Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

My info was from my dr.so I have no idea about the studies etc. I'm glad you know these things, Ann

Well it is really incredible how Escitalopram is improving my mood. I can't believe it and all my anxiety is gone too!

After all the failrues in the past this seems like a miracle to me!

I also have a much better body feeling but the RLS-pain is still there. I need as much opioids as I needed before. Of course Escitalopram isn't meant for treating pain or any other RLS symptoms.

My message would be: if you have a depression it makes sense to consider SSRi, too.

I have suffered so many years and was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia and Depression and nothing ever really worked.

Now I tried my first SSRi and I had some effects on the 3rd day and it became obvious that is working yesterday.

I will report how Escitalopram is influencing my sleep.

My day/night-rhythm is totally out of sync and I slept until 1:30 p.m. in the past days. I also took a Benzo in the past two days and looks like I am gonna do it again today because tomorrow I want to get up early and get something done.

I hope that I will be able to sleep without Benzos in the next days. At the beginning Escitalopram had a calming effect. I fall asleep 90 minutes after I took it. Now I take it after I woke up and hope to find a better sleep after the depression is gone now.

This going to very interesting now.

Maybe some of our sleep problems are also related to mood/anxiety disorders and not only RLS?

I don't doubt that at all, QyX. If you think about it, it makes sense that we'd have multiple issues related to chemical imbalances. If one thing is out of whack, something else is likely to be, too. My mom, my grandmother, my uncle and my sister - all with WED - all have suffered from depression, some more than others. I have, too, but I've usually thought it was more related to the drugs I've taken or things like lack of vitamin D. But, today, after your earlier post, I was thinking about it. It's very likely that there is at least some effect on all of us.

I feel that considering the amount of medications that most of us are taking - to try to be able to do the normal action of being able to be seated quietly and to be able to go to bed and sleep - our chemical imbalances must be all over the place.

Gee QyX you sound like a different person. This will be a wonderful thing to have in your memory if ever again you feel hopeless!

My son is 23 and has RLS/WED (not treated). He also has problems with depression and anxiety, which seem to have gotten worse the last few years. -- My mother has clearly been depressed for decades (but somehow got it into her head, long ago, that such problems were moral not medical, and refuses to ask a doctor about it). (She does not admit to having RLS/WED.) -- I have been told I am depressed, but it seems to come and go.

This association with depression is very real. When I first read about it, I thought the authors were all missing the obvious, that the RLS disease and lack of sleep cause depression. But they hadn't - I soon learned that many people were depressed &/or anxious long before they developed the symptoms of WED. The root causes of all three disorders must involve overlapping physiological systems.

But how wonderful that your world is turning around. What uplifting news!

Great timing--I was going to start a thread tonight about depression and WED. I am of the opinion that we may have a pre-disposition (right word?) toward depression because of the low dopamine thing????? I was thinking about it today--wondering if it is likely the case.
I know all the difficulties with sleep and meds fluctuating mixed with social stresses has got to depress us more than the normal population (although I think we handle stresses far more than others soon a scale of tough guys/girls we win-----lol), but how much is what and is there something we can do to help?

A little medication keeps my anxiety issues under control and I am very grateful for that.
I did not feel depressed but 3 weeks on an AD showed me differently.
Like most folks I considered any depression or anxiety to be the result of WED symptoms and lack of sleep whih probably does have a contributing factor.
And it is possibly just likely that the Depression, Anxiety and WED are borne from the same source.l

I have fought depression all of my life, but I did not connect that WED/PLMD was the cause. I also took antidepressants a few times over the years. I did not know at the time that they made WED worse until the last time that I took one. That was when my WED/PLMD was really bad due to augmentation. I finally looked up my meds and that's when I discovered the connection. I had not found this site at that time.
rthom, you are right about us handling stress better than most. I think we are survivors.