International RLS guidelines (and their discrepancies)

[JimAlp]

I'm writing an article on medium.com comparing RLS treatment guidelines, focusing on the discrepancies, particularly between European and US recommendations regarding dopamine agonists (DAs). My goal is to help fellow patients navigate this confusing landscape.

I've identified several key guidelines:

- Mayo Clinic/RLS Foundation

- American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM)

- International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG)

- NICE/NHS

- German Society for Neurology

- European Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group EURLSSG (this is an interesting one. Their website currently features 2011 guidelines that recommend DAs as first-line treatment. However, they participated in the 2016 joint task force with the IRLSSG and the RLS Foundation, which concluded that alpha-2-delta ligands should be the initial treatment. This more recent recommendation isn't reflected on their website)

I'd appreciate your input if I may have missed any major guidelines.

I will also try to get some direct feedback from some of the people who wrote those guidelines. I'll update here once I have all the information together.

n.b.: I'm not a journalist, I'm just a patient trying to help other patients.

[Madlegs1]

Good on you Jim!

Looking forward to seeing the final article.

It will be a very useful resource.

[SueJohnson]

You've done a good job finding them. You might want to look at relacshealth.com/blog and the result of Dr Winkelman's ongoing study of opioids

[Joolsg]

Thanks Jim.Great idea.

[Jumpey]

Brilliant.