Red light Therapy for rls

[Bluebboat]

I am 75 and have had quite bad rls for about ten years. For three weeks I have continued to take high dose magnesium (600 mg) plus shining my Beurer IL 50 infrared heat lamp on my legs for 8 minutes every second night. This takes rls symptoms away. Is this a placebo effect or is there some solid science behind it?

[Hidden]

Hi, which are you asking about, the magnesium or the red light?

There is solid evidence that magnesium is an essential mineral/electrolyte and can have beneficial effects particularly if you have a deficiency. I don't believe there's any solid evidence that it helps RLS specifically. It's quite popular, some people say it works, some not.

There's some evidence, I believe that infra red can have positive effects. It was quite popular some decades ago for treating arthritis. It seems to work on the prinicple of improving blood circulation. If RLS is at least partially due to poor circulation, which it can be, then it may be of some help. I've never come across any evidence that it can directly affect RLS specifically.

Some, members have mentioned it before, but I don't recall if thay've ever said it continued to work after any initial success.

If you started using both at the same time and one of them works, how will you know whici it is?

You may be correct in thinking it's a placebo effect, but the thing is if IT works for any reason then it's worth continuing to use it until, if and when, it stops working.

There is some fairly good evidence that if you have a deficiency in vitamin B12 or vitamin D then taking supplements can help.

There is plenty of very solid evidence that iron deficiency is a cause of RLS and iron therapy is the only treatment that actually deals with this. Other treatments only control symptoms.

It is also well accepted that there are many things which can exacerbate RLS and eliminating these can improve symptoms. This includes a variety of medications, inflammation and some food elements.

[Bluebboat in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for this detailed reply. I meant the heat lamp effect...not the magnesium as I have been taking that for years with some benefit. Also I’m quite careful with diet, eating mainly protein, butter, olive oil and loads of vegetables. (I love red wine and was quite relieved that stopping my half bottle each night with dinner didn’t make any difference. ) Just desperately hoping that the red light therapy continues to be so effective.

[Hidden in reply to Bluebboat]

Yes, let's hope so. Good luck.

[lorrinet in reply to Bluebboat]

Do you follow the Hay diet of food combining?

[Bluebboat in reply to lorrinet]

No I don’t follow any specific diet. Is the Hay diet helpful? Not sure what it is.

[lorrinet in reply to Bluebboat]

It's the food-combining diet, originated by a Dr Hay several decades ago. Basically, it's about separating carbs from protein, and the foods which can be eaten with either. I was on it for many years (95% of the time, just the odd slip). It is tedious, but I have to say I felt well on it, and had no indigestion or reflux, which i sometimes do. It does help to lose weight, but sometimes you just don't get enough to eat! Imagine roast beef with no potatoes and no yorkshire pudding, and no proper gravy (gravy has flour in - can't have flour with protein).

Sadly, it never helped my RLS or I wouldn't have given it up. It also helped somewhat with my osteoarthritis.

[Bluebboat in reply to lorrinet]

Thank you for this. I will look it up.

[Nimue76]

Hi, I have only found two studies (albeit too small, see below) that have reported a significant reduction of symptoms according to the International RLS Severity Scale (IRLS) - which is why I am also currently trying a combination of red light and near-infrared light. After four weeks of almost daily treatment, I have at least gone down from 33 (very severe) points on the scale to 20 (moderate), which is something. And I am taking less Pramipexole.

tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10....

tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10....

[Bluebboat in reply to Nimue76]

Thank you so much for alerting me to these studies. There does seem to be empirical evidence for the benefit of red light on rls. I hope you continue to have some success with it as I have.

[Bobee in reply to Nimue76]

it seems like you are receiving treatment through a medical setting. Could you please let us know how this all works, such as how you got to take the treatment, who is doing it and who is assessing it. Knowing how little a typical GP has of RLS, it would be helpful to have you answer my query. Thank you.

[Bluebboat in reply to Bobee]

Just to be clear I am not receiving any medical support. I found out about magnesium and then red light therapy for rls symptoms online. My use of both has been a self experiment after reading articles and books on non drug treatments. If my rls goes on getting worse over the years I will have to go and see a doctor but I’m desperate to manage it without drugs for as long as possible.

[Runedrun26]

I have increased my iron and magnesium 2weeks ago and I have noticed a decrease in my rls