RLS caused by bacteria in the GUT??

[bharrod]

This is HUGE news for me. As I was diagnosed with IBS when I was 18 years old. I totally believe that RLS is a gut issue, that may explain why I never had RLS when I was on antibiotics!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21570907

[ViewsAskew]

That was a very interesting study, wasn't it?

It doesn't apply to all of us, but certainly to the non-genetic RLS/WED patients. And, I imagine that it could make the genetic WED patients worse.

But, still a hypothesis...

Will be interesting to see what they learn from the next set of studies.

[rthom]

does most antibiotics help if this is the case? Anyone heard anything else or tried it?

[ViewsAskew]

Randy, it's just a hypothesis, unfortunately, so nothing yet to try...yet.

There is another study related to this....it's here somewhere. Could probably search on IBS and find it.

[rthom]

I was curious because i end up on antibiotics for other things, frequently enough and the next to time (which may be in a matter of days) I was going to ask my gp if the ones others tried may be appropriate. I'll try to remember this thread and report if i notice any changes on my own. Never know it may help some and i'm science minded--want to test everything and know why things do what they do. Thanks I'll look up IBM.

[badnights]

I was on antibiotics twice last year for pneumonia and there was a very clear and related worseing of my RLS symptoms when I took them. The second time, I delayed as long as I could, hoping to cure the pneumonia on my own, and when I went it, I asked for a different antibiotic than I had last time; but to no avail, the RLS got worse again. It was touch -and-go whether I could get enough sleep to heal while taking them.

[rthom]

Mine is also for pneumonia (have bronchiechisis==minus 1 lung) shy away from the antibiotics and never knew why other than just assuming it was due to my dislike of any meds. Maybe it was worse because of the meds and not the sickness itself. Will see, glad to hear your response--hate that it's so hard for you. I lost 40 lbs 1 week on one antibiotic--(I loose my appetite when i'm severely overtired).

[badnights]

In that study, 32 RLS patients were examined for bowel disease. Not a huge sample size, but decent. Of those, 28% were found to have IBS and 69% SIBO (both are bowel disorders). So a disporportiaonate number of those RLS patients - about half - had a bowel disorder. But don't forget that the rest - also about half - had no bowel disorder.

The authors conclude by saying they don't know if RLS patients are more likely to develop bowel disorders, or if patients with bowel disorders are more likely to develop RLS, either by auto-immune methods or by inflammation leading to lower iron in the central nervous system.

The same lead author wrote a note to Sleep Medicaine in 2010 discussing the effect of Rifaximin on RLS in patients with SIBO. They conclude that the particular antibiotic used, improved the bowel disorder (SIBO), which improved iron absorption, which improved RLS. It's not the same as saying antibiotics improve RLS.

This stuff is all fascinating.

[rthom]

interesting though eh?

[bharrod]

I think it' s something to look into, right now I am researching the possiblities of SIBO being related to causing RLS

[Wayne]

I was on antibiotics a few months back for a tooth infection. No effect on the RLS.