Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

I've found that using tonic water right before going to bed or if i have forgotten to take some - that during an episode of rls; that i just head to the fridge and take a big mouthful of tonic water with quinine in it, helps me a ton and within several minutes of taking some that my legs start to settle down and then I start to fall asleep. Don't know if this will help anyone else but since I have been using tonic water for more then 4 years now i know for a fact that in my life it has made a big difference and works for myself. At the very least you can buy a bottle and keep it in the fridge and give it a shot and you will spend less then $2.00 and tonic water lasts along time after opening.
Hope this helps some people out and goodluck
ps. please excuse grammer and spelling

Forgot to write in last post also if anyone trys using tonic water please write back in with your results if you guys don't mind.
thanks and goodluck

Hammie, thanks for the reminder that this works for some. People remind us about it every once in awhile. I wish it worked for more of us, but it seems to work for a small select group. If you search on it, you'll see several posts of the years of people it's worked for.

My rls got 10 times worse when I quit drinking. My drink of choice was gin and tonic. I thought it was the alcohol helping, but maybe it was the tonic.

I think there are more than a few of us that have "covered" our RLS symptoms with alcohol over the years. Sometimes however this can backfire and make RLS worse. Tonic minus the gin might be worth a try, I wish you luck!

what is quinine and is it in all tonic water? i will definatly try this soon. but i want to know what to buy. (not much money)

Yes quinine is in tonic water and it is known to help with muscle cramps, not so much with Restless Legs unless leg cramps are part of your RLS symptoms. I know that my legs are campy sometimes on top of the RLS.

Tonic water is relatively cheap to try and you should be able to find it in the soft drinks section of your grocery store in the section were they have other "mixers". If you add a lime wedge it's almost like having a mixed drink

unfortunatly i dont have cramps. just the "if i dont move my legs soon im going to explode" type of feeling. like billions of minute microscopic muscle spasms a second. im sure you know what i mean.

I'm new to RLS- just met with my Dr. last week. He put me on Requip which seems to keeps my legs still at night, but my arm and leg cramps are so bad Im still not sleeping. He now wants me to try drinking 2 glasses of the Quinine water and go from there. Where did you find it at? Did it offer instant relief? Im ready to try ANYTHING!!!

You can buy tonic water in grocery stores. It's usually with the other soft drinks. Best wishes with it.

My doctor suggested two 8 oz. glasses of tonic water - one right after dinner and one before going to bed. He said the amount of quinine in a glass is about 75% of the amount in quinine tablets. Since quinine tablets are quite expensive (I believe he said $100 a month or more) this is a good cheap way to go.

It does help me a lot - and in the afternoon if I'm having a problem I drink a glass and it stops the symptoms. I usually have a glass with a piece of fresh lime, or lately I've been mixing it with cranberry juice. Quite tastey! Also, doc said diet tonic works just as well as regular and it has for me.

It is worth a try if you haven't yet.

This info can be found on www.rlshelp.org under meds used to treat rls.

(8) Quinine
This drug rarely (less than 5%) helps RLS and is only included on this page to help avoid RLS sufferers from receiving this drug for their disorder. It is probably one of the most common drugs prescribed by doctors unfamiliar with RLS when they hear the RLS complaints of their patients. This inappropriate treatment occurs because the RLS symptoms are confused with leg cramps for which quinine is the correct treatment.

We have received several reports from RLS sufferers that quinine has helped them, but we cannot be sure whether they have RLS and leg cramps, or in fact only leg cramps. I have treated several patients who definitely had RLS and found that quinine helped (sometimes very significantly) their RLS, but this is still a very small minority of RLS sufferers. As with many of the treatments above, some remedies seem to help only a few RLS patients and therefore cannot be recommended to the majority.

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its certainly worth trying, and its not expensive, but just be prepared that it normally does not help rls, but as we all know everyone is different.
There is alot of great info on the www.rlshelp.org web site that will be of great help to anyone with rls, there is a very long list of meds used to treat rls and a long list of med NOT to take if you have rls. I would print these off and keep with me at all times. I would discuss the meds that help with my Dr and I would keep the list of drugs NOT to use, so you can always ck any med that a Dr gives you, there is nothing worse than being given a med by a Dr to only have it increase your rls.

Also you need to know All the over the counter meds that will make your rls worse such as cold meds, sleep aids such as things like Tylenol PM or any of the PM meds. Those usually will set off rls really bad.
Read all you can and educate yourself as you will probably find that most drs know very little about rls!