Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

The drugs that made it worse were the parkinson's drugs like Gabapentin, and ledopa. I know for a fact that this made my condition worse because right afer I got off BOTH of them (and tapered off slowly) my sleep was cut in half (2 hours a night) and it's taken a year to try and get it back to where it was prior to taking them (4 hours a night, sometimes more.) I'm not quite where I was prior to taking them because there were foods I could eat last year that I now cannot eat like all excitoxins, and any grain whatsoever. I have taken requip and mirapex so sparingly that I cannot say if it made it worse or not. I do know the affect did not last long. There are some drugs that have not made it worse such as clonazepam, but I adapt quickly to those and would be taking massive doses in a very short time. (BTW, my brother died last year from major cloazapam intake as he was not able to wake up in time to get out of a fire. He had taken the drug for years and had to take more and more and more to get the same affect. He took the med for anxiety.)

Maybe Parkinson's meds are right for some people as this is a weird disease, but I know for a fact that these drugs made my condition worse. Please keep in mind that I'm probably dealing with secondary WED and the meds made the primary condition much worse. BTW, the WED drugs are not the only drugs that made it worse,[/b] also Lamisil and some types of antibiotic made it worse, but I was not on these meds a very short amount of time like a few days to 2 weeks. When I say secondary WED, I've always had WED but I think a primary condition is making this absolutely intolerable. [/b] I know since I've been treated for adrenal exhaustion by a naturalpath, the WED has gotten more tolerable. Keep in mind, that it can take up to a year to heal adrenal fatigue and one of the symptoms are insomnia and restlessness. Also, I was treated for neuropathy in my arms which contributed greatly to the WED acting up.

The Parkinson's drugs are the ones that Views mentioned, that cause augmentation. You both agree: (and we all agree, perhaps): Parkinsons' drugs cause augmentation (make the RLS worse) in many people.

btw gabapentin is an anti-convulsant, not a parkinson's drug.

Beth,
Didn't know about gabapentin being an anti=convulsant.....WOW! Anyway, I am doing better with my sleep. I think some of the meds were okay and helped to a point, but it's those damn parkinson's drugs AND the gabapentin that made it much worse, at least for me. Anyway, looks like getting down to what triggered the WED was adrenal exhaustion, infection, and candida. Working with this alternative doctor who is also working on the WED with doctors who happen to be his clients and he said he is seeing a pattern with the WED That pattern being yeast and candida--the primary issues with ALL of his WED clients, which are not that many. I'm assuming these are all secondary WED clients.

what is candida? how is it dealt with?

Candida is a yeast infection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candida_(fungus)

I have not noticed any correlation between my rare yeast infections and my persistent WED

I need to talk to him more about this because he said it so quickly and there are things I don't understand about it. But according to him (and this is just on my case with WED) the yeast goes way, way back--and started with a digestive issue due to stress. And I have been off sugar, and any thing yeast related (save for yogart) for 5 years. About 25 years ago, I was living on a diet where candida would have THRIVED and I was majorily stressed. I also do not get yeast infections, did back then but not now. But it has something to do with the yeast causing infection and toxins that affected the neurological systems that would affect secondary WED. Somewhere tied into that is the yeast and the damange it did causing the histamine reacions that create sensitivity to foods where the WED acts up.

This all may sound quaky, but this guy is the first one who has helped me get the WED and sleep under control via diet. Last Saturday I got 14 hours of sleep--ON MY OWN!!!! Now, he's trying to work on the food sensitivities so I can eat more than just vegetables and a few meats. A few of his WED clients are doctors themselves who don't know what to do!! So he told me he's seeing this pattern between yeast and candida and maybe infections with WED. I think he's still in the midst of learning all of this himself.

First, I have no doubt that he is helping you, and I appreciate you sharing your experiences. I highly doubt yeast is the cause of most cases of WED, but it may be the cause of yours. Have you had WED since the time of the yeast overload?

It also may be that your body is very sensitive to certain types of foods and eating them throws the delicate balance of hormones out of whack, causing these problems. In any case, if all I had to do is eat veggies and meat to solve my sleep issues, I would do it in a heartbeat! However, hopefully your diet can get a little more varied and still maintain your fantastic sleep!

Found out that I had thrush ie yeast when I was a baby...go figure!

He is seeing a connection (at least with his patients) between yeast and candida AND WED. Also, I don't know when the time of the yeast overload was, according to him I've had it for many, many years, maybe since I was a baby.

hmmm. Candida is the genus name for yeast, so Candida is yeast. Lots of babies get thrush, not all get WED; I wonder why.

I have talked to my doctor about how the gabapentin made the RLS worse after I took it ie the RLS was never where it was before I took it as I used to be able to get at least 4 hours a night no matter what stress I was dealing with and I could eat a variety of foods (unlike now.) He thinks the gabapentin triggered something that caused a chain reaction. Tyring to find the underlying cause of the RLS is very difficult to say the least!!!! Now I am trying to get off a bunch of supplements that a naturpath had me on for RLS. The supplements actually helped the RLS to where I was getting between 6-8 hours a night! Also was doing (and still am) and high vegetable diet. Doc would change the supplements and I would get a major reaction again! So I decided to cut way back on the supplements to a normal level and the RLS and sleep completely tanked. I cut them down at the advice of my doctor and new naturopath as they said the supplements could be masking the symptoms. Worse comes to worse I will go back and build up the supplements that I was on, but we'll see how this goes for a while. Also, clonazepam seems to be okay for my body and the RLS. It's the only drug I feel safe taking, but I can only take it once a month or it loses it's affect.

Peanut, a good list of meds to treat RLS ae on the web site www.rlshelp.org Go to the treatment page, and then see the list of DRugs and Foods to Avoid. That will be ahuge help. I have been taking opiates for over 10 yrs for my RLS without ever upping the dosage, and it taes care of MY RLS 80% of the time. Nothing works all the time, whether it is a diet or a pill. RLS can screw up our circadian rhthym for years and years, and our sleep gets so messed up, it takes a lot of time and work with good sleep hygiene to get it back to normal. I have not achieved that yet. My RLS can be perfectly calm, but I eyes bounce open all the time.

Peanut1

I also feel my RLS has been made worse by the meds...(Ropinirole - generic for Requip). I never used to get RLS EVERY nite...now I do...at exactly the same time. Like my body is demanding the meds. I want to get off them...but psychologically, it's difficult. I feel like I will be up all night and with the meds I can at least get some sleep. The pills are not working for the entire night anymore either. I have taken just one pill for a long time..now I am up to 1 1/2 but I really need two. Just don't want to do that....where does it end. Going out to dinner has come to a halt...it seems when I am somewhere where I have to wait (and of course no wine...that makes it worse) I can feel the RLS coming on. I have had to leave more than one dinner. This is an awful thing and I think I would rather be where I was than to continue on with the meds.

Thanks for all the info.

Restless in Napa

Restless in Napa, if it's worse and you're taking ropinerole, please check out the information about augmentation. It's very likely that is the problem.
See this link - scroll down a few posts: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1897#p13712