Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

For those of you finding success with medical marijuana and living in states where recreational marijuana is not approved, are doctors approving its use for RLS?

Well, I live in California, and recreational has only been legal a few months. I got medical marijuana here several years ago, on the basis of RLS and insomnia. However, California's medical marijuana law was very vague about the requirements and LOTS of people without significant medical problems got medical marijuana for unsubstantiated problems.

I live in a state with medical marijuana but not recreational. My neurologist, who is one of the doctors in the state who can prescribe marijuana, refused to prescribe it for me because he said RLS was not a covered condition. Luckily (?) I also have arthritis, so I went to an online prescribing service. They needed to see a copy of my medical record, which luckily had the arthritis listed, since chronic pain or arthritis is covered. I sent everything in, and in a couple of weeks got my card. So my advice is to look online first to see what conditions are covered in your state and try to find one that your primary care would support. I found the online service I used very helpful.

(a) Does it work? (b) What form of Medical Marijuana do you use? (c) Do you continue taking other medications?

I live in a state where recreational marijuana is legal, so it is a bit easier to get but is also more expensive since recreational users pay taxes on any purchase and medical customers do not.

To answer your question, products that are high in THC can be very effective for overcoming the insomnia that is part of RLS. There are three ways that you can get it, 1) buds that are vaped, 2) tinctures that you place under your tongue and 3) edibles.

Inhaled products (vaping since smoking isn't encouraged) are almost immediately effective and it only takes one or two puffs. The limitation is that it wears off fairly quickly.

Tinctures require a bit more time to act, but they work in a matter of minutes and tend to last longer than vaping. A drawback is that tinctures are refined products and are only available in a few THC:CBD ratios.

Edibles (cookies, candies, drinks) can take an hour or so to take effect, but that effect also lasts for hours. A number of us use a THC edible at or near bedtime to help us fall and stay sleep.

As for THC versus CBD, THC helps with sleep and CBD helps with the anxiety that RLS can cause. Most of us feel that neither one helps with the need to move urges.

Finally, most of us continue with the rest of our meds and add the desired type of marijuana to them. But it is also true that most of us here also have reasonably severe RLS so if yours is moderate, then you might be able to back off on some of your meds.

I live in California, so can get either recreational or medical. Medical requires reauthorization every year, with a visit to the pot doctor, about $60 per year minimum. I found that while the taxes are high on recreational, the tax for the amount I use is less than $60/year, and if I use recreational, I don't have the hassle of the yearly requalification that medical required.

When I was using edible, the doc approved it for insomnia, not RLS. States vary tremendously on the rules for medical marijuana. Some have a list of diagnoses that are approved and docs aren't supposed to give it to people unless they have one of the approved diagnoses, other states are not as restrictive. You really have to find out exactly how your state deals with it.

Before my IV iron treatments, I used edible for the reasons Steve gave above, continued my other meds. After IV Iron my urge-to move improved tremendously so that I don't need other meds for that. However, sleep issues improved only slightly with IV Iron, and now I vape when I need to. Previously, I ate the edible every night, since I knew I needed it to sleep. Most nights I vape once, and that is enough to allow me to sleep the rest of the night (well, get back to sleep quickly, I have BPH and get up frequently to pee). Rarely I can't get back to sleep and need a second vaped dose of THC, about once a month or so.

I have a question. I just started with an edible, 10 mg THC, taking it an hour before bed. The first night it seemed to help me sleep. The second night, I didn't get to sleep until about 2 hours after going to bed. Tonight, it is 2:30 am and In am still awake. I have been laying here, 4 hours, just now looked online.
So is this like everything else I've tried, and making things worse ?

debbluebird wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 22, 2020 9:34 am

I have a question. I just started with an edible, 10 mg THC, taking it an hour before bed. The first night it seemed to help me sleep. The second night, I didn't get to sleep until about 2 hours after going to bed. Tonight, it is 2:30 am and In am still awake. I have been laying here, 4 hours, just now looked online.
So is this like everything else I've tried, and making things worse ?

Maybe. Or maybe you need a touch of CBD with it. I heard all over this board that CBD had to be taken with THC for the THC to help with sleep. I bought 20mg THC gummies and separately, 10mg CBD gummies. I would bite off about a third of each one.( The effect was not consistent, so I switched to home-made edibles, then I stopped.)

Florida’s laws are a joke. My neurologist told me he was getting into the marijuana business. He said since I had skin cancer before he could treat me for RLS. I see him now four times a year just to get Clonazepam. For MJ I would have to see him 8 (cash for 4). Then whatever they charge for the product which is a lot because it is made by friends of the Governor.

On the street it is $250 an ounce for good weed from Colorado. My city will not enforce MJ laws unless arresting you for something else.

I have a great recipe for brownies. Just need to keep the temperature below 250F. I feel lucky I have a good “dealer”. For me it does not do much for RLS but it sure takes the edge off.

Funny you should mention that your dealer's weed is from Colorado. I used to live in the county in Colorado that grows the largest amount of legal weed. As a result, the sheriff's department is continually busting illegal grows that are destined for Florida. The out of state growers apparently don't realize that the local electric and water utilities report atypical usage. When they bust these places, the house usually ends up having to be condemned due to severe mold growth.

As for your doctor, that is similar to the situation in Colorado. A medical card allows you to but more product and to avoid most of the taxes. But you have to see a doctor once a year to get the card and pay cash to the doctor as well as when you but the weed. I find it cheaper overall to pay the taxes and make a few more trips to the store.

Same for me in California, cheaper and more convenient to buy "recreational" and pay the tax than to have to go see the "pot doc" yearly and get the medical certificate.

Even cheaper is to ask my daughter to get it from her dealer, but I would rather pay the extra amount to have "California state certified" weed than from an unknown source which may have pesticides and other chemicals used in growing.

In Fl you don't need to see a doctor "certified to dispense MJ" once a year. It's every three months but can't be the same visit as one covered by insurance. So that's 8 times a year. I would gladly pay a doc once a year. And no, I don't want to be breaking the law or buy from an unknown source. Hopefully things will change with President Biden.

My "dealer" is just someone who has a connection and wants to offset cost his choice of recreation. Not Scarface. And no Judge wants to try an old man with a 50 year history of RLS for buying an ounce of a plant.

"""And no Judge wants to try an old man with a 50 year history of RLS for buying an ounce of a plant."""


I agree with this, I'd certainly be willing to take the risk.