Any new research on RLS or its treatments in 2025?

[MrCrow]

I like to keep up to date information about RLS and was wondering of others have found any pertinent new research directions for RLS in the coming year/s.

[SueJohnson]

Join Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation for $40 - rls.org They sponsor research and list it in their monthly magazine.

[Joolsg]

Nothing new in the last 6 months.I post about anything new that appears in my searches.

I was hoping that Dr Stefan Clements research on ecopipam and DAs would progress. But that all went very quiet. I suspect they are doing trials over at least 2 or 3 years to avoid the catastrophic decision that happened when DAs were licensed after a 12 week trial. And a few years later they realised how dangerous those drugs were.

Shumbah is trying parasite therapy- that's a possibility.

I did research faecal transplants around 5 years ago but that has potential serious side effects.

Sibo treatment/vagus nerve stimulation have all been talked about.

The gene study done by Cambridge University (Dr Steven Bell) identified the genes responsible for RLS and there was a talk about repurposing drugs based on genes.

Of course absolutely nothing further has happened. No drugs have been repurposed and we can't even access the opioids that have been proven to help.

But.... a new year brings new hope.

[MrCrow in reply to Joolsg]

About Ecopipam, while it seems useful for those who've already augmented on DAs, for others it seems like pouring water and gasoline on fire at the same time. Afaik it blocks the excitatory D1 Dopamine receptors but DAs in addition to upregulating D1 receptors, also down regulate D2 and D3 receptors. It just sounds like messing around with the dopaminergic system is a ad idea when it come to RLS especially for new patients.

Feel free to correct me though.

[Joolsg in reply to MrCrow]

I agree. I don't see how it can work. Unless Dr Clements has done something strange with ecopipam.

[EndlessRLS99 in reply to Joolsg]

Maybe docs will be less reluctant to Rx THIS opioid?

prnewswire.com/news-release...

[MrCrow in reply to EndlessRLS99]

Interesting! The mode of delivery makes it less likely to abuse?

[Joolsg in reply to EndlessRLS99]

Interesting find. Oxycodone/Oxycontin for RLS is licensed here in UK for RLS.It didn't work for me - but it does seem to help many.

[RiceyRiceRice]

I would also add that Suvorexant helps with RLS. Here too, similar to gabapentinoids, patients with dopaminergic pre-treatment achieve significantly worse results.

Suvorexant is not approved in Europe. However, daridorexant, which belongs to the same group of drugs, is.

In a German RLS group, there are some who report positive results.

I just hope that nobody will be treated with DA's anymore.

My neurologist said that RLS is generally easy to treat.

However, once augmentation has occurred, it can be almost impossible or very difficult.

[MrCrow]

Yea I saw that paper by Garcia about Suvorexant. Looks like another weapon in the arsenal. Might be perfect for me since I suffer from sleep maintenance insomnia (independent of RLS).

[Bantamdyno]

Doesn't appear to be any research into pain points (trigger points) but there's no need you can find them yourself and get on top of rls problem🤔

[MrCrow in reply to Bantamdyno]

Only 1 i have found is lack of sleep and stress. Another one is screen time. Trying to fix both. But am worried that this is a progressive disorder and worsens with age.

[Bantamdyno]

No these are points on the muscle.

[jitters62]

Dr Walters at Vanderbilt is researching the possibility that RLS is an autoimmune disorder.

give.vanderbilthealth.org/c...

[MrCrow in reply to jitters62]

Very interesting. Thanks for the lead.

[Bantamdyno in reply to MrCrow]

Yes it most probably is, but we have the same internals as a caveman and what did he eat,🤔 I found going on the Haye diet made a large difference,(google Haye diet)😅