I've recently tried the lowest dose nicotine patch for another set of symptoms that i have been plagued with for 6 years now. Nothing has helped me at all. It's possible i have had chronic undx'd lyme, or "merely" CFS, or fibromyalgia. All the symptoms are so similar. And i won't bore you all with the list! However, the patch has completely changed my life, within days. I feel like my old self most of the time.
Here is what else has happened. Part of my medical regimen to alleviate the RLS was a dose of gabapentin and clonazepam about 3 hours after dinner. This works, but i am usually asleep by then, so i set an alarm to take those pills. Since starting the patch, i have slept thru the alarm twice, since i am sleeping so much better. I have awakened several hours after the pills were due and wondered: did i even take them? And marveled that i had no symptoms of RLS at all. No pain anywhere. I've still taken the gaba and clona. But i am considering gradually cutting back and seeing what happens.
There are some old posts here from 6 years ago about nicotine and nicotine patches. I wonder if anyone out there is using them?
If i think WAY back to 40+ years ago, when i quit smoking...it was not long afterwards that all my problems, with many health conditions, started. Not saying one should smoke. But there are some excellent articles on the use of nicotine as a healing agent.
Interesting since nicotine is considered a trigger for RLS.
If you decide to come off the gabapentin reduce by 100 to 200 mg every 2 weeks to avoid withdrawal symptoms and of course if you decide to come off clonazepam you also need to wean off slowly.
from a number of really old posts on healthunlocked, people have found relief from nicotine gum etc, in a pinch...i think this whole thing is a personal experiment! And thank you for your gabapentin suggestions!
I've suffered for 30+ years and I also experience some sleep benefits and less symptoms with nicotine use. Not smoking. It's odd, but it does give some relief.
Interesting! I am searching my mind, but can’t find it. About what Sergi Ferré, who wrote several papers about the adenosine connection in RLS mentioned about nicotine. There was some link to caffeine and since rhen some people have tried a cup of coffee in the middle of the night to quell their symptoms, whicked worked. For me too. Bit I don’t remember whether he also mentioned the role of nicotine. I dodn’t pay good attention, as nicotine brings it sown problems.
Anyway, I hope it keeps working for you without adding unwanted side effects.
i have read that about adenosine also. This one focuses on acetycholine...and it's been helpful for long-covid, ME/CFS, fibrom, parkinsons...why not RLS? What have we got to lose?
My 87-yr old mother smoked for nearly 60 years, and she says it helps her RLS. I'm always up for trying anything, so I experimented with nicotine gum a few years ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any relief. Glad it helps you.
I just started reading Andrew Spector's book, Navigating Life with RLS. He points out that there are three neurotransmitters at work with RLS - dopamine and adenosine which are not being processed by the brain adequately (there may be plenty in the body, but the receptors aren't working sufficiently), and glutamate (its role is to rev up other systems in the brain) which is overactive in RLS sufferers. He says that adenosine is just starting to get attention in connection with RLS. So you may be on to something if nicotine affects adenosine.
btw, I was a chronic lyme sufferer for 5 years; finally over it 4 years ago. 5 years on antibiotics 😱. If you want to do a private chat with me about it, feel free.
thank you for your offer. For now,the lyme symptoms seem to have settled down with the nicotine patch, to a large degree anyway. I wonder how we tamp down glutamate.. i know that for me, excess histamine also plays a role in how bad the RLS is..that oxalates, collagen. It's a constant crapshoot
Here's an article from 2018 about the interplay of dopamine, adenosine and glutamate. It is far too long and scientific for me to be able to digest it in anything but small doses, but here's the conclusion:
"In conclusion, the main tenet of this essay is that a main mechanism responsible for PLMS and hyperarousal in RLS can be a BID(brain iron deficiency)-induced hypoadenosinergic state, with downregulation of A1R. This mechanism may disrupt the adenosine-dopamine-glutamate balance uniquely controlled by adenosine and dopamine receptor heteromers in the striatum and also the A1R-mediated inhibitory control of glutamatergic neurotransmission in the cortex and other non-striatal brain areas and in the spinal cord. We then provide preclinical and clinical evidence for a possible new alternative therapeutic strategy for RLS, increasing the adenosinergic tone in the CNS with ENT1 inhibitors."
I believe that the ENT1 inhibitor that is referred to is principally dipyridamole.
Hopefully there are researchers somewhere who are looking into this more...
thank you for this one...i remember listening to a podcast about a year ago, talking about adenosine as the answer..and i think coffee stimulates adenosine. Do not quote me on that. We'll read and digest..thanks!
Years ago when I was augmenting from pramipexole, I read on here someone getting relief from nicotine. My colleague had some chewing gum which he gladly gave me to try. It knocked the RLS symptoms on the head in about five minutes. However, it was a strong dose so it also made me feel a bit weird. I did adjust the dose and found it consistently helped with the urge to move symptoms and not knowing what else to try at the time, I thought it could help.
The problem then became anxiety which I have never really suffered and when I thought about what has changed in my life, all I could think of was the nicotine. I stopped it and the anxiety stopped but of course I lost a good thing which HAD helped my restless legs.
Fortunately I was reducing the pramipexole and eventually dropped it and after another awful period, buprenorphine was suggested on this site which my doctor was happy to try me on- given he'd tried every other drug known to mankind!
I am also one who can have a cup of coffee and it will stop the mild symptoms so that theory suggests for at least some people, these can be helpful. Good luck working out your own solution. I hope the current regime continues to help and keep you feeling YOU.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
RLS For 40 years 
"Restful Legs" arsenicum alba for RLS - risk of arsenic poisoning?
RLS (pain) and Insomnia
Nicotine Gum
RLS Intro
