Restless Leg Syndrome?

[JulieSherris]

Does anyone else suffer with this at all??

I'm getting it during the evenings when all the jobs are done & I should be sat relaxing, I'm finding that I'm getting itchy legs, can't keep them still, & generally they feel 'antsy'...oh, I don't know how to explain it!!

It stops once I go to bed though, but it's got to the point now where it's absolutely driving me crazy!!

I have just told hubby that I am going to pop to the docs next week & see if I can get it sorted, but does anyone know of a more natural way to solve the problem first? Any & all ideas very welcome... I'll try anything right about now!

[Bonniegirl]

Drink plenty of water through the day, cut back on the caffiene, I find that helps. My leg sometimes don't feel liek they belong to me at all!
Someone once recommmended magnesium.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Get chelated magnesium tablets - fixed my dad right up.

[growingthings]

I had this terrible when I was pregnant, my midwife said to get two pairs of wool socks, soak one in warm water and then wring out till they are just damp, put them on first and then put on the dry pair over the top

I tried it, and it certainly made a difference to me, something to do with the circulation I think

hth

Lorna x

[battybird]

Hi
Funny, but there was abit about restless legs on TV last night. pretty sure it was the one show BBC1. The "cure" was a dopamine booster/inhibitor( did not watch properly, was baking! But it might be worth a look on iplayer and see if a herbal alternative would work. seemed that there are two reasons for restless legs and circulation was one, dopamine the other! Let us know if you find something that helps...I drive my husband mad twitching! Dont want to take medication if simpler remedy works. Unfortunately magnesium did not work for me!#
Good luck

[JulieSherris]

Hey everyone, thanks for the suggestions so far.....

I already take a high dose multi-vit, extra iron, magnesium, calcium, vit B, oh goodness...so many vits!! I have to take these because I had a gastric bypass a couple of years ago & so I don't absorb the necessary vitamins from my diet as well as I should.
I did hear about the dopamine deficiency being a cause for restless legs - I shall have a google to see if there's anything I can get.
The thing is, when I told hubby I was thinking about going to the docs about this, his chin hit the floor...... I've not been to the docs since we've been here, so firstly, I need to call our health insurance people & see what the payment procedure is & then find out what hours the doc is open.... and where the surgery is..... maybe!!

Actually, I might pop to the chemist in the village later on - the pharmacists over here are wonderful & often they have a lot more leeway with medications than the UK chemists, so I'll start there.... if nothing else works, I'll follow up the doctor route... I don't even know what the local doctor's name is!

[citizentwiglet]

I had it when I was pregnant, my midwife told me to eat more bananas. Not my favourite fruit, I must confess. Mine has more to do with my circulation, I think - I have clotty blood (a genetic disorder called Factor V Leiden) and Primary Throbocythaemia (which isn't as scary as it sounds) so between the restless legs, the pins and needles and the skin that looks like corned beef - well - I think a blue rinse and some comfy elasticated polyester trousers are the only thing for me to try......

[red]

himself gets RLS when he eats certain foods.. things in take aways. so might be worth noticing what you ate when you have a bad bout of it

[Thomzo]

I get it in bed sometimes. I did read that low iron levels (which I'm prone to) can be a cause. It does seem to be better when I'm taking my iron tablets regularly.

Zoe

[sortanormalish]

I know this is a late post on the thread, but maybe it can help. I'll just tell the whole story so that you can see if any of it matches your situation.

My husband used to twitch and scratch and flop around all night. For years! It started just at the end of the day, but by bedtime he was fine. Then it slowly crept on until he could hardly sleep. He called it 'need to get off my ass syndrome' just joking around, but it was really a problem. Then he started having a lot of abdominal pain, he lost 80 pounds of muscle (never a fluffy fellow) in about 3 months. So you can see it got very debilitating; and the twitching had turned into stabbing pains. The worst part was that the doctors couldn't find anything.
The dopamine receptor drug and a dopamine boost did nothing but accentuate the pain. It actually 'helped' him feel more pain, much more from the sounds he was making. And he's a tough piece of work.

One doctor form the Mayo Clinic suggested food allergies or food sensitivities (which are similiar but not allergies because they're not protein induced), so we did all the testing, again, but this time almost everything hit, but wasn't positive on his blood screening(so it was a sensitivity not an allergy). Turns out it was all food sensitivities. His system was inflamed, so he couldn't absorb nutrients properly, that's what started the legs. But the doctor said in the end he was so irritated internally that a large portion of his stomach was paralyzed, that's why he was in so much pain and lost so much weight.

The 'foods' he has sensitivities to shouldn't even be labeled as foods. He is sensitive to several preservatives, artificial colors, artificial flavors, and 'natural' flavors that are about as far removed from nature as I am from being a Martian.

There are no allergy tests for this stuff, you have to figure it out by elemination.
We did a very thorough elemination at the clinic! The doctor said that this type of sensitivity is growing exponentially world wide, but that allergy testing as they currently know how to do it uses proteins derived from the potential allergen, food sensitivities also trigger the immune system but in a different way and they haven't figured that tricky bit out yet.

Food sensitivities may be triggered by protiens, like alergic reactions, but they can also be triggered by carbohydrate structures, chemicals-natural or not, fats, and artificial or non-caloric sweeteners. Anything! He said that they can also be caused by taking too many vitamins, he said it overloads your system and just makes your internal organs work too hard trying to absorb.

My husbands inards are still paralyzed, it's permanant. The doctor said it was like having a GB. He put him on a liquid multivitamin, liquid potassium, and liquid magnesium. They are supposed to absorb more easily. They smell awful, but the husband says they disappear in food. He takes several meds too and he is doing fine now. Not even twitchy legs.

I hope this is not your situation, it makes life hard when EVERYTHING has to chem free. He can't even take oral antibitotics without getting very ill.

Good luck

[Thomzo]

Sortanormalish, that sounds horrendous. I've heard of additives doing all sorts to you but never to that extent.

Good for you both though for getting through it and having the courage to keep fighting this.

Zoe

[sortanormalish]

My biggest fear about the whole thing now, other than that all of our children seem to have inherited this problem, is how easily missed it was. I was astonished at the number of doctors that didn't know there was a difference in an allergy and a sensitivity or had no idea about the symptoms of sensitivity.

According to the group at Mayo, most doctors have had little to no education on the matter because it has so recently been untangled as a unique problem.

Symptoms include, but may not be limited to: RLS, depression, IBS, ADD and ADHD in children, heightened alergic response, joint pain, liver disfunction, and they think but haven't really decided about type two diabetes.
It looks like alot of problems that didn't really become common until after WWII doesn't it?
That is also when mass marketed heavily altered food became standard fare. That may only be a coincidence, maybe all the war chemicals re-purposed as herbicide and insecticide are to blame. Maybe its vaccinations. Maybe its a government conspriracy! Right now, no one really knows. But it seems inhuman not to share the hard won education we got.

[Green Aura]

Doctors over here aren't any better. I have problems with wheat - wholemeal's OK but even a couple of slices of white bread brings on minor IBS symptoms and if I ignore them and have it again - Oh my!!!

Anyway I mentioned this to my consultant who tested me for coeliac disease and allergy to wheat - both came back negative so I was told it was in my head. He didn't believe in sensitivity/intolerance.

[battybird]

Anyway I mentioned this to my consultant who tested me for coeliac disease and allergy to wheat - both came back negative so I was told it was in my head. He didn't believe in sensitivity/intolerance.

I can't believe any consultant would not know all about sensitivity or be intolerant!!

[Green Aura]