Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

I have suffered from RLS my whole life ad the medication has made it much worse. In fact, I got to the point where I could not sleep and was tortured every night from the effects of RLS.
While visiting my brother in law over the holiday, I discussed my issues and he consulted his healer who recommended Potassium and an OTC supplement for leg cramps. I cannot believe it but it works. I have had two consecutive nights without symptoms. My RLS has been constant every night for years and only has gotten worse. I will keep you posted as I continue to take this.

meghcelmayster, Welcome to the RLS community. Thanks for the information. Others have tried potassium without much improvement. I'm happy you are better and hope it continues. If your symptoms return, be sure and post information here, likely someone here will have helpful suggestions.

It is always wonderful when such fixes help. Hopefully it will continue to. In case not, we are always here for more information and ideas.

I have also found that potassium greatly reduces my issues with RLS. However, I have been using a powder substance called Keto 1000 and using 2,000 mg each evening at dinner time. It helps me to be able to sit in the evening and cut back on my mirapex dosage at night by 1/4 dosage. the potassium is potassium citrate. My doctor put me on prescription potassium chloride and all it's doing is make my heart race faster if I add any of the potassium citrate. Anyone else have experience with potassium like this? I would love to get on a prescription because it's cheaper, but not this potassium!

cstephens.mhc wrote:...and all it's doing is make my heart race faster if I add any of the potassium citrate. Anyone else have experience with potassium like this? I would love to get on a prescription because it's cheaper, but not this potassium!

Sorry if I sound out of touch, but I see a doctor every 3 or 4 years, and that is just for some drug runs I can’t buy over the counter, and certainly wouldn’t see one for RLS, choosing not to use pharmaceuticals.

You can buy potassium citrate and chloride online easily, you just may need some ‘drug dealer’ scales to measure out the powder. I use potassium chloride (KCL) as it is cheaper; no prescription needed. But it is good advice if you are a regular doctor visitor, as it indicates you may have a complex medical history, to definitely ask about potassium.

I use 1gm KCL first thing in the morning, and same again before bed which takes away the amount of sleep I need; not much for RLS, but my oxalate dump is sorting that nicely. If you have too much potassium you will get strange effects as you mentioned. I stupidly provided some to my house mate and they felt very strange and we almost called an ambulance.

If you are adding more potassium, you may be overdosing; which isn’t good. 2gm is relatively high, and you may need to experiment on how much improves your RLS.

Would you mind telling me where you get your potassium citrate?

cstephens.mhc wrote:Would you mind telling me where you get your potassium citrate?

I get mine on Amazon, as 100% pure powder. I take about 2-3 grams a day. As I eat ketogenic, I avoid most potassium rich foods (fruit especially) so it's a good idea to supplement potassium in any case.

Can't really judge it individually, as I employ several measures to deal with my RLS and ME/CFS (fairly restricted diet and a bunch of supplements), but the overall strategy seems to work as there is a slow improvement.

cstephens.mhc wrote:Would you mind telling me where you get your potassium citrate?

Ebay, or as mentioned above, Amazon is a source.