@NickNack wrote:
@Mindy D wrote:
@NickNack wrote:
I've had Restless Leg Syndrome for several years but didn't know what it was. I thought you had to kick your legs for it to be RLS. After having to get up every night and walk around for relief and then still having the symptoms when I got back in bed, I finally Googled my symptoms (tingling and crawling feeling behind my knees). I got many different articles about RLS.
I saw my doctor about it this morning, and she prescribed Requip. She knew a lot about it, and I have high hopes that this will help. She started me out on a very low dose, and told me to keep increasing the dose every few days until I reached the dose that would help (up to 6-8 mg.).
Does anyone else have RLS? Have you found relief for it? The doctor told me there really wasn't a natural remedy that had been found to help.
This is one of the meds that is known to increase urges such as gambling and the big S. I’m just letting you know in case you see any new impulsive behaviors in yourself. This med should also be tapered to go off it. Avoid abrupt cessation and see your doctor before stopping. With this med it can take awhile before you reach an effective dose and it starts to work.
Thank you for telling me this @Mindy D . I'll watch for symptoms. My doctor told me it was generally well tolerated. She did say to take it at night, that it made you sleepy. I'll be careful and call her if I'm having side effects. I hadn't read those two, but just now looked it up again and see that it does say that.
FYI. Cochrane, which is the most highly regarded group of scientists and doctors that publish reviews of the research literature has searched all the studies of iron in regards to RLS and reviewed the most appropriate studies. Their conclusion about this is:
“Overall, the studies showed that ✅iron is better than a placebo for reducing the severity of restless legs syndrome symptoms, although the benefit was low to moderate. This is mostly based on studies using injections of iron, rather than iron pills. Iron was helpful even if blood iron levels were normal at the start of the study. The quality of the evidence was moderate, because not all completed studies have been published, not all important outcomes have been measured, and not enough people have been studied. Side effects were not more common with iron than with placebo. Based on one study, side effects were less common with iron than with another commonly used restless legs syndrome treatment, although the certainty in this result is very low. More studies are needed to allow people with RLS and doctors to make decisions about who should take iron for restless legs syndrome treatment, using what type of iron, and for how long. The evidence is current to September 2017.”
Quoted From https://www.cochrane.org/CD007834/MOVEMENT_iron-treatment-restless-legs-syndrome
According to MEDSCAPE all RLS patients should be tested for iron deficiency. Medscape is a site for doctors which provides them with the most up-to-date treatments for medical conditions. It helps doctors keep up with diagnosing and properly treating their patients. Here’s what their site tells physicians. Their information is based on the most recent research based medical advice.
“All patients with symptoms of restless legs syndrome (RLS) should be tested for iron deficiency. [3, 4] At a minimum, a ferritin level should be obtained. A complete iron panel, including iron levels, ferritin, transferrin saturation, and total iron binding capacity, is preferable because the ferritin level can be falsely elevated in acute inflammatory states.” Quoted from
https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1188327-workup
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