Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

I just learned that as melatonin decreases, dopamine increases. I'm guessing this is why I can fall asleep at 330 am, when melatonin decreases and dopamine increases. I'm wondering if I slowly start going to bed earlier, like now, or in 20 minutes, if I could train my brain to start releasing dopamine earlier.

You have nothing to lose by trying it out and if you do, we'd be most grateful if you kept us informed of how it worked for you.

Yeah, right now my big problem is trying too many things and spending too much time on line talking about it! I was on pramipexole for ten years and just realized a couple of months ago that it was ruining my life, tears. Never again. I'm all natural now. Btw, the falling asleep at 330 doesn't seem to because of melatonin--today I didn't drop of until after 7, and only after: thc, advil pm, calms forte....sigh.

AriaLittlhous, since you mentioned advil pm, you may need to be careful with that one. Most of the OTC products like it contain a first generation antihistamine such as Benedryl. The first generation antihistamines are known to be frequent RLS triggers. In my opinion, you would be better off with the THC, an herbal tea or even a glass of milk. Oh, and a hot (or sometimes very cold) bath helps many of us.

Rustsmith, I agree Benedryl is a trigger for me. The first doctor I asked about RLS suggested I try it and my RLS was as bad as it had ever been that night. I haven't taken it since. But I use Advil PM about one a week and sleep much better. I don't use it more often because of fear of long term use with everything else I take.

Doesn't Advil pm have benadryl in it? I didn't look it up. I know some pm meds do. Plus some people need to be careful with kidneys. I can't take it for that reason.
I took mirapex for many years. Had problems I didn't realize because of it. Have been off for almost 8 years, but now I am taking lowest dose twice a week. No more than that and it is working with out problems.

I just looked and one of the ingredients in Advil PM is the generic form of Bendryl. If it works, then great. But it is something that has the potential of causing problems for many of us.

I took Advil PM in a hotel in New York about 30 years ago and when it didn't work I took another. Boy was that a bad idea—I got virtually no sleep that night.

So I asked my doctor about using Advil PM and she said the active ingredient for PM was just Benadryl. I was surprised because the only time I took Benadryl by itself I had horrible rls. She said it was considered so safe they give it to children to get them to sleep. PM works so well for me, maybe I need to try it again. Maybe a low dose.

Benadryl is one of those examples of supreme failure by the FDA. Benadryl has been shown in studies to cause an increase in automobile accidents for those users on the day after they use Benadryl for sleep. It should certainly not be an over-the-counter medication, especially for use as a sleep medicine for anybody that drives.

Holland, that is interesting about Benadryl. I have had severe upper respiratory allergies since I was about 4 yrs old. During my lifetime I have probably been prescribed just about every anti-allergy form of antihistamine that has been on the market, including at least one that was later removed because I was told that it interfered with too many other meds. But in all that time, I don't think that I was ever advised to try Benadryl and the one time that I took it because I was traveling and forgot my meds, it did absolutely nothing for me. I might as well have been taking a placebo. But I should explain that anti-histamines have never had a sedating effect on me. My father later told me that he tried taking one of the pills that I was given when I was very young (I probably weighed about 30 lbs at the time). He said that although the pills had only a minimal effect on me (good or bad), it practically knocked him out for 8 hrs.

well that explains why the advil is a trigger for my RLS

Benadryl is one of the antihistamines, and drowsiness is one of the side effects of antihistamines. However, not everyone has that side effect, and the degree varies widely. It's also true that MANY useful, even life saving, medicines have drowsiness as a side effect. Unregulated supplements can have drowsiness as a side effect. So we have to monitor how we respond to any medication, and respond accordingly.