Calcium lactate

[Moonwalker1967]

Has anyone tried this for rls and has this helped?

Sorry, trying anything that's not addictive and has lots of side effects.

[Hidden]

While there are a few positive reports on the 'net, I've not seen anything here. But that's not to say it's not worth a try - unless anyone on here knows differently...?

Have you looked at your iron levels? (If not see Daragh's pinned post about RLS and Iron)

Personally, iron isn't apparently my issue: my serum ferritin levels have always been between 200-300, and iron supplementation did nothing for me when I tried years ago. For me, magnesium - recommended by a fellow sufferer - has been a life saver: there can be side effects with Mg supplementation but I've not found these to be problematic.

[BluGenie in reply to Hidden]

Andy,Thanks for sharing. How much and what kind of magnesium to you take?

[Hope61 in reply to BluGenie]

I would like to know too

[Hidden in reply to BluGenie]

I first tried Magnesium Oxide: no effect, it's not readily absorbed; I then tried a Magnesium oil spray, directly on my calves, as some people claim that Mg is more easily absorbed this way: no effect for me; I then was recommended Magnesium Citrate: success, this stopped my RLS in a matter of days - although if I overdose on sugary things or things containing sweeteners such as Aspartame, or take certain prescription drugs such as Atorvastatin, I can still have relapses. Recommended dose is 200mg - 400mg a day - the lower figure is given on Holland & Barrett's own brand 100mg tablets, the higher figure on Solgar's larger 200mg tablets. I routinely take 400mg a day, occasionally 600mg if I've had a relapse.

The main side effect of taking too much can reportedly be stomach upsets/loose bowels, although I've not had this

Good luck!

[BluGenie in reply to Hidden]

Thank you !

[Boldgirl45 in reply to Hidden]

Hi AndyBronton. Can I ask which brand you use for Magnesium citrate? Thanks!

[Joolsg]

The only supplements that help RLS are iron tablets. Raising serum ferritin above 100, preferably 250 has been proven to help RLS. Lots of studies on it.As you're augmenting on Pramipexole, your only solution is to get off it.

Raising your serum ferritin can alleviate some of the severe RLS and withdrawal symptoms.

Full panel bloods are advised for all RLS patients in the NICE guidelines, the NHS guidelines and the Mayo Clinic agorithm. Your GP should also advise of the rusk of Impulse Control Disorder ( happens in over 17% ) and augmentation. As the risk of Augmentation is 8% a year ( cumulatively) by fifth year 40% of RLS patients on Pramipexole will be suffering augmentation. That's why your GP should review your symptoms every 3 months.

Best of luck.

[Hidden in reply to Joolsg]

Sorry Jools: it's simply not true than iron tablets are the only supplement that helps RLS.

Iron is certainly the most widely researched and understood, and found to be effective in the majority of cases, but it doesn't work for everyone - I've seen figures of 50-60% quoted.

I've had RLS since the 80s, not finding anything that worked - including iron, so I stopped trying with it.

But some 10 years ago I started trying magnesium tablets/sprays - and Magnesium Citrate worked very quickly.

My serum ferritin has been between 200-300 every time it's been measured (over the last 8 years) without iron supplements.

Various people have dismissed Mg supplementation because of lack of scientific evidence that it works.

As far as I can see most of the Mg studies have been too small (10-20 people) and using too small a dose: the Illinois study that was supposed to be taking place last Autumn (I've not seen any results...) was to be on 14 people with only 200mg of Magnesium Citrate a day. Almost doomed to fail!

I was recommended to try Mg by two RLS sufferers who had success with it. I've subsequently spoken to half a dozen others who swear by it. It is widely recommended in health food shops based on reports back to them: I tried to buy Ferrous Bisglycinate/'Gentle Iron' for RLS last year in one shop just to try it because of recommendations on here (after I had problems with Atorvastatin) and was told - without prompting - that I needed Mg.

So - there is a lot of evidence that iron works for a lot of people, and the reason for this is scientifically understood.

But there are people who report on the 'net that Calcium Lactate has helped them. I've not tried it, I don't know why it would work...

But there are a considerable body of people who have found Mg helpful, although there are also a lot of people who have tried it without success.

My mother suffered with RLS throughout her whole life, certainly from middle age onwards. My brother also has, but didn't find either Fe or Mg worked. With my own 40 year experience of RLS and 10 years of success using Mg I don't dismiss any possibility.

I feel that too few sufferers have experimented enough with diet, exercise and supplements. I know from your profile that you have, but we're all different and none of us knows everything!

[Joolsg in reply to Hidden]

I know many people say magnesium helps their RLS, but there are no studies to back that up, whereas there are several studies to back up iron and iron infusions.That's why I said only iron supplements help.

There is a long, long list of various supplements that many people say helps their RLS- taurine, theanine, B12, folic acid, apple cider vinegar, celery juice, etc. Sadly, over the last 7 years I've wasted a lot of money buying most of them to no avail.

Like you, iron doesn't make any difference to my RLS.

I didn't want to list supplements in detail because I was aware that the main issue for Moonwalker was augmentation on dopamine agonists and therefore suggesting supplements is masking the underlying problem.

I do tell others that some people find magnesium helps but on this occasion, didn't wish to obscure the augmentation issue.

[Hidden in reply to Joolsg]

Thanks Jools. I may post the following as a separate post as well:

In 2017 Schwalfenberg and Genuis wrote about the importance of magnesium in clinical healthcare, and the noted deficiency in Western diets, reporting in part "Magnesium, sleep, and Restless Leg Syndrome: It is estimated that 50% of older adults have insomnia. Magnesium is a natural NMDA antagonist and a GABA agonist, both biochemical actions which have a relaxant effect and facilitate sleep. Supplementation of 500 mg of Mg has been associated with significant improvement in the insomnia severity index, sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, serum cortisol concentration, serum renin, and melatonin"

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

I have seen references to a Romanian Journal of Neurology report, which I've not been able to trace as yet, where "researchers conducted biochemical and neurological tests in 10 cases of restless leg syndrome. The investigators reported important disorders of sleep organization. They found agitated sleep with frequent periods of nocturnal awakenings and a decrease of the duration and percentage of the deeper rapid eye movement (REM) sleep; also found in other forms of insomnia caused by magnesium deficiency."

The tiny Hornyak et al study in 1998 is widely quoted, showing a positive response to magnesium in both PLMS and RLS, as reported in Sleep:

academic.oup.com/sleep/arti...

It concluded that "Further investigations regarding the role of magnesium in the pathophysiology of RLS and placebo-controlled studies need to be performed", but there is little evidence that this has really been followed up properly.

Marshall et al attempted to review the literature in 2019:

sciencedirect.com/science/a...

Concluding "It is not clear whether magnesium helps relieve RLS or PLMD or in which patient groups any benefit might be seen"

The tiny Illinois trial (which was to be of 15 people, rather than the 14 that I remembered, but still far too small) is due to report back in the Spring. Frankly, it is again too small, and the proposed dose is too small to be conclusive:h

clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show...

I really hope that there is or will be a really large scale peer reviewed study into magnesium and RLS, but can only reiterate that I and others that I know have definitely found it useful!

Good luck with your own health. Have you seen this:

theguardian.com/science/202...?

[Joolsg in reply to Hidden]

I'm a big advocate of diet and healthy gut microbiome. 40 years ago, there were very few pesticides used in agriculture. I personally believe it's the pesticides and micro particles of plastic in our bodies that is causing the rise in autoimmune diseases. The fast food diet culture doesn't help.I've even researched faecal transplants but hesitated about having one when I read someone developed obesity afterwards ( clearly the donor's microbiome hadn't been thoroughly checked!).

Sadly, most of the people who come on this site do so because their RLS is becoming much, much more intense and it is usually augmentation of symptoms caused by pramipexole, ropinirole and the neupro Patch. At that stage, the dopamine receptors have often been permanently damaged so diet and supplements are of minimal help.

Hopefully, now the Mayo algorithm warns against DAS, more people will be able to control their nightly RLS with magnesium or iron infusions.

Good luck with your fight against RLS. It's great that it is controlled by magnesium.

[WideBody]

I am willing to try anything non-pharmaceutical first. The things I am looking at and seem to be helping. (I had a dream last night I use a sleep tracker and try to use the supplements for a month or two, before moving on.

The first thing to look at always is a morning fasted full iron panel. Ferritin should be above 100 and closer to 200. My goal is 200, I get tested every 4 months. I can confirm it is not that easy to do, at least for me.

Currently I am taking homemade Kefir to improve the gut microbiome.

NAC - can reduce glutamate in the brain about 1 hour after taking. everyone is different.

PharmaGaba - not to be confused with Gaba

Taurine - can have a calming effect

I have read that Magnesium helps, but I have yet to experience anything. It interesting that AndyBranton above responds to Magnesium and not to Iron. Good Luck