Question for tonic water users

[ccm]

Hi,
I am new to this forum and would appreciate input from those who use tonic water for rls relief. I am 65 year old (male) and have had rls on and off for 15 years. Went through all of the popular drugs for rls. Was not able to stay on any of them long enough to tell if they worked or not. Had SEVERE side effects will all of them. So bad, I would rather have the rls.

A physician (a GI specialist none the less) recommended tonic water. Tried it and it works great. My concern is I take it every night to prevent the rls and I am concerned that the helpfulness may weaken over time. I take about 8 oz per night. Has anyone found this to be true? Has anyone been taking tonic water for long periods of time, with success?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Neco]

A year or two ago, I interviewed an Internet Radio DJ for an article in my magazine, and he said he also has RLS, and he says a few swishes of tonic water seems to help him just fine.

However when it comes to RLS & Tonic Water I am very conflicted. I have heard statements on numerous occasions that suggest Tonic Water will not help RLS, because what people actually have is Nocturnal Leg Cramps that are being misdiagnosed as RLS. (Some of the symptoms do overlap)

Tonic Water contains Quinine, a malaria drug that is also useful in relieving painful leg cramps. It is very hard to get quinine by prescription, as it is very tightly controlled, so Tonic Water will be your best source.

If you find it is working for you, then that is great! I'm not here to tell you whether you have RLS or not. But if it is truly working for you, just take it for as long as it works.

I personally tried Tonic Water and never saw any benefit. But everyone is different

[Polar Bear]

I tried tonic water without success.
However if 8 ozs tonic water worked for me I would have no hesitation whatsoever in taking it. Good luck.

[ritomko]

Hi,
I am new to this forum and would appreciate input from those who use tonic water for rls relief. I am 65 year old (male) and have had rls on and off for 15 years. Went through all of the popular drugs for rls. Was not able to stay on any of them long enough to tell if they worked or not. Had SEVERE side effects will all of them. So bad, I would rather have the rls.

A physician (a GI specialist none the less) recommended tonic water. Tried it and it works great. My concern is I take it every night to prevent the rls and I am concerned that the helpfulness may weaken over time. I take about 8 oz per night. Has anyone found this to be true? Has anyone been taking tonic water for long periods of time, with success?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I drink tonic every night because I like it. Still have RLS

[badnights]

Misdiagnoses are very common. Few doctors bother to look up the diagnostic criteria for RLS. I had a sleep specialist tell me there were 3 forms of RLS: the creepy-crawlies (correct), cramps (incorrect), and habitual leg-shaking which he demonstrated (sitting, foot on floor, heel rapidly up and down; also incorrect). He kept me talking for an hour and a half, mostly about RLS even though I was sent to him for asthma (he's a locum who was in town for 2 weeks - we get a lot of those), and at the end he said he had learned a lot about RLS from me. I wasn't trying to teach him, we were just having a conversation, but I couldn't help it when he said about the foot-tapping habit - I immediately said 'Oh that's not RLS!' For the cramps before that, I was more polite, becuase cramps can be associated with RLS (although they are not part of it).

If you read any of the papers that summarize how to diagnose RLS, they always discuss nocturnal leg cramps as a differential diagnosis. So I suspect the mis-diagnosis is very common. As I said, I think most physicians don't bother to go through the 4 diagnostic criteria, let alone a whole differential diagnosis - and many don't even know what the criteria are. They don't get taught this stuff in school, they get little to no information on sleep disorders, so it's only what they pick up in practice that they know, and that varies according to what patients they've seen and how willing they are to keep learning.