mom wants to know if rls ever goes away

[edelman2]

Hi,

I got rls recently and am on a high dose of anti-depressants and anti-psychotic meds because I'm bipolar. The rls may have been
triggered by those meds or anything else. My mother believes that if I stop those meds, the rls will go away. Tried telling her
that once you got rls, it stays with you. She has a hard time accepting this fact and asked me to post and get responses.
I do not want to disillusion her, but it is too painful for her to handle the fact that I have rls. Responses appreciated.

[Rustsmith]

Inna, there is a very good chance that your RLS is being triggered by the anti-depressants. Which medication are you one? The SSRI medications are known to be just as effective RLS triggers as the antihistamines.

If this is the case, then you have secondary RLS which means that if you can resolve the cause, then the RLS symptoms will either dissipate or resolve themselves.

However, the normal recommendations from the RLS experts is that for depression, you treat it first and then work to treat the RLS that it causes. However, one of the ways to treat the RLS is to try a different antidepressant. The one that is normally recommended for this is Wellbutrin, but there are also a couple of others. Wellbutrin is not supposed to be that great of an antidepressant, but it also is not an RLS trigger. Therefore, you should have a conversation with your doctor and try changing your medications to see if you can resolve the RLS while still maintaining control of your bipolar syndrome.

[Polar Bear]

You could also have your serum ferritin level checked, this is the iron stored in the brain. This test is not normally done in regular blood work so you need to request it. A sufferer of RLS will want to have ferrritin up at around 100, even though a doctor or lab may agree that 20 could be normal. Have the test and make sure to obtain the actual level and not just 'it's normal'.

How severe and how often do you have rls symptoms, are you at present able to cope without any specific medication for these symptoms.

[edelman2]

I'm on Horizant right now (gabapentin) and it controls the symptoms, but I do not get enough sleep, so I do not know if it is
the right medication for me.

[edelman2]

I'm on zyprexa and on remeron (strong anti-depressant).

[Rustsmith]

The literature is mixed with respect to whether Remron induces RLS symptoms. It appears that some reports indicate that it doesn't, but others report that it does.

So the message is still, have a talk with your doctor to work on finding a way to control both the bipolar problem as well as the RLS that may be a side effect of the medications. As Polar Bear says, ask to have your ferritin levels checked and ask whether a change in you antidepressant would work or whether your doctor needs to treat the RLS with the Horizant.

As for your mother's question, there is a very good chance that this is a side effect of your medication. If you could ever get off of your bipolar meds, the RLS might disappear.

[ViewsAskew]

My niece is bipolar and has RLS/WED. She had is very mildly before the bipolar meds. She was able to switch meds (and I don't remember which ones) initially because whatever she took absolutely worsened her symptoms.

For most people, RLS doesn't go away. If you have RLS because of another condition, it may go away if the condition goes latent, ends, or is under control: think pregnancy or diabetes. But, sometimes the secondary condition or medication triggers what was already there - once triggered, it doesn't go away. While many women find they never have RLS again during pregnancy, a percentage of them always have it afterwards.
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So, that's what we cannot know about you now. If your meds change in the future, it is possible that it will stop. You could talk to your docs - or get them to talk to each other - and see if there is any other medication for the bipolar you could try that might be more RLS-friendly. If not, then you are likely stuck treating the RLS.

It's hard when you don't get enough sleep - I'm dealing with that right now - especially if there are many other things you need to do (work, school, other responsibilities).