I've had RLS for decades, starting in my 30s. Was on carb/levidopa for a while till it became no longer effective, then switched to Roprinirole, which worked just great, but had to keep upping the dosage to keep it's effectiveness.
At 4MG of Roprinirole, I was running out of options, did some research here, and realized I was undergoing some pretty bad augmentation and decided to quit it. Docs were a little useless but again research here helped a lot, and I slowly weaned off of it- took 6-8 months to fully get off the drug, and meanwhile tried the usual range of medications and alternative therapies- klonopin, gabapentin, pregabalin, iron tablets, iron infusions, acupuncture, deep massage, lots of supplements, etc. None of them did a damn thing. Cannabis helped a tiny bit.
I went almost two years sleeping maybe an hour to an hour and a half a night in 15 minute increments. It was horrible, you guys all know. I was a walking zombie and could only do what I needed to do to survive and not a bit more. It's a miracle I kept my job. My wife had do drive me places because it was too dangerous for me to drive.
Finally a RLS specialist in Boston suggested methadone in conjunction with pregabalin, and within a week I was sleeping like I never have before. RLS is essentially GONE. I was a pretty severe case, and so far anyway, I feel cured. (knock on wood). I can sleep for 8-10 hours a night. I feel 20 years younger.
So just wanted to drop a note to all the good folks here, thank you for the help and guidance while I lurked, and tell ongoing sufferers that there is hope out there, just keep looking for it.