Restless Legs Syndrome

[beebuleh]

I’m a female senior citizen I’ve had RLS/PLMD since I was a teenager. My mother also had it. Also some of my siblings, and some of my adult children. I found something that works for me and is natural. Not a prescription drug. It’s called colloidal gold. I think it’s possible to order it from health food stores, but they’re usually expensive. I have the best luck ordering online. It comes in solutions as low as 10 ppm (parts per million), and as high as 1-200 ppm’s, which I prefer. It’s an anti-inflammatory and really knocks out pain, and in my case also the RLS. I take one tsp in the morning and another tsp at noon. A tablespoon or more at bedtime. You have to experiment with the dosage. That’s all you need to know about this message. You don’t have to read any farther but if you want to know how I arrived at this, read on.

Some background:
When I was a child, nobody had ever heard of Restless Leg Syndrome. My mother (who would be well over a hundred years old if she were alive) always complained about how she was exhausted because her legs “jumped all night”. I couldn’t figure out what that meant until it started happening to me. I didn’t know it was a real malady. I thought it was just a family quirk. We called it “jumping legs”.

Anybody who has lived with RLS/PLMD for any length of time, will realize that there are definite triggers that set it off. Acidy foods like coffee, milk, lemons, oranges and berries are culprits. A tiny wedge of lemon squeezed into my tea, or even a glass of 7-Up, will keep my legs going crazy for hours. The second trigger is “body functions”. Even before I feel the need to use the bathroom, my legs will start ‘jumping’, and will not calm down until after I go to the bathroom. There are a lot more triggers that I haven’t isolated, because frequently my legs will act up despite my best efforts.

Years ago one of the aspirin companies used to advertise “for simple nervous tension take three aspirins” Since I thought my jumping legs was a nervous condition, I started taking three aspirins every night at bedtime. I worked enough to let me fall asleep. Sometimes I had to take three more in the middle of the night. I did that for many years. That was the only time I took aspirin, so apparently it didn’t cause any harm.

Several years ago I had a sleep test and was diagnosed with “moderate” PLMD. That means I’m not bothered by it much during the day unless I eat one of the trigger foods. It ALWAYS bothered me at night, regardless of what I did or ate. That was followed by prescriptions for Synamet, Parlodel, Neurontin and finally Requip. The Synamet wore off too soon and caused deep depression Plus it had a violent rebound affect when it wore off. The Parlodel didn’t have any obvious side affects, except the rebound affect when it wore off. I took it for about eight or nine years, during which time my hair went from luxuriously thick, to so thin you could see my scalp through it. I chalked the hair loss up to aging until I was taken off the Synamet. About three months later I noticed my hair getting thicker again. It’s not as thick as it once was, but it at least looks normal now. The Neurontin wore off too quickly, and had the rebound affect. Requip was the worst of all. On a fairly small dosage, I got hard charlie horses in my calves and thighs, I fell asleep every time I sat down, and finally I got violent dizzy spells. It felt like my bed was rocking back and forth and trying to throw me out. That was when I decided to quit the prescription drugs. BTW, once the drugs were out of my system my symptoms were much less severe, due to the fact I wasn’t “rebounding” any more.

I started reading up on RLS/PLMD. I discovered that magnesium and potassium at bedtime helped, but the affect didn’t last long enough. Plus, you can’t take too much magnesium for obvious reasons (diarrhea). Along about that time I was also looking for something to relieve my sciatica. That was when I read about the colloidal gold. It helped my sciatica in one day, and took the pain out of my daughter’s Achilles tendon and lower back. After a couple of weeks I noticed that I was sleeping better. I skipped my nightly magnesium and potassium and still slept through the night (except for bathroom trips).

I haven’t heard of anybody else using colloidal gold for RLS/PLMD, but it sure works for me. The best part is NO side affects. To sum it all up, the two natural treatments that worked for me were the colloidal gold and the magnesium/potassium combination. Of the two the colloidal gold is best because it works longer and doesn’t cause diarrhea. It might take a while to get the full affect, so don't be too quick to discontinue it.

Any feedback?

[JaniceL]

Thank you for your posting. I would like to offer the solution I found. After an especially bad night, I prayed for help and got an impression to wrap my legs in a heating pad. Of course, there aren't heating pads large enough to wrap two legs in, but I owned an electric throw blanket and wrapped my legs in it and turned on to "High." I fell asleep in no time. I still use the same electric throw blanket. I seem to have the most problem when I'm under stress. I'm in my sixties and have had RLS since childhood. My older brother used to call it "The Movement."

Sometimes, when I'm just tossing and turning and my legs aren't especially uncomfortable, I've learned to generate heat on my legs anyway and it still puts me to sleep so I've guessed that the RLS starts out imperceptably and builds. Who knows. I just know that this is the "cure" that works for me. Thought I would share it.

[c.wassall]

There are so many conflicting remedies on here that I will have to sift through and try. Is it a hereditary condition? Me and my dad have both suffered with the condition. We have both suffered with depression mine was more short term than his. However, the movement and feeling in the leg and ankle was very difficult to describe and I haven't been to see my GP yet as I couldn't find the right way to describe the condition. The only person who seemed to understand was my dad. I called the creeps due to the sensations I was feeling. I had it about a year ago when pregnant but since giving birth it disappeared. The only way I could get rid of the feeling in my ankles was to run them under the cold tap for a while. I also found that the hot weather would make it worse. Also my dad suffers from arthritis and back problems so is already taking a number of different anti-inflamatries and pain killers and this seems to make no difference to the problem.

Now I'm pregnant again the condition has come back and this time has begun earlier in the pregnancy and seems to be worse as it is now affecting my knee and causing involuntary kicking when trying to sleep. I have thought that the time of year may have something to do with it as well. I was heavily pregnant last time when the symptoms started and found that the hot weather made it worse, hence why I started using cold water to help allieviate the problem. Being pregnant a second time, the summer has come round earlier in the pregnancy and so too has the symptoms which are progressively worse than last time. I'm wondering if hormones have anything to do with it. Me and my dad have always assumed that his was down to the amount and concoction of medication that he was on as to why this happened until I got the same thing.

If anyone has any answers it would be nice. Hot/cold? Lemon in water or not? Hormones? Anti-inflamatries? Other circulatory problems? Iron deficiency?

[beebuleh]

Yes, it is hereditary. Several members of my family are afflicted. Apparently nobody has figured out what causes it. Watch the acid foods and drinks. They drive me crazy. A little lemon in my tea used to keep my legs going for hours. Same with a bottle of 7-Up. Raspberries, too. The prescription medications help, but I had trouble with all the side affects. I'm not a doctor and you are pregnant, so I really can't advise you what to take for it. I just know what works for me.

Good luck. It seems to be adult onset, so hopefully your children will be spared until they grow up. Maybe by that time more will be known about RLS and there will be more affective methods of dealing with it.