I have reduced my symptoms by 90% and couldn't be happier!

[lssssss333333]

I am new to becoming a member to this site and I wanted to share some of the things I have done to get to this point. First of all I have suffered with RLS for many years and am now 64. On Sept 4th of this year I stayed overnight at a friend's house. We ended up talking past midnight and I usually go to bed around 10. That night I was up walking the floors for apx 9 hours. This didnt happen often but I remember saying to my friend that this stupid rls was not going to win and I meant it!

Now to the part that you're waiting to hear. I hit it with everything I researched after I knew the facts about augmentation. It scared me a lot because I am on Sertraline 200mg daily and Requip 4+ mg a night. My doctor warned me about the Sertraline possibly make my RLS worse but never talked about the Requip increase of the years. If fact about a year ago she ok'd me taking another quarter to half a tab If needed. (?)
This is what I have changed just recently.25%less Sertraline and no extra dose of Requip ever. I still take the dose I had worked up to taking and hope to Slowly reduce it but am nervous since I heard it can be a nightmare for some.
I had my iron levels done more completely than in the past and was told that they were in the normal range but I started taking a Blood Builder Iron that comes from beets,oranges and broccoli daily. I read Magnesium Citrate helped some so I take 400mg daily. I am one two probiotics,one for gut health because I am on a lot of Nexium and formant years so I cut that back 33%.
My doctor wanted me on Calcium but I read that it can cause problems for RLS so I haven't been taking it. I will be filling her in on all this on my next visit right after I tell her that my rls symptoms have improved to practically 0.

I also bought an inexpensive roller ball massager that straps in my hand and I put lotion on my legs and spend a few minutes using it before bed.
I bought the compression leg wraps for apx. 50 bucks and we're them for 20min. 2or 3 times while watching TV since I read about a study where they had people wear them for up to an hour a day. I also remember when I was in the hospital for 2 weeks that they use them on me and I didn't have any RLS before taking my med at night I don't exercise at all but in the beginning of my new treatment I sometimes soaked in a hot bath for apx 10minutes or so.

I have also noticed that it is best to catch the symptoms in the very early stages
Example: If I am in bed am feel the least tingling I will set on the edge and read a book for awhile and try again . That has not been a problem at all lately thank goodness.

I also started taking Hyland's Restful Legs. An OTC homeopathic pill that you put under your tongue but haven't needed that anymore. I cut out all caffeine and just drink decaf tea and coffee. I used to sneak it in during the day when I didn't have any symptoms but now I realize that that caused them later on.

I have started the lazy Keto diet and wasn't thinking that that has made a difference but I did see on this blog thata gentleman was saying how he had cut out certain foods and it helped him a lot. Mine is basically very low carbs and more healthy fats and veggies. I have lost 12 lbs in about a month so far on it.

That's all I can think of for now. I just want to say that this is just what has worked fore and maybe some of this could work for you. Stay consistent and hit with everything you've got. That's what worked for me for weeks now.

[ViewsAskew]

Welcome. I am currently change medications and not function al enough to comment; I just wanted to say hello and welcome you.

[badnights]

Hey lssssss333333! You've tried so many different things it must be hard to know which ones are helping:

- reduction in Sertraline (probably does help)

- Blood Builder Iron (my suggestion is to change to heme (meat-derived) iron, which is absorbed much better)

- 400 mg Mg citrate (some people do think this helps, but others are confused between leg cramps and WED/RLS)

- avoiding Ca supplements (good; might not hurt WED/RLS but there seems to be evidence that it can be harmful)

- reduction in probiotics (I wouldn;t think a reduction would help; I would think an increase might help. But no one knows.)

- compression leg wraps - I think you mean the pneumatic device, not just compression stockings? If so, good! There are some small studies showing they help. I have some too. I put mine on in the middle of the night if I feel mild symptoms, and leave them on the rest of the night. The batteries lasted 10 hr when they were new, but now only about 6 hours. They're wonderful but not always good enough. And they're noisy and mine have the brightest blue LEDs I ever saw - I had to cover them with black electrical tape.

- the massage ball in a roller, for a few minutes before bed (there is some evidence that low oxygen in the leg muscles might be involved; I use a massage bar on my ankles and calves - where my symptoms are worst - before bed, and I swear it helps)

- sometimes, 10 minute sock in a hot bath (Yup, that's a good one for me too, for mild symptoms)

- The homeopathic product (you can stop taking this and nothing will change. There is nothing in it but your belief in it).

- avoid caffeine (ah so hard to do but I think we need to. I now drink cocoa made from raw plain cocoa powder, about 1/8 cup or more in boiling water, nothing else, and it's almost as good as coffee. I think the caffeine-like compounds in cocoa are not as bad as the caffeine in coffee).

- lazy Keto diet (good for you! I went on a real Keto diet and became ketogenic but was so low on energy, I added some carbs back in - - and over time it has become quite a bit more carbs. Nevertheless, I avoid all processed foods, eat lots of veg, etc., and it has allowed me to lower medication. Keep up with this and go real keto if you can!)

I am impressed at your dedication and pushing so many of the right buttons here. I hope you're still doing as well! But you may have to get off that ropinirole some day. Meantime I would recommend periodic blood tests for iron status including ferritin, and adding in some heme iron.

[Stainless]

Glad you are doing so well. We are the same age and I have had RLS since I was a kid. It went from a major annoyance (my whole life) to a painful daily ritual when I got off 2 mg Clonazepam and tried everything else ending up on Requip. It worked like a miracle until in a few when weeks it didn’t. My doctor increased the dose finally ended up on 4 mg extended release. Finally after a year I was back were I started. I often wonder if the change did permanent damage.

The reason I post this is that 4 mg of Requip is much higher than accepted levels and can lead to augmentation. Of course if this works for you that’s wonderful. Clonazepam is no longer a accepted course of action, but it is all that works for me.

[Frunobulax]

- 400 mg Mg citrate (some people do think this helps, but others are confused between leg cramps and WED/RLS)

- avoiding Ca supplements (good; might not hurt WED/RLS but there seems to be evidence that it can be harmful)

Magnesium binds oxalates and therefore could be efficient for some RLS sufferers.

I'm a bit surprised about that calcium statement. Could you elaborate? To my knowledge there is much confusion with calcium -- for example people are told to avoid calcium if they have kidney stones, however intervention studies show that reducing calcium does not prevent them at all... Almost the same with calcium deposits in heart arteries (CAC score), I don't think there is any evidence that avoiding calcium helps. (Is there any intervention study showing a benefit of avoiding calcium?)

(Note that for a very similar reason people are told to avoid iron, because high ferritin correlates with lower life expectancy in observational studies. I remember searching for ANY study that would correlate iron intake with mortality, and couldn't find anything. In fact it seems that increasing iron helps in some settings, not just RLS... Which is not surprising because many chronic diseases lead to inflammation and increase ferritin stores. So causality is the other way around, if you're sick then you tend to have higher ferritin than healthy people. Unless you're iron deficient of course. So avoiding iron is not a good idea, in my personal opinion -- certainly not if you're deficient, and probably not if you have high ferritin. And the lesson in there is that we absolutely need intervention studies for these things, not observational studies.)