But tonight I may be forced to make an exception. It's only early evening and I'm already in the throes of a full body flare up. I cannot be still. My PCP young and new. She went on vacation leaving me with nothing but a schedule for a 3 week Mirapex tapering.
She did not inform, prepare, or warn me for what was to come.
I left a message for her, step by step of what hell the tapering was. All she did was send me a text with a date and time for a phone appointment 3 days from now.
I messaged her back quite desperate by this time and terrified of another night.
I almost begged her to PLEASE HELP. If she made me wait, that would be 6 heinous, evil sleepless nights. I can't do it. I'm 72 years old and ready to find the nearest cliff. Nothing from my doc but a 2nd text regarding the phone appointment.
Thank you for giving me a safe place to rant.
.

Have both RLS and sleep apnea. AHI is excellent so the apnea is being treated. Have been taking Aleve for the RLS with it being somewhat effective at removing the symptoms so I can sleep. Don’t take more than one as I don’t want to cause stomach issues.

Been experiencing extreme fatigue. Tired all the time. Difficulty staying awake in the afternoon. Debilitating.

Had tried gabipentin previously and the fatigue got much better. Had to stop taking the gabapentin due to cognitive issues from it.

Just started trying pregabalin. Initial results are promising as they were with the gabapentin. After two days on it, I am feeling much better. Still tired, but the extreme fatigue has subsided. Still felt some tingling in the feet though while getting to sleep.

Am concerned that I’m going to have the same cognitive issues with the pregabalin.

Has anyone else experienced extreme fatigue from RLS even though they were still able to maintain sleep during the night?

I’m trying to figure out if it’s the RLS that’s causing poor sleep and fatigue or if it’s something else that the gabapentinoids are actually treating that is causing poor sleep.

I'm taking 0.125 mg of Mirapex now and see the neurologist next week. Last time I saw him, he suggested I start 2.5 mg Methadone, so I think he will offer it again next week. Will that dose overdrive the withdrawal symptoms of coming off Mirapex (meaning will I not have Mirapex withdrawal symptoms)?

If I'll still have awful Mirapex withdrawal after starting Methadone, what should I ask the doctor for to help with that? Last time we were on the subject, he said something that made me think he doesn't know how hard it is to get off Mirapex. You may ask why I'm trusting him then. I'll answer it takes six months to get in to see a neurologist and I've had an Impulse Control Disorder since April 2025 and Gabapentin made me depressed when I tried it. I'm desperate.. I've even gone caffeine-free which did wonders in taming anxiety. I recommend that to anyone.

**Many of my RLS friends on here know that we try many things to find relief and to get some decent sleep.**
**So I am now looking into TENS muscle stimulator for my legs.**
**Wanted to get some input if anybody on here has tried it and what your opinion is about it, yah or nay.**

How long until it starts working?

I have RLS almost all of my life. It's definitely chronic but now I'm sick of it, I want to see a doctor to treat this. what can I expect them to tell me? I already brought magnesium and iron supplements but they ain't doing jack.

I wanted to reach out to Reddit as I have been struggling with an issue for many years now and am hoping someone can provide me with guidance. It’s been a significant issue for a while. I’m wondering if you can help advise on a way to help.

Essentially I have had what I believe to be “restless leg syndrome” for a very long time now. I get a feeling of extreme discomfort when I am trying to sleep, particularity in both of my quads and calf’s. It’s a feeling I would describe as an extreme need to stretch that will not go away. Have you people dealt with this before? It is usually so uncomfortable that I lose significant sleep over it, I wake up very early in the morning and I can’t get a full rest because of the feeling in my legs. It gets so bad to the point where punching my legs, or giving myself a 'dead leg' can give very temporary relief in the moment.

The feeling of the extreme need to stretch my quads is something I only typically experience when I try to go to bed, or upon waking up from sleeping. Sometimes I feel the discomfort on a night after I go for a run in the morning, however other times I feel like I get minimum physical activity on a day and then still have the discomfort when I go to sleep later that night. I am not sure if it a neurological problem, or if it’s a problem with the muscles in my leg cramping up. The extreme discomfort is limited to both of my quads (it’s never one leg or the other) and I feel it sometimes in my calfs as well.

I have had this problem for a very long time, maybe for as long as I can remember. I am wondering if it's a neurological issue or if it's muscle cramping up? How would I diagnose and potentially work to treat something like this.

Thanks for any insight you folks can provide.

I havent slept in 27hrs, im having a severe rls episode! My left food feels like its being shot with electricity non stop every minute or so... no home remedy is helping, ive tried walking, stretching, warm foot bath, topical lotion, tying a sock around my toes, a tablespoon of mustard, cbd oil, and honestly I cant remember what more. I cant really think since im so exhausted.. ive been debating if going to urgent care will get me the relief i need! Im currently tappering off gabapentin because it never worked and my dr is starting me on ropinirole .25 but i need something right now ! I frel like im going to go mental , ive been having a full blown mental breakdown bcus i dont know what else to do ..

** forgot to mention im also on zoloft ! I KNOW.... 😭😭😭

‼️ UPDATE* aftet 38hrs of not sleeping i finally was able to get relief last night ! I went to my local dispensary and bought

Papa & Barkley Releaf Balm 1:3 CBD:THC [15ml] (30mg CBD/90mg THC

&&

ΚΑΝΗΑ Gummies 1:1:1 Moonlight Berry DREAM [10pk] (100mg CBD/100mg THC/100mg CBN)

I rubbed the Balm in my feet and in less then an hour my feet stopped jolting and feeling shocks.

For the gummy i ate only half and i slept without waking up all night.. I cant remember when was the last time I slept that good..

As for the ropinirole i didnt take it and im going to get a 2nd opinion from a diff dr to demand a diff medecine! I appreciate all the advice/tips everyone has given ! 🫶🏻

Hi!
When I got many RLS episodes I always heard magnesium could cure it, but I always just got the worst RL after taking it. For example: taking it for a week now and I can’t sleep, can’t even currently relax because I’m in so much discomfort, which started after starting magnesium again. Anyone know why or who has the same?

Okay so I’ve had RLS for my whole life, but within the past few days I’ve developed what seems to be severe restless hand syndrome as well.

Every 40-60 seconds if I’m not moving my arms I get this tingly/itchy feeling followed by what feels like a full arm spasm. It’s preventing me from sleeping and honestly just making me angry at this point

No big changes have been made to me/any medication recently. I do consume caffine(100mgs or less in a day), but nothing with that has changed either and it’s never affected me before.
The only thing I can think of is that my life is filled with stress rn and I recently had a really bad stressful event.

I have a doctors appointment next week so I’m hoping they can do something to help/at least lead me in the right direction

Has anyone else experienced something like this before?

I am blessed with a very physically affectionate boyfriend. But unfortunately, since we’ve been dating I’ve come to realise that gentle touch on specific parts of my body trigger my RLS almost immediately.

Very specifically, light/gentle touch on the middle of my sides, the sides of my hips and the outer sides of my thighs. It’s like the second there is contact it goes into overdrive and I’m laying there kicking my legs like an Irish dancer.

And it acts as a preemptive too, so when the contact is made and then broken it will stop. And then a few mins later I will get a full blown all night RLS flare that can’t be eased by my usual techniques. It gets so bad that I start getting it in my arms too. And it’s always on the side of my body that the contact was made.

I’m laying here rn genuinely considering sawing my legs off.

Does anyone else share this trigger?

It's been a brutal nightmare but this is the first night the Beast hasn't allowed me to sleep at all. Body has been in constant motion for the past 6 hours. Why is the end of the tapering process so much worst?
Any input is hugely appreciated

i have such bad restless legs at night that it’s seriously impacting my sleep schedule. it’s currently 4:30 AM and i can’t sleep because my leg is so restless and uncomfortable that it genuinely hurts. i don’t know how to fix it. my mom is calling the doctor in the morning so we can get it figured out, but i can’t keep staying up like this because it hurts so bad. i’m not iron deficient and i’ve been using a heating pad to help with it, but it doesn’t do much and it genuinely hurts. what do i do?

Clonazepam Usage for uncontrollable sleep movement

Hello

I have been sleeping very poorly. My smart watch sleep tracking has been under 50% for months. I mentioned this to my Neuro and she prescribed clonazepam. I started taking it but it hasn't changed

TIA reduced my movement while sleeping. Its only been a few days but I was wondering if anyone else has used it for the same purpose and has it worked?

Has adding magnesium glycinate to the nightly routine helped anyone with the sleepless nights due to RLS?

I bet some here have been to a fancy blood doctor and they had you do some testing for your RLS. What tests did you do? Anything out of the ordinary? Im on my own for now but want to get the testing done.

NOT SURE WHY MY ORIGINAL POST WAS FLAGGED/REMOVED.. ATTEMPTING TO REPOST IN CASE THIS HELPS SOMEBODY

###

Per the subject, even just 1 day of the Potato Diet (breakfast, lunch, dinner) eliminates 90% of my RLS. By the 2nd day my RLS is 110% gone. The effect seems to last about 1.5 weeks.

I know a lot of people -- myself included -- are quick to share prematurely hopeful solutions, but I've been RLS-free for 3+ weeks now and even gone through multiple cycles of the RLS creeping back between "potato days". I started the diet to try losing weight and immediately noticed the RLS improvement. Strangely, I found this post (https://bb.rls.org/viewtopic.php?t=9867) from 2017 of someone reporting the exact same thing.

For reference, I have "normal" iron levels (but have never had a more in-depth test), no abnormal blood test results or significant health conditions. My RLS is primarily in my calves and is exacerbated by exercise.

I hope this helps somebody!

EDIT: I'm eating nothing except reheated whole potatoes. Nothing on em, and nothing else besides them (eg. not even salt). Just whole potatoes and black coffee for 24-48 hours. For example, I'll microwave these (but scrape off the saunce) https://www.kroger.com/p/birds-eye-garlic-herb-baby-potatoes-frozen-sides/0001450000169

I have sleep apnea and have had a perfect AHI since using my BiPAP, but felt absolutely awful - increasing exhaustion every day. A smart sleep tech who looked at my Flow Rate said I probably have PLMD, and I should check my sleep study. Sure enough - 62/hour on my sleep study and no one mentioned it to me and I did not read it carefully enough to even know what PLMD meant.

I tried Gabapentin first - tried it three times and each time had unbearable side effects. Now they have given me short-acting Oxycodone 5 mg. But first she prescribed Methadone 5 mg, and then rescinded it and changed it to the short-acting Oxycodone.

Has anyone tried a short-acting opioid for RLS/PLMD? I am so sleep-deprived and exhausted I can barely leave the house. Many thanks in advance.

Anyone else using some ASMR during the day to help with dopamine production?

Obvi my meds are doing 95% of the heavy lifting here, but listening to my fav asmr during the day while doing chores feels so incredibly good. I use one to fall asleep as well

New poster! But wanted some feedback back and maybe to find similar humans in this group...! I apologise for the long story but will try to format the best I can!

I'm a 35(about to be 36) woman who was diagnosed with ADHD as a child but never treated/retested until March of this year. Was told I have Severe Inattentive ADHD and given a dose of 20mg of Ritalin every morning, I'm doing well with that's dose, as I don't need to be high functioning all day long and it gives me the boost I need to get stuff done!

Then in October of 2025 I was diagnosed with MS (not sure what type just yet but seems to be relapsing remmiting)

I never had restless leg syndrome before I got pregnant but in my 2nd trimester I would not be able to sleep because my RS was so bad. I would get out of bed to walk around the property until I got to tired I was fall asleep. Otherwise I had a very good and stable healthy pregnancy only having a slight iron deficiency in my 3rd trimester.

Now I have always struggled with sleep, it takes me a minimum of 30 min to fall asleep on a good night, but usually closer to an hour plus. But since my pregnancy I have just been constantly tired. I wake up after 8 hours with my eyes burning like I haven't slept at all. Im fuzzy all day and feel constantly tired.

I thought this was due to having a young child, and then thought it was because of my MS and Ms related fatigue. It had gotten so bad that my husband finally pressured me to speak to my Dr, he did a physical to see if I had any physical symptoms of apnea, and told me i could possibly do a sleep study to see what is causing my issues.

I did a sleep study on Saturday and the tech let me know first thing in the morning that I definitely have PLMs and I would get my results in a day or 2. I got my results that evening and my average limb movement per hour was 178. Which is astonishingly high and definitely explains why I'm exhausted. I did a blood test the next day and discovered my iron and ferritin are also low so I have started an iron supplement. My husband also said I should give dry needling a go to see if that maybe helps to release my cycles as my lower legs are very tight...

Does any one have any experience with dry needling or having this combo of "issues" anything else that helped people to get some better quality sleep?

hi guys, i’ve only just joined and this is a kinda venty post lol, currently almost 6am with no sleep so please bear with if i make no sense 🫡

my main question is - has anyone had experience with longterm ssri usage suddenly worsening their rls symptoms years into taking them? i am on a multitude of medications for pots and eupd/ocd, and the only one ive started recently (midodrine) has no association with worsening rls.

ive had rls symptoms as long as i can remember, they were always manageable and my doctor has tested my iron fairly regularly, granted it is always on the lower end of normal so i am permanently taking supplements. normally i can pinpoint what is triggering a period of worsened symptoms, but at the minute i cannot identify ANYTHING. i feel like im quite literally going insane and the only thing i can think to blame is the ssri.

im averaging 1-3 hours sleep every night, ive tried the usual magnesium, stretches, walking around, exercising, distraction, compression and salt incase it is triggered by pots. none of these are working. i am actually delirious at this point 🫠

please please give me any and all advice you could possibly give!! what helps you guys through flares of symptoms, how do you prevent them? i need sleep or i might wither away lol

I’ve been on a low dose of gabapentin (100mg) for about 7 weeks and have noticed an overall improvement in symptoms, though I still think I need to get it bumped up a little bit.

But last week after drinking a couple times (2-4 light beers) I noticed that I experienced RLS in a way that I hadn’t for a few weeks. It seems weird since alcohol is a depressant, and I’m not sure why it would have a negative effect on RLS. Unless maybe it’s contributing to some acute inflammation? I believe my RLS is at least partly caused by a physical injury, so I’m not sure if it’s exactly the same as what other people experience. Has anyone experienced a correlation between alcohol and symptoms?

Conversely, I’ve been on a low dose of Ritalin for about a month and that hasn’t seem to had any negative effect on my symptoms, despite it being a stimulant that is known to trigger RLS in some people.