Epilepsy

[Peter-caribe]

I have been diagnosed with "Absence" Epilepsy and have been prescribed medication. Are any of you forum members aware whether Epilepsy medication has an effect on RLS , either positive or negative?

[LotteM]

That is no good news, Peter. I am sorry to be unable to help. There are good websites that list medicines and their effects on RLS (e.g. rlshelp.org treatment page). You could look at it yourself. If you want our help it would be useful if you would share the medicine prescribed to you. If you wish, of course. Or haven't you been given a medicine yet, and just want to know in general about anti-epilepsy meds?

[Peter-caribe in reply to LotteM]

My apologies. The medication is " Levetiracetam Exeltis 250mg

[Hidden]

Hello Peter. I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. You must be quite upset.

There are several types of epilepsy and there are several types of anticonvulsant.

I appreciate that you may not have convulsions but Levetiracetam is classed as an anticonvulsant.

I cannot reassure you 100% that if you have RLS it will not make it worse.

However, as you may know, the alpha 2 ligand type of anticonvulsants are actually used to treat RLS symptoms.

It seems unlikely then, that any anticonvulsant is going to make RLS worse and may, in fact, may improve symptoms.

You may find this link reassuring.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Eryl]

I suspect that they could both be related through a possible common cause i.e. a high carb diet. Low carb or ketogenic diets are recommended for epilepsy and I've found that low carb eliminates my rls.