EARTHED SHEETS OR MAT. MAGNETIC BRACELETS.

[Moonwalker1967]

Do earthed sheets or mats help? What about magnetic bracelets?

Thanks 👍

[SueJohnson]

Magnetic bracelets definitely not. Earthing sheets/mats not likely.

[Joolsg]

Simple answer- No. I have a cupboard of all the expensive gadgets, devices, supplements I've bought in the desperate search for relief.Tried everything over 6 years.

Now finally RLS free on 0.4mg Buprenorphine.

[Allyp69]

Copper bracelets help me at night...don't wear them every night but when I need to.

[Gmc54]

Neither helped me.

[DicCarlson]

Well, I do use the Earthing products - designed to simulate walking barefoot outside. I have a pad on my bed and a pad that I use when sitting at the computer. It might help SLIGHTLY with inflammation, but not very dramatic nor conclusive. I have been using it for about 5 months. I'll stop using it soon and see if there is any effect on discontinuation. There are plenty of National Institute of Health articles/studies - here is one of them...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/a...

earthing.com/

[Joolsg]

Are on any medications at the moment?

[Moonwalker1967]

Pramipexole 0.18 mg at about 6.30 pm one only

[Hidden in reply to Moonwalker1967]

No time like a new year to stop taking a DA. Are you taking any of the drugs known to worsen the symptoms of RLS - anti-d, antihistamines, antacids like Tagamet, melatonin, HRT? Any illnesses in addition to RLS?

[Moonwalker1967]

No other illnesses, thank God. However I have had RLS since childhood. I kick myself awake during sleep and cannot go for long trips. I have RLS daily. I have had my thyroid gland removed 12 years ago and have several allergies, which I don't treat unless very bad in the summer Also had Lyme's disease twice which was treated with antibiotics

Yes, I have decided to wean myself off Pramipexole. However, will struggle getting some sleep. Any suggestions? Can I go without medications?

I am anxious about the future and RLS as it has got worse over the years.

[Hidden in reply to Moonwalker1967]

Someone will come along to explain how to taper off the DA. How long have you been on it? I wouldn’t start to taper until you put certain practices into place starting with a daily night time fast from around 7pm until breakfast. It’s amazing how effective this is as well as how often people’s RLS is made worse by a night time snack. Mother Nature intended for us to work and eat with the sun and sleep and fast at night.

Take a look at my profile page and think about giving this a shot. Even if it doesn’t provide immediate relief your ferritin should not be low while tapering the DA. Studies have shown that people with low ferritin have a harder time when stopping the DA.

RLS is another way of saying we have a genetically lousy dopamine transport system. Dopamine is what quiets our arms and legs so if there’s too little shooting through our central and peripheral nervous system we end up with RLS.

You see, our calming D2/D3 receptors are smaller and fewer than the average bear. As far as I know, our excitatory D1 receptors are normal. The DAs down-regulate/shrink our already pathetic D2s and up-regulate the D1s, such that they give off too much of that excitatory signal. It might actually be the up-regulated D1s that cause that terrible augmentation we are all too familiar with on this forum, rather than the lack of D2s. Probably some combination of both.

There you have it. Don’t get anxious, get even. Meaning try different things that stand a chance of up-regulating your D2s and down-regulating your D1s. Doing this will level the playing field and restore the Yin/Yang going on in the brain. In addition to fasting, supposedly anaerobic exercise will up-regulate D2s as well as something called the Uridine stack.

I found a substance called berberine that allegedly does both…upregulates the D2s and downregulates the D1s, but first see my post on it. Sadly, the iron which provides me with immediate nightly relief, does not seem to work as well for those on the DAs…probably because of those upregulated D1s. Still worth a shot and like I said, a normal to high ferritin level is better than low when withdrawing from the DAs and for RLS symptoms in general.

So I would immediately begin this leg of your journey, including, making an appointment with your doc to let him know your plans and get a ferritin test. You will need a substitute med as you start your taper and the gold standard in this area is low dose methadone or buprenorphine. If it were me I would beg, cry and scream for either of these, especially when he offers you the somewhat less effective Gabapentin or Pregabalin, or even Tramadol.