RLS back after a week

[Ronniebongo]

Hi .. my last post said I hadn’t had rls for a week , I started taking iron and magnesium.. the last two nights it’s back with a vengeance .. I’m at work now doing a sleep in , or a non sleep as the case may be , been awake every half hour since 9.30pm with severe rls again , mind racing .. is there any sleeping meds I could take herbal or otherwise ? Again I’m reluctant to go on medication as I’m a long term migraine sufferer and have just got my severe hormonal headaches under control as well ,. I’m at the end of my tether , I just want to sleep .. it’s now 01.54 am 😩☹️I’ve tried herbal tea and cbd oil all just gives me a thick head in the morning..I may look at meds from the doctors as a last resort .. she suggested pregabalin but I’ve been told it’s an addictive drug with bad side effects 😳 PLEASE HELP

[Hidden]

My sympathies with regard to the migraines. Never had any until I went on PPIs. Took me a year to make the connection. HRT/Estrogen is not really recommended for them even if they are hormone related. How long have you had them? Rare is the person who is predisposed to RLS that can handle HRT. I couldn’t. I used to take 25mg of ferrous bisglycinate but since having Covid I am now a 50mg a nighter. And if that doesn’t do the trick I take another 18mg. So maybe try increasing your nightly dose. Must be taken on an empty stomach and I take it about an hour before bed. Any other form of iron just won’t cut it. Good luck!

[Ronniebongo in reply to Hidden]

So do you think the magnesium helps more ? The HRT has significantly reduced my headache and migraine, I was getting them every day but I haven’t had a full on migraine since November and that was only 4 hours which is good !

My rls is worse since HRT so I have reduced it but I can’t come off it yet.. I started getting migraine in the mid 1990’s 🥴 this is why I’m reluctant to try prescription meds incase I get headaches again as it was horrendous.. catch 22 for me

[Hidden in reply to Ronniebongo]

Yep, I would definitely try increasing the ferrous bisglycinate if you’re gonna stay on low dose HRT. You have to meet force with force. When I was about 40 I decided taking a little melatonin at night would be a good thing. About .5. My mild infrequent RLS turned into the devil incarnate, probably from the first night. After a couple of nights I looked on the internet and saw a post that said “take some iron at night. There’s something about that free floating iron that helps .” Because I have a sensitive gut I bought a kind called Gentle Iron (aka ferrous bisglycinate). It stopped the RLS that first night. The months went by and I was fine. Then I ran out and didn’t realize it until it after the health food store closed. I bought some ferrous sulfate figuring I’d rather be constipated than sleepless. I took a capsule and an hour later the RLS was still there. I took another tablet and eventually fell asleep but I never ran out of the ferrous bisglycinate again. Fast forward a year and I raise the melatonin to 1.0. The 25mg of ferrous bisglycinate didn’t cut it anymore so I started taking 50mg. I still didn’t make the connection between the melatonin and RLS. However, shortly thereafter I decided to go back on the internet and research RLS again. That’s when I found out melatonin will make RLS worse. The day I stopped the melatonin my RLS went quiet again and I no longer needed the iron - for a few years. Then it slowly crept back in.

Anyways, the point to this long story is that I think if you increase the iron you might be able to counteract the HRT. And in the long run I believe HRT (and melatonin) are good for our lousy dopamine receptors. I think these substances “up-regulate” them. It’s just that in the short run these substances make the “symptoms” of RLS so terrible.

In terms of magnesium, I read that it is a “dopamine antagonist” which means it should be great for our dopamine receptors in the long run, but potentially worsen symptoms if taken at night. People swear by magnesium and there are one too many who do get relief to discount it. I would just take it in the morning or afternoon.

sciencedirect.com/science/a...

[Nosleepatall in reply to Hidden]

Melatonin gives me bad restless legs!

[SueJohnson]

If pregabalin helps, who cares if it is addictive and it is not a highly addictive medicine. You can come off it without any withdrawal effect by withdrawing slowly. It is nothing like the dopamine agonists like ropinirole or pramipexole. Yes it can have side effects that one can't tolerate but as mentioned it is easy to come off of and for most people they either have none or ones that aren't bad and are far better than the RLS which it controls so don't be afraid of it.

Safe OTC options for insomnia include: valerian, chamomile, hops, L-tryptophan, glycine, and GABA although none are very strong. Avoid melatonin which can make RLS worse.

[Ronniebongo in reply to SueJohnson]

Thanks , my rls stopped at 6am as I had to get up .. horrible 😩9pm to 6am 😳I’ll speak to my doctor after this week if it continues… 🙏

[Ronniebongo in reply to SueJohnson]

Hi Sue , I forgot to mention in all this I have been taking propranolol for over 20 years as migraine prevention, not sure I need it now but I go abit manic if I miss a day so have stayed on it , maybe this is now contributing to the insomnia and rls 🤔or it’s just menopause 😣

[SueJohnson in reply to Ronniebongo]

It can.

[Simkin]

So sorry. We all know what it is like. In an ideal world we would all love to be off meds.Gabapentin not addictive. Try that.

Sleeping tabs make RLS worse

[Cameronb]

No disrespect meant but having had severe RLS for 40 years I would take absolutely anything to make it stop.We are talking having not just for hours at a time but days.. in the legs, arms, shoulders you name it. Not being able to sit, stop walking or moving, no sleep at all for days.. I would take absolutely anything because otherwise it would be a gun.

[Ronniebongo in reply to Cameronb]

Yes no disrespect taken , it’s just that after 30 years of migraine now under control , hardly have any and the last 3 years of severe headaches, ie 15 hours in bed vomiting that ive just got under control with HRT , high doses , low doses , different types , patches gels etc 🥴🥴hence my reluctance.. I sympathise with your 40 years severe rls what a nightmare 😩no one knows what it’s like unless they’ve had it , they think you feel about fidgity and that’s it 🤷🏼‍♀️I was up again most of the night so I will contact the doctor, lucky I’m not in work til 2pm today .. thank for the advice on pregabalin ..

[Cameronb in reply to Ronniebongo]

Everyone thinks it's at best a mild inconvenience... Ive also suffered migraine and I know you probably feel the same way about that, just would do anything to make it stop.Sending hugs 🤗

[Mipilimi]

Please try pregabaline, it works!

Been coming of pramipexol and it was sooooo terrible .

Hardly any sleep for 3 weeks and now I am getting out of the hole.

I take 2x25 mg 2 hours before bedtime.

Any more tips are welcom, I think this community is a life saver……

Good luck my dear friends!😘

[Bridall]

Re migraine. I had them all my life until my doctor put me on blood pressure tablets. Never had one since.

[Ronniebongo in reply to Bridall]

Yeh my blood pressure always very good , mine are hormone related , got them every month for years , that why they got worse and changed I believe to severe headache when menopause hit . HRT has helped enormously ! Just a shame it could be the cause of my rls getting bad ! I have reduced it from 100 to 75 , I tried going down to a 50 patch but i burned up and thought I was going to combust 🥵🥵

[Ert223]

i find going on a strict carnivore diet helps. Also using a NIR box...it has to be a big box with

700-900nm. They cost about 400-500 dollars. The NIR box i use is the Red Rush I think it is called. There is a whole bunch of science on it...It is called photobiomodulation. I let my legs soak on there for 1/2 works pretty well. I have noticed that charbs of any kind will send the legs off the rails. I also take a bunch of magnesium. Good luck.

Don

[Ronniebongo]

carbs has been mentioned a few times in here , 🤔unfortunately I’m vegetarian, practically vegan .. I eat nothing with anything animal in it .. could be my issue who knows, but I eat alot of nuts and lentils and beans .. I might start a food diary as suggested to me , I’m trying all angles .. cbd oil last night might of helped slightly to calm my mind down but still got rls ..