Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

I stumbled over an article regarding melatonin and WED (http://naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2011-08/restless-leg-syndrome-and-melatonin, dealing with a study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20226733). I think overall there are conflicting reports about the association between Melatonin and WED: Some people claim that Melatonin helps their WED, some studies find no effect. I also don't know what the long-term effects of Melatonin are.

I started taking Melatonin a few weeks ago. I experienced no immediate effect. It did make me sleepy, but I didn't have bad cases of insomnia recently so I used it only occasionally. I guess I should attempt a regular Melatonin supplement for some time, just to see if it does something for me.
(1) How long should I take the Melatonin to judge if I see an effect? If I don't see improvement after a few weeks, does it make sense to continue the experiment? (It seems to have few side effects, so it is probably safe to add Melatonin for some time.)
(2) For WED treatment, does it make a difference if I use prolonged release Melatonin (which seems to be a bit harder to obtain in the EU) or normal Melatonin?
(3) I wonder why strengthening the circadian rhythm (which is one of the effects that Melatonin has) should be helpful for WED sufferers. I always wondered if it would be beneficial for my WED to avoid a strong circadian rhythm - even though it may be harmful to my sleep in other respects...

Regards, F.

I don't know a lot. What I remember from reading about it long ago was that it's only helpful to those who have a deficit and that you'd know right away if you took it if you had a deficit. It just wouldn't work otherwise.

But, that theory applies to non-WED folks.

Did you look at any research?

This was a very helpful one, I thought. http://naturalmedicinejournal.com/journ ... -melatonin

I've taken melatonin for years, both regular and prolonged release. I take 5mg per night. It does help make me sleepy, but it does nothing for my RLS.

I think melatonin is only expected to help with sleep pattern and not WED/RLS.
Unfortunately it didn't help my sleep pattern in any way.
Doctor told me it could only be taken for 13 weeks max.