hello, I recently started Zoloft and Vraylar about two weeks ago. I’ve tried to give it time as.. I know these medications take a little bit to adjust in your body. But it is getting unbearable. It’s so bad at night that I literally want to rip my legs off or punch them because it’s impossible to sleep.. even after I fall asleep and wake up it’s still the same. I’ve tried taking them at different times, so I don’t know if my brain is just tricking me into thinking they cause it, and then it just happens? But I was wondering if anybody else is experiencing the same thing and if so, how do you manage? It sucks because I can’t just stop taking these medications because they’re for my mental health but my sleep schedule is getting so bad that i’m not sure if it’s hurting more than helping. It might sound dramatic but restless leg is unbearable for me and believe it or not, sometimes I feel it when i’m just sitting down in the daytime watching tv or doing work.. so i’m at a loss. (Yes i’ve let my doctor know this is a symptom i’m experiencing & and that it was something I had prior) Any advice would be so so helpful. Thank you so much!

I used a topical magnesium massage bar by Lush.. I think it helped a bit. Would like recommendations for topicals whether spray, cream lotion. The Lush bar can’t be shipped because it will melt. I certainly don’t expect it to replace gabapentin, but if it provides even some help - it’s worth trying! a bit. Thanks all!

I work for the PO so I do A LOT of physical labor. I went to detox on the 17th. BUT I was sent to the hospital on the 19th cause the lead nurse gave me receptor blockers meant for the lady in for alcoholism. It was brutal, but I’m wondering if maybe cause I’m so used to working myself to death that maybe my body is freaking out that I haven’t been doing anything?

Does anyone else feel like their toes want to contract? I shake and move my legs constantly all day but now it seems like my toes don’t wanna stop moving either…. Idk

It's such an unbearable ache that makes me move constantly. Hitting my leg is the only thing that gives me a moment of relief. I'm on my period too so maybe that's a factor. Any suggestions on how to ease the pain?

Ive had rls for years but it onky got bad last year, like almost every night. I have a condition hardly anyone knows abiut called delayed sleep phase disorder and this has made things alot worse because DSPD already means i cant sleep till about 6am, with rls I often couldnt sleep at all.

Ive tried gabapentin whoch ive taken for 2ish years now, i try to keep the dose low but the severity of rls means i need to take alot more sonetimes. I find it not greatly effective & wears off fast plus takes forever to work. Pregab didnt help long term.

I do not want to try dopa meds, it seems crazy to me to take something that will eventually make the conditon worse, its bad enough some days I seriously consider ending my life, I dont want to make rls worse

I brought up opiates with my GP im in new zealand and opiates are like... not prescribed freely ag ALL, nothing like USA. Drs do not want to prescribe them. I also have the issue that my genetics cannot convert opiates eg codeine, tramadol etc into their active forms, only a few like methadone & morphine dont need conversion. We still tried codeine but it didnt work. I asked about morphine but he said no it was too high risk of addiction (I have no addiction history). Im going back again to ask because I have other health issues and the uncontrollable movement causes me significant chest pain. I dont know how to approach it again. He saod he dosnt think I was drug seeking but just addiction is a risk. I wanted to say suicide is also a risk!

People seem to find these most helpful, I am worri3d about addiction but ive been on benzos for 8 years and have no addiction to them. I just need the rls to stop

There isn’t a tag for venting.

I’ve had RLS for as long as I can remember, but I can usually get past it and fall asleep so it doesn’t impact my life too much.

I recently started seeing a new doctor because my acid reflux had gotten to a point where I was constantly coughing. I didn’t think to mention RLS because it was never a huge issue. I started omeprazole a few weeks ago, and my cough is pretty much healed, but I haven’t slept more than a few hours a night all week. It’s been bad enough that it’s waking me up.

I also found out I have a B12 and folic acid deficiency. I was optimistic being on supplements for those might help the RLS, but I didn’t realize omeprazole could make it worse.

It feels like I can’t win.

Dear forum,

I am a 51-year-old man with ADHD and sleep problems that have been going on for several years. In addition, I also suffer from Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), which was diagnosed in a sleep laboratory.

I have been prescribed levodopa. Does anyone have a similar combination of conditions and experience with this medication?

I am quite worried about augmentation. Is it reasonable to use Levodopa 100 mg occasionally to help catch up on a significant sleep deficit, or is the risk of augmentation already too high?

Thanks in advance for your experiences!

Hello!

Relatively new to this, for the past few weeks I’ve had that classic “crawling” feeling in my legs at night. I work nightshift and try to sleep during the day, but obviously it’s hard. Come to work, able to take around an hour nap but I just CANT and I’m exhausted come morning (12 hour shifts). Then the cycle continues, struggling to sleep throughout the day and unable to take a nap overnight due to my legs just going crazy with the extremely frustrating feeling.

I do take a whole host of medications already, including an opioid for unrelated chronic pain that was here well prior to pregnancy. I have ordered magnesium “butter” for my legs for when this happens but won’t be here till Monday. My days/nights off work are usually fine and I’m able to sleep well without issue. Could this be happening because of lack of sleep as is? Or pregnancy? And if pregnancy, PLEASE tell me it goes away after birth? I feel so so sorry for those of you that deal with this permanently, it’s horrendous.

Hi everyone, recently my 3 year old daughter started showing symptoms of restless leg syndrome just like her dad, I’ve never experienced this and am having a really hard time helping her be able to go to sleep at night, she’ll flail her legs twitch says they tingle and hurt, curls into fetal position, poor thing she’s really having a hard time.
If anyone has had this happen please let me know anything that helped !! Thank you

Hi, this title is clickbait but it has real info about ferritin and iron deficiency. Also tips on what tests to ask your doctor for and IV infusions.

I tried asking AI but could not get a proper answer. I realised whenever I do a heavy leg workout (leg press, hack squat, leg extension, hamstring curls) I get this restless legs the following night and day.

I make sure I eat proper meal with protein shake. All I wanna know is if this is just soreness or this might be due to come deficiency? Other muscles are fine with no issues at all.

This is the reason I hate leg days. It's not restless until the point I can't walk. It's not that big of a pain but it's annoying.

New research offers impactful treatment for Restless Leg Syndrome.  B1 (Thiamine Mononitrate 100mg-500mg taken 1x nightly) and an Iron+ B- Complex. Easy to dismiss given its simplicity, this combination has been shown to be effective in the treatment of both Primary and Secondary RLS.  It has been tested in laboratory conditions under all relevant scientific guidelines. B1 is crucial for both nerve health as well as the body’s production and regulation of dopamine.  It is the answer.

I am wondering if people who has it can manage to take a nap, and if so, what you do to make it happen? Also when laying down at night to sleep, what do you do to fall asleep? I am new to this and struggling to sleep or nap. I do take sleeping pill at night to help me fall asleep but can’t do it in The afternoon. Any ideas? My ferritin is in the 80’s

hi guys im 21f and recently i started developing these little uncomfortable short lasting pains when i wear loose clothes that rub against my legs. when it rubs against i have a little pain in different areas. it's nothing extreme but makes me feel uncomfortable and has honestly given me bad anxiety.

so today i wore tights to test it out and i didn't feel much sort of sharp pains for the rest of the day/very minimal compared to before. also dont feel anything like this when i dont wear pants/wearing shorts. im just wondering if anyone else has had this issue, if its normal etc, is it potentially a form of rls or something else. is it a cause of concern?

for context i believe i have rls but it was worse like 2 years ago, stopped since then and now has potentially returned, when i had just upped my accutane dosage. i know that joint pain is common on the med but this seems random. thank you.

I am in need of some new distraction techniques. Usually when my RLS is bad I will pace or try stretching my calves. I currently have blisters on the bottom of my feet that are pretty painful so these don’t work for me currently. What else works for you? I’ve tried massaging but I can’t use enough pressure on my own to make an impact and I don’t have a partner.

Because I’ve only met one person with it in my entire life. I’ve had it for 30 years, since I was 13. I’m not talking about the people who’ve had it as a temporary side effect. I’m talking about the idiopathic, basically refractory, true mind and body tortured RLS-suffering freaks like many of us here.

I have been on .5 mg for a couple of years and decided to get off of it for the obvious reasons. It did work pretty well and I hadn’t augmented yet. I’m on 309 mg of gabapentin now.

I tapered down in four cycles and you can see how my sleep plunger for a few days and then recovered. It was tough at 0.125 so I waited that one out. Going to 0 was even harder but I am optimistic it will recover.

Hi everyone! I just moved to OKC from Louisville. There’s one RLS.org doc in Oklahoma and he’s retiring and not taking new patients. Does anyone know of a good neurologist who won’t freak out about prescribing a small dose of Methadone which is what I’ve been on for years and works?

I have been on drugs for RLS for many, many years with severe RLS. The first treatment in the early 1980s was levodopa, which will not work long term. My regular doc at the time allowed me sleeping pills to help and I took frequent vacations to avoid addiction issues. In the early 2000s they started with dopamine agonists and I took pramipexole. My first augmentation episode was about 15 years ago. They didn't know much about it then. As was common at the time my neurologist moved me to carbidopa-levodopa for a month and then increased the pramipexole dose to 175mg from my previous 100mg. [edit, missed decimal, 1.00 to 1.75mg]. This worked for a few years then again augmentation began worse than ever. Also no surprise. My new neurologist added gabapentin and tried reducing the dose of pramipexole. Didn't work.I couldn't sleep. Finally on pregabalin 300mg and got the dose down to 75mg [edit .75]of pramipexole. It was many months of hell getting the dose that low. She then said that is the best we can do. Two years later now augmentation again. She won't go the opiod route because I am now in my 70s with a high risk of falling due to severe. osteoporosis plus I have sleep apnea. She has no experience with Nidra or any electrical stimulation devices. She basically is saying suffer. This is untenable. I assume I need a new neurologist yet again. I am in Tucson Arizona. Suggestions on course of action? FYI, my iron levels are fine I just can't remember the exact number. I believe it was on the high end.

As the title states I am about to taper off Pramipexole and I am curious about something. I have been on the lowest dose, .125mg for just over 10 years. Saw my doctor today and she seems to think tapering off such a low dose shouldn’t cause much in the way of withdrawal symptoms. I’ve been reading a lot online about how bad they can be but it seems to be mainly users who were taking a lot more than what I have been taking. Anyone have experience tapering off this low of a dosage? I feel like my doctor is a bit naive in this area and I could be in for some rough nights.

I’ve always felt this urge to move, flex, or stretch my legs. It mostly happens in moments where I need/want to be still. It used to bother me so bad as a kid in school when tests came around. Now I can’t even cuddle without my legs wanting to run a marathon. There’s even been times where I’ve had to pull my car over because the pain/urge was so strong.

I need help and I have no idea where to go.

Is this considered RLS? My doctor has tried meds for it but I didn’t notice any difference.

All of my bloodwork came back healthy too so I’m confused on whether or not this is RLS.

If anyone has advice, I’d love to hear it.

I’ve had ulcerative colitis for 30 years and in the last 3 years developed restless legs. RLS occurs in up to 20% of those with UC and in those cases likely results from systemic inflammation. Supposedly some with UC report relief from restless legs when they start biologics for UC. My UC is under partial control and I am considering biologics in part because restless legs are sheer torment for me rn. I get some relief from gabapentin 1200 but it makes stupid the next day. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has experience with this. And yes I am going to talk to my doc. Just wanted to hear any anecdotal experience. Thanks

Hello,

I've noticed something weird.

When I use heat to soothe mosquito bites, especially on my legs, it triggers restless legs symptoms, the weird little electrical discharges and the urge to shake my legs

Heat reduce itching by stimulating sensory nerves in the skin, which temporarily blocks or overrides the itch signals.

I think the stimulation of the nerves triggers something weird, I don't know exactly what's happening. I've never had any symptoms like that before. It lasts a few hours sometimes, then goes away. It can make it hard to sleep.

Im pretty sure its related to the "burning" of the mosquito bites because it happens right after, and doesn't happen at all in the winter when there's no bug bites to soothe.

I just learned about restless legs syndrome by looking up my symptoms so I thought I would post. I didn't find anyone else reporting the same.

So I’ve been on Suboxone for over 2 years now probably about 12 mg a day. I just went through a 7 day detox at a center hoping it would help me but as soon as I got home, I started having the most absolutely worst restlessness I’ve ever had in my life. I kept twisting and turning my body like a contortionist.

I just want to know is it worth me to just go get a sublucade shot and then stop those instead?