Vitamins and Minerals Deficiency

Here you can share your experiences with substances that are ingested, inhaled, or otherwise consumed for the purpose of relieving RLS, other than prescription medications. For example, herbal remedies, nutritional supplements, diet, kratom, and marijuana (for now) should be discussed here. Tell others of successes, failures, side effects, and any known research on these substances. [Posts on these subjects created prior to 2009 are in the Physical Treatments forum.]

Important: Posts and information in this section are based on personal experiences and recommendations; they should not be considered a substitute for the advice of a healthcare provider.
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sarahjj
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:58 pm

Vitamins and Minerals Deficiency

Post by sarahjj »

Hi! I'm Sarah and new to this forum. I must say how happy I was to find others in the same situation as myself. No one around me understands RLS. They all say, Oh yes, my legs get twitchy sometimes too! They have no clue! And I have yet to find a doctor who gets it either. So I'm on my own over here, it feels like.

Anyway, for years, I've had my blood checked for iron deficiencies that could effect RLS. The dr has always said my iron levels were fine. Being someone who has never taken vitamins before, I never took it upon myself to start my own iron regimen. For the past year, I have been on Requip (1.5 now) and absolutely cannot sleep without it. But I can only take it at night because of how drowsy it makes me. Which leaves me with nothing during the day. I do a tremendous amount of driving, so daytime is horrible with my RLS. It was becoming so bad that I was feeling unsafe driving.

Well, one day I just got a wild hair to get on a vitamin and mineral program to see if it makes any difference at all. I went and bought Iron, Magnesium, Folate, Vitamin D and some others. THAT DAY I noticed a huge difference. So I doubled my dose and took half in the morning and half around 4pm. The difference is amazing. I still have daytime RLS but not anywhere near as bad. I can drive without much issue at all. Of course, I still must take Requip at night to sleep.

So my thought is: Could my body just require more iron than other people? I'm not anemic nor do I have any problems along those lines. I don't understand why this works for me and I certainly hope it continues to work. And hopefully it will work for others like me.

I'm sure this has been kicked around these boards alot. But I just wanted to put in my two cents. Thanks for reading.

Sarah :D
~Sarah~

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woodsie357
Posts: 147
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:54 am

Post by woodsie357 »

My experience with this is that most Family Doctors check to see if your anemic. If your not anemic they assume your iron levels are fine. In RLS however there is a difference between being anemic and having low blood serum iron. I was not anemic, and all through my last pregnancy the Dr kept telling me my iron was fine.

It wasn't until about a year later that my primary care doctor called a podiatrist. Thank goodness she did. She then checked my serum levels and they were below the RLS recommended levels of 50 and above.. So I've been on Iron for a year and a halfish. I still have RLS 24/7 and need other management for it. I'm now established with a Dr at Johns Hopkins that does IV iron. I've still not done my lab work, I seem to run on RLS standard time. Takes me an additional 2 weeks to get anything done.

Good luck to you. I'm glad you've had some improvements and thank you for sharing the different vitamins you're taking.
Last edited by woodsie357 on Sun Feb 15, 2009 10:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Sojourner
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Post by Sojourner »

s, Welcome to the Board. I'm happy that you have found a regimen that make you so much more comfortable and hope it continues well into the future and beyond. Best wishes. M.
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SquirmingSusan
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Post by SquirmingSusan »

Hi Sarah. Welcome to the forum. Iron, specifically ferritin which is the iron stored in the body, is a huge deal to those of us with RLS. Many people with RLS are helped greatly by bringing the ferritin levels up above 50. But you need to ask specifically for that blood test. If it's low, iron supplements are usually the first choice for bringing up the blood levels. But for a lot of us gals, the iron doesn't always stay put. Also, if you're taking proton pump inhibitors (ppi's - reflux meds) it's difficult to absorb it.

It's great that you notice a difference when taking oral iron supplements. I'm one that doesn't absorb it well, so I have to beg my doctors for iron infusions. :roll: My efforts have paid off, though, and I'm getting one on Monday.

It's great that you took matters into your own hands, and it sounds like you did a bit of research into supplements that can help with RLS.
Susan

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