! Did your RLS act up when you were driving? Mine has and that is horrible! Yes, I bet you were desperate!!!

[bill54321 in reply to Hidden]

maneva--Celery Juice...where Have I been???

[Hidden in reply to bill54321]

Where have you been?

I was sceptical myself when I first heard this, but there has been some research into it.

[kicker2 in reply to bill54321]

For what it is worth, the "Medical Medium" asserts making fresh celery juice from 1 whole bunch (so about 16 oz) is good for all kinds of health concerns. I did this for 4 years. Hard to know what factors have merged , but my RLS is worse now. NOT saying stopping celery juice is the reason, age (and maybe other factors?) may be the cause. But... now that I see that it may help RLS, I'm restarting it. And .. again.. for what it is worth, he says capsules aren't the same. You should juice the celery itself. I'm no longer doing MM protocol, but just sharing what he says.

[bill54321 in reply to kicker2]

Thank you for the heads up on one bunchy of celery juiced.

[Goldy700 in reply to kicker2]

Celery is a great anti inflammatory but it should be organic as celery is one of the "dirty dozen" heavily sprayed with chemicals. With RLS we do not need nasty chemicals as these could be worse than the cure.

[RCHD in reply to Hidden]

Diet is one of the key factors for sure. As for velvet beans/mucuna , these make my husbands RLs worse for sure.

[Madlegs1]

Mucuna pruriens has come up a few times here. Not too much enthusiasm ,as far as I can remember.But--- if it works for you, then that's what counts.

Cheers.

[kicker2 in reply to Madlegs1]

Thanks, Madlegs. Not going to try it since Manerva explained that RLS is not due to low level of dopamine.

[bill54321 in reply to kicker2]

Check low Thyroid. converence of 4 to 3. ssoc. To RLS,

[SueJohnson]

I eat 3 brazil nuts a day for the selenium. Be careful though. The recommended dose on the package is usually way too high. High doses of selenium can be toxic and even fatal. It's important to stay close to the recommended amount of 55 mcg per day and never exceed the tolerable upper limit of 400 mcg per day

[bill54321 in reply to SueJohnson]

See how selinium affect thryroid

[kicker2]

Thank you, bill54321. Yes, this is why my naturo suggested Brazil nuts.

[grandpianoman]

Dopamine agonists (DAs) deplete the body of B6, which is necessary in so many bodily processes, so it is essential that anyone taking DAs take B6.