RLS - homeopathic approach EXPERIMENT

Note all disclaimers and I am not affiliated with any product or source below, and if you are absolutely SURE that homeopathic treatment of ANYTHING is bogus...hit the next button.

Someone on this forum mentioned that a homeopathic remedy is available to HELP with Restless Leg Syndrome. (Note I did NOT say "cure")

So I searched and found the Hylands "Restful leg" remedy, and figured it was on sale for $5 a bottle at number of places, which is less than my copay for ANY prescription medicine and virtually no potential side effects.....so what the heck. (Hylands is a well respected brand in homeopathic circles)

I have "sporadic and low level" RLS according to my sleep doc, used Gabepentin (sp?) in the past and did not like the side effects.
I need to run my "trial" a bit longer than the one week so far to make sure its not coincidence, and talk a few other people into being lab rats and reporting back, but so far it has worked BETTER than the Gabepentin for ME....and its a whole lot cheaper.

I bought a couple of bottles since I couldn't find it locally and the shipping was almost as much as the remedy. Definitely worth the $13 investment so far. (2 bottles and shipping)

The Restful Legs bottle says 2-3 tablets are good for 4 hours . For my mild case, I am using 1-2 tablets and it seems to be getting me through the night.

For those not familiar with "proper procedure" for homeopathic...
For IDEAL opitimisation
Do not eat or drink ANYTHING 15 minutes before or after taking it.
Let the tablet(s) melt under your tongue.
Avoid coffee if possible (other caffeine is ok). I am a tea drinker so that was easy...you should be avoiding coffee anyway!
Avoid menthol products while using it. (e.g. the menthol lip balm at bedtime)

I would certainly be interested in hearing results for others that are willing to lay out this huge amount of cash to give it a shot....Heck it MIGHT even cost more than distilled water for the humidifier for the month.

And thank you whoever pointed out that this stuff existed!

YMMV

Homepoathic remedies will always be available as long as there are people willing to buy them.

P T Barnum said it best...........

Sort of like ... pharmaceutical drugs will always be around as long as there are commercials telling people to ask their doctors if it’s right for them.

Right on, DreamStalker!!!!!

I was always told to avoid anything mint flavored too while using homeopathic treatments...finding non-mint toothpaste is the hardest part.

When I was first introduced to homeopathic remedies, I was such a non-believer in most alternative medicine other then Vitamin C for colds & such. I'd been on NSAID for back for a couple years and every so often I'd have to go off the one I normally took because it just stopped working. This is back when most NSAIDs were prescription only, so I'd end up trying a couple other NSAIDS for a few weeks, ending up back on the one I normally took eventually. I'd switched doctors to a DO who also use alternative treatments in conjunction with standard Western medicine. She suggested a homeopathic remedy, and I never heard of homeopathic anything before. I know I must of rolled my eyes half a dozen time, leaving the office thinking I just wasted $10 on these little tablets I was suppose let dissolve under my tongue and now I didn't even have time to go to the pharmacy to get the script for a different NSAID she wrote filled.

Something happened and I never did get that script filled, as I started using the homeopathic remedy and for the first time in years my back didn't hurt. As time went by, I even stopped using the homeopathic remedy regularly, only using occasionally, but the back pain never came back to the level it had been and I never took NSAIDs regularly until years later for a different issue. That experience sure made a believe out of me and I was much more interested in alternative treatments after that, though it was a lot easier when you had the best of both worlds rolled into one doctor. For some things she would give me a choice of standard treatment or alternative, but there were times when she said I had to use an antibiotic or such.


snork1- did your doc every check your iron levels? I know that was one thing my mom's sleep doc was very insistent about when she was DXed with RLS. It seems some studies suggest people with RLS get relief if their iron levels are on the higher end of normal range....but I can't remember which iron test it is (I struggle with anemia, so I know there are a couple different type of iron studies). Mom takes an iron supplement now and had her levels checked regularly. She didn't like any of the RLS medications either.

tomjax wrote:Homepoathic remedies will always be available as long as there are people willing to buy them.

P T Barnum said it best...........

just curious tomjax
why would you even read this thread? bored? looking for an opportunity to belittle or condescend?
frankly, in my opinion, a pharmacist who has osa and continues to smoke sounds more like one of p.t. barnum's marks than someone looking for an alternative to pharmaceutical poison...and by the way, in your own words, your comment was sarcastic and personal

If my iron levels were any higher,it would be dangerous for me literally.

I used to know a salesman for a large pharmaceutical company. If you want to talk about PT Barnum land, you should hear how the average doc chooses which med to dump on you this week! I am still wondering about how miraculous it is that when they came out with a drug to lower cholesterol, that suddenly the cutoff level for "dangerous" levels dropped accordingly.....Now there is "one a minute" for you.

I do "mix and match" on my medical treatments. I quickly admit when something doesn't work and move on. I also believe there is not ONE solution for everyone, no matter what the problem.

I take antibiotics when I need them, and I will take homeopathic for some things, at least long enough to figure out if they will help for a particular situation for me. The very nature of homeopathic is that one remedy for one malady will not work for everyone. I am suprised that the "general" remedies work for as many people as they do, and I suspect that some people will have a different physical makeup or a different "type" of RLS that will not respond to this remedy.

Of course then, how many pharmaceutical products are used for RLS with varying effectiveness.....and often lack of effectiveness? I suspect there is a whole lot higher profit margin on the pharmaceutical approach. I also realize that approach IS required for some/many people.

"Progress" doesn't happen unless some people are willing to TRY something different.

And as I said at the start, you certainly have the option to press the "next" button.

And its not like signing up for a chiropractor, which totally turned me off with their business model after the chiro I tried wanted 36 appointments at 3 times a week for a few months before backing down to twice a week. THAT was a no brainer to run away quickly no matter how well it MIGHT work.

I am just tossing this one out for people with mild RLS that want to TRY a harmless experiment for less than $15. Thats about the cost of trying a new filter in your CPAP, as about the only example I can think of thats as cheap in the world of CPAP.

I hated the pharmaceutical alternatives for RLS and freaked to see the potential side effects and stopped taking that crapola before I even used up my multi-month prescription.

To each his own though.

snork

i have rls as well, but not so severely that i would bother to medicate for it, it's in the evenings while i'm relaxing, watching tv, that kind of thing, it doesn't keep me from falling asleep...however, i do have pretty severe periodic limb movement disorder, and my doc prescribed requip for it, very low dose, i think, .25 mg at 6 p.m. and .25 at 9 p.m....i've very reluctantly started taking it this week because after 3 mos on cpap i'm still extremely tired, and he feels that the plmd is causing many arousals...so, i'd be very interested to know how that remedy works for you and if you have any other ideas...i did have my iron/ferritin levels checked and my ferritin was so low it automatically deems me to have iron deficiency anemia, so i'm taking an iron supplement (floradix) and have not noticed any difference yet, after about 2 weeks...may i ask why your iron levels are so high? something i should know?
please continue to post about your rls remedy if you have any further observations
thanks
sharon1965

I don't have rls but I wanted to weigh in on the homeopathic conversation.

I don't for one minute believe that Western medicine has all the answers. In my experience, a combination of Western and alternative medicine appears to be most helpful. For example, I'm a big believer in vitamins and supplementation. Massage has helped my migraines more than rx's have.

If it works for you, then great. If it doesn't, don't knock it cause it probably works for someone.

Just my two cents,
Donna

I'd like to support what onecoknower has said: many times the alternatives have been helpful.

My mother's dog is a 95 lb. female Doberman who was probably hit by a car before she was rescued. She had a veterinary neurologist evaluate her and there is pressure on her spine in the cervical and lumbar areas. She is having trouble moving adequately and is too old to be a good candidate for surgery.

The vet neurologist recommended chiropractic treatment, and also acupuncture. The dog has been going to the holistic veterinarian for chiropractic treatments and has surgical staples in her back. These are electrically stimulated by the vet, and then daily magnets are rubbed on her back in pairs.

My mother has a friend who is a retired electrical engineer, and his specialty was magnetics while working for a major auto company. He said there is no possible way that the magnet therapy can work. As my mother replied, "But, it is working; she is doing much better!"

Personally, I never thought that I would be a believer in alternative therapies, but I am now more open to the possibilities. Science may just be unable to explain the mechanism yet, and this may be discovered in the future. For now, I guess if the treatment works, good enough; if the treatment does not work, abandon it.

It also seems to me that finding a doctor who knows both conventional and the more holistic treatments lends a good balance to the practice of medicine. I had to respond, as we all love that dog, and this seems to be the answer for her. She has almost made it for another entire year with the help of the acupuncture and chiropractic treatments. Who knows how much more she will gain from the therapy?

Just a little reminder... 90% of all ailments of any kind generally get better all on their own in time, but if your positive attitude (believing your remedies work) helps, then use them, just don't give them to your kids, and do your own research into the 'ingredients' as there is still a lot of dangerous stuff your there. "Natural' also refers to poisons, not just fixes. And let your MD know if you are taking any, because they can interfere with prescription meds.

I see nothing wrong with giving that a try, you will probably be more successful than conventional medicine. Prescription drugs are not the answer to everything either, just read the adverse side effects, those can be worse than the disorder they are to treat.

I'm not a believer in iron helping you any, in fact I would avoid supplemental iron if you are a man. We don't deplete iron like women do. If you are low on iron, it can easily be ruled out with a simple blood test. Men are NOT supposed to have as much iron as women for obvious reasons as they deplete more. Some papers even suggest too much iron contributes to increased cancer risk.

http://www.menweb.org/alexiron.htm

from PubMed as early as 1998:
http://tinyurl.com/2zx7n2

But I would pay special attention to the minerals aspect, more specifically magnesium. If you have GERD, increasing magnesium could also help with that, nearly all OTC acid reflux have magnesium listed as their main ingredient (probably the only ingredient that actually works). Only problem with minerals is they are very hard for your body to absorb, so get good quality minerals over price. I took higher doses of minerals after my stroke because they seemed to settle down the twitches I had afterward. I found GNC's Mega Minerals to be pretty good. Also Vitamin-C and calcium, those are needed to convert electrical impulses to muscle movement.

Do your own research, look how they get absorbed.

[/quote]

My iron level is high, because basically I am surrounded by women, which has been pointed out to have greater iron needs than men, and tends to influence my diet. I have 3 sisters, my wife has 3 sisters, and I have 2 daughters. My testosterone level is high too, but I think thats just out of self defense. haha!

Definitely a good thing to have your ferritin level checked by your regular medical doc as you FIRST consideration if you have RLS.

Calcium and Magnesium are also a good idea, and those are supplements my family has used for quite awhile. We find OUR best results are from Calcium CITRATE and Magnesium CITRATE for best absorption.....any brand. We happen to use Swansonvitamins.com because they seem to have decent quality store brand for reasonable prices, but the point is the TYPE of Calcium is indeed critical, most sources will do pretty well with these basics.

Its a sort of weird feeling how well its SEEMS To be working SO FAR, to actually head off a "twitchy night" and be able to lie there just dead STILL.
BUT, as I said, I am just starting my experiment.

Noticing a few places had Restful Legs on sale, I am hoping they are not preparing to discontinue it before people have a chance to even try it. Which is the other reason I thought I would mention it before a lot of extensive testing on my part.

Chiropractors are not for me, I have decided, due to their business model. But I do know people who swear by them. I will not knock their choice or figure that my choice should be their choice.

When I used to go to my chiropractor he gave the best massage for $35 bucks you could find. Then he would use his special table and relief my sciatica pain with manipulation (his table would stretch the lower back), as you left your back always felt better but it was short lived, it made you want to go back again.

Then I learned hanging upside down in a inversion table did the same thing, so I got one of those, when my back flares up I use it 2-3 times a week for 5 minutes each and it goes away.

Here is a link from a Medical Doctor about Magnesium and RLS (good as essential oils I guess):

http://www.personalconsult.com/articles ... drome.html

There are hundreds of articles and even studies on magnesium and RLS. Just do a google search and use: "magnesium +RLS"

I have had success in controlling severe leg cramps (a sign of magnesium deficiency) with a product called CALM. It is dissolved in hot/warm water (watch out - it REALLY foams up a lot) and my chiropractor (who is the best nutritionist I have met) said it is the most absorbable way to get magnesium in your system (he also uses Magnesium Citrate tabs too, but says the CALM is absorbed better)

After using up my first container of powder, I ordered directly from the formulator's (nutritionist, Peter Gillham) website. I just checked it again, and it appears he now refers you to a store near you that carries it.

His website is http://www.petergillham.com

Thanks for the info about the connection of magnesium and GERD - had not heard that before.