My new Relaxis

Please share your experiences, successes, and failures in using non-drug therapies for RLS/WED (methods of relief that don't involve swallowing or injecting anything), including compression, heat, light, stretches, acupuncture, etc. Also under this heading, medical interventions that don't involve the administration of a medicine to the body (eg. varicose-vein operations, deep-brain stimulation). [This forum contains Topics started prior to 2009 that deal with Non-prescription Medicines, Supplements, & Diet.]
legsbestill
Posts: 561
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 7:22 pm
Location: Dublin Ireland

My new Relaxis

Post by legsbestill »

It arrived the day before yesterday along with a demand for a horrendous amount of import duty which added quite substantially to the already significant cost. I became even more keen for it to be a success!

I followed my usual bedtime routine and took my usual medications (75mg Lyrica, 5mg OxyContin and about 3mg Kratom). In the interest of context, I should say that I am on a quest to reduce and streamline my medications. I am currently gradually eliminating Lyrica as it has ceased to be effective in inducing sleep - the only reason I take it. Once Lyrica is gone, I plan to get rid of that last 5mg tablet of OxyContin which I don't think is having much effect - I am only taking it because I don't want to stop two drugs at once. My aim is to use only Kratom and Relaxis.

My rls has changed in the last few months and at present I don't have urge-to-move symptoms when I first go to bed. Out of curiosity (mine and my husband's) I put the relaxis on nonetheless. It instantly upset my legs, inducing pre-symptom type feelings in them. About an hour after I went to sleep the legs kicked in in earnest - this is earlier than usual and I think it was because I tried the pad when I didn't have symptoms. They were also more violent than usual. I used the pad and it really seemed to help - thus redeeming itself somewhat. I had to use it repeatedly through the night but each time it seemed to get rid of the jumpiness after maybe 15 or 20 minutes. I didn't take my second dose of kratom which I usually take at about 3.00am and the pad seemed to be able to manage in its stead. At times the sensation of the vibrations when I was half awake made me feel slightly feverish and strange but I guess I will get used to that. The big downside was that it was quite intrusive - noisy and causing the bed to vibrate - so that my husband removed to another room.

Tonight I did the same (and so did husband) but sad to say the legs completely failed to respond to the pad and at about 3.00 am, after giving it at least an hour, I gave up and took kratom which soothed the symptoms completely so that I can lie in bed and type. Unfortunately, I am not sleepy and it is now 5.30 am. I am not sure whether I had the setting right (there are lots of different levels of vibration) or maybe I will take a while to adjust to this form of treatment. I intend to keep trying for the next four weeks. Hopefully I will get better results once I get the hang of it. I will speak to Carl at Relaxis once I get the hang of the time difference between here and CA. I will continue to post - hopefully more succinctly and with better results.

ViewsAskew
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Re: My new Relaxis

Post by ViewsAskew »

I just have this sneaking suspicion that this works for some subtype of RLS - just not sure which one - and doesn't likely work for all. We don't have subtypes identified scientifically, but many of us are sure there are at least three or four, maybe more.

Thanks for writing about it. Off for kratom myself - or I won't ever go to sleep...
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

Polar Bear
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Re: My new Relaxis

Post by Polar Bear »

It will be interesting to see how you feel about the Relaxis following your 4 weeks trial.
It does sound very intrusive. Good luck.
California is 8 hours behind us time difference.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

legsbestill
Posts: 561
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 7:22 pm
Location: Dublin Ireland

Re: My new Relaxis

Post by legsbestill »

Yes, I'm not sure how we will proceed if the pad turns out to be very effective. Opiates drove me back into the marital bed (see previous post 'How hard drugs saved my marriage' or some such) and now Relaxis is driving us apart ... It would be a easier, frankly, if Relaxis doesn't work and a consolation of sorts. I imagine the cost of divorce would make a failed experiment with Relaxis seem very inexpensive.

legsbestill
Posts: 561
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 7:22 pm
Location: Dublin Ireland

Re: My new Relaxis

Post by legsbestill »

In the interest of balance, I am posting this before my third night with my Relaxis. I got a call from Carl at Relaxis and it turned out I had the pad at far too high a setting - I had it nearly half way up and it only needs to be close to the very lowest. A certain amount of experimentation is necessary to find the sweet spot each evening depending on how bad the legs are that day. I am in bed and have it on and husband didn't notice til I told him so it isn't as intrusive as I indicated previously. Also it has a much better chance of being effective at this level according to Carl. Customer service is second to none - he is calling again on Monday and then once or twice a week for next few weeks to monitor my progress. Am really hoping it works better tonight.

yawny
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Re: My new Relaxis

Post by yawny »

I got my fingers crossed for you, Legsbestill!

ViewsAskew
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Re: My new Relaxis

Post by ViewsAskew »

Hoping, too.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

Polar Bear
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Re: My new Relaxis

Post by Polar Bear »

Me too. Good luck.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

legsbestill
Posts: 561
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 7:22 pm
Location: Dublin Ireland

Re: Days 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

Post by legsbestill »

First, thanks for all your expressions of good luck. It is surprising how lovely it is to get those.

3rd Night: After speaking to Carl and learning to adjust to a much lower setting I tried Relaxis on third night. This was the day scheduled to reduce pregabalin from 75 to 50 mg so did that. Took my usual 5 mg OxyContin also and about 3mg Kratom. Legs started unusually early so turned on the pad and after about one and a half bouts (each bout lasts 30 mins and then gradually diminishes to nothing so no need to wake up and turn off) legs had completely resolved! This is pretty miraculous as legs will usually not resolve once they have started up unless I take some medication - the current poison of choice being a glass of oj with about 3mg of kratom dissolved but on this occasion I didn't need anything. Later in the night - about 5 am (which is a difficult time - do you take the meds and be very dopey the following morning or not and suffer two hours of jumping around til time to get up and be tired all day). Switched on Relaxis and lo! they went away within one cycle. Felt really happy about that though of course with usual proviso regarding false dawns.

4th Night: The following night I didn't get any symptoms!!! Three exclamation marks to indicate that this is a very unusual occurrence - couldn't recall when last it happened. I allowed myself to wonder if symptoms had felt that there was no use in presenting themselves when RELAXIS was waiting to zap them.

5th Night: Lucky I didn't have time that day to feel too excited because the next night had low grade symptoms almost all night and they did not seem to respond particularly well to Relaxis. In the interests of full disclosure, I was coming down with an uncomfortable flu-like condition which disrupted my sleep. It is possible that the reduction in of Pregabalin from 75mg to 50 mg that I had instituted 2 days earlier was kicking in. Also, I was in a strange bed and I had been on my feet all day working - very aggravating to my rls. I was sharing a room - normally I absolutely refuse to share a room (apart from with long-suffering spouse) but there were particular circumstances. This may have also made me a bit more tense in the night thus reducing effectiveness of Relaxis. It is worth pointing out that my room-mate was completely undisturbed by the noise of the pad even though her bed was very close to mine.

6th Night: Sadly, the night after was, if anything, worse. Legs got going early and kept up most of night seemingly impervious to Relaxis (and my usual drugs). Again, I had been on my feet a lot and was still suffering from the virus which made me feel feverish and caused me to find it difficult to keep track of what was going on and what was causing wakefulness. I was also still sharing the room. Carl from Relaxis had told me that it was important to tweak the intensity of Relaxis from night to night to optimise its effectiveness and although I have a memory of trying different strengths, I was not really on the ball about this.

7th Night: I returned home yesterday and took a larger dose of kratom at bed time and the usual small dose of oxycontin (5mg) and 50 mg Pregabalin. I was more relaxed and had had an easier day. As I have said already I usually take a second dose of kratom in the middle of the night (usually about 3 or 4am) but last night, although I did have the crawlies/jumpies in the middle of the night, they seemed to respond to Relaxis pretty well and I did not need the second kratom. Symptoms presented again at about 5 am and they were slightly more intractable but at about 7am they went away and I went into a lovely deep sleep til about 11 am. As I have already said, normally symptoms do not go away without some form of intervention so I think I must again credit Relaxis even if it did take nearly two hours to take effect on that occasion.

One thing I noticed over the last three nights is that my symptoms seemed to migrate from my legs into my upper body when I was using Relaxis. When I was withdrawing from mirapexin they were all over: legs, trunk and arms, for about 4 months but since then they have been almost exclusively in my legs apart from a couple of times when I tried foam rolling as a means of quieting the legs. The foam rolled legs improved greatly but symptoms migrated into my trunk. I wonder if it is an idiosyncrasy of mine that when I find a way of successfully treating the legs, the symptoms migrate because I know other people have had success with foam rolling at least for less severe attacks.

Carl has tried to telephone me for the past two nights to follow up on his earlier call but unfortunately I was not in a position to take his calls. I am looking forward to speaking to him tonight. He resolved my initial problems so effectively and there may well be something that I am not doing right that caused the set back on nights 5 and 6.

ViewsAskew
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Re: My new Relaxis

Post by ViewsAskew »

Thanks for all the details!
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

yawny
Posts: 264
Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2015 4:20 pm

Re: My new Relaxis

Post by yawny »

Legsbestill, thank you for all the details...the Relaxis Pad customer service guy sounds very helpful but I can't help but read "Carl!" with a southern drawl affected by an Englishman who is screaming the name as he runs from zombies. I've been binge watching the zombie tv show "Walking Dead," which might explain my problem.

So, I'm wondering if you can describe the type of RLS movements/sensations that the Relaxis Pad is helping or alleviating? Does it help with involuntary muscle twitches and/or PLMS?

legsbestill
Posts: 561
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 7:22 pm
Location: Dublin Ireland

Re: My new Relaxis

Post by legsbestill »

Yawny! I know you mean no harm but I feel I must point out that while I suspect that "Walking Dead" would describe quite a few of us on here as we pace the boards at night and we are certainly the target purchasers of Relaxis, I think I can speak for poor Carl when I say that he has never in any way been implicated in the destructive actions of any zombies, nor is he an Englishman affecting a southern drawl and no zombies, Englishmen or people of Southern origin have been harmed in the manufacture of Relaxis.

And with that out of the way I turn to your question which sent a cold shiver running down my spine because it highlights an issue of willful ignorance on my part, vis: I am not sure I really understand what is the difference between PLMS and the urge-to-move symptom which I get which is a direct response/culmination of the awful creepy, crawly sensation that emanates from the small of my back and travels down my legs. I mean the sensation itself is awful and wakes me up on its own account but it inevitably leads to the twitch of the legs which I assume christened the condition Restless Leg Syndrome. I have sort-of lazily assumed that PLMS is something different because otherwise what is the point of calling one RLS and the other PLMS. If they are different, I don't suffer from PLMS.

For me, Relaxis doesn't immediately impact on either the creepy-crawly sensation, or the twitch of the legs/urge-to-move. It seems to sort-of slowly build up a counter-stimulation effect over the course of the 30 to 60 minutes that I run it after the onset of symptoms.

Having said that, I have resumed my 3am kratom as over the last two or three nights I have not found it hugely effective in wholly overcoming the symptoms. I remain determined to work with it - I may need to tweak the settings a bit.

SLEEPY ANGEL
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Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2017 4:34 pm

Re: My new Relaxis

Post by SLEEPY ANGEL »

legsbestill--- I am one of the newest people to come to the Discussion Board, and I think the experimentation that you are going through with Relaxis sounds SO TRYING! But then, rls is awfully trying in itself. I sure do wish you well in this trial period and Carl sounds like a wonderful support person. In reading through various postings I can see that there are so very many different medications! I am onl taking Ropinirole and Gabapentin---- and have never heard of kratom. I know one thing for sure: I will never ever be able to use an opiate because I vomit every meal (such a sensitive stomach)!

ViewsAskew
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Re: My new Relaxis

Post by ViewsAskew »

Sleep Angel...have you been tested for celiac disease? While many of us here have garden variety RLS, some of us have RLS that occurs because we have a primary condition that also causes the RLS. When the primary condition improves, the RLS often does, too. Celiac is one of those conditions. People with undiagnosed celiac often have RLS - about 35% of them. When the RLS is treated, many of those people no longer have it, or have it at a much lower rate.

It doesn't happen often, but a few times over the years here, someone found out that they had celiac. One of the common symptoms of celiac is a sensitive stomach. There are over 200 other ones (my husband has it), also.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

Polar Bear
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Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 4:34 pm
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Re: My new Relaxis

Post by Polar Bear »

SleepyAngel - you are taking Ropinerole and Gabapentin. If you vomit every meal I wonder how much medication you have in your system, or how much you expel. Depending of course, on when you take your medication.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

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