RLS and Kratom - how to sleep

[KALB]

I have severe RLS and have had to get off of my major medication as it no longer works. Kratom has turned out to be a blessing and curse. It takes away the pain but I cannot sleep. I’ve taken magnesium and l-the anime, but up and down at night unless I take a sleeping pill and I don’t want an addiction to that now. Any ideas anyone?

[herbalhippie]

I take half of a Flexeril as a sleep aid. It's a muscle relaxer, non-addictive, will not build a tolerance. At least, I haven't and I've been taking it for years.

[Slapjack]

Quit eating sugar! It’s really hard but I quit sugar for a month and cured it..... till I went back to old eating habits lol. Even orange juice in the evening gets my legs going. #ITS THE FOOD

[CatfatherB]

I was blessed with a crapload of old Gabapentin, left over from my pill-mill days

It's very useful for RLS, though.

[Quercus]

One of the things that has helped the most with my RLS are compression air-boots. These work by gently squeezing your legs and feet, starting with mild compression and building in strength. You can control how much compression you want and some of them even offer different patterns of compression. They do tend to be pricey but are effective enough that it was worth the $75 I paid for them. There is a fair range of options and prices.

I would link to the ones I have except I’m on a phone and am having problems getting it to work. They are easy enough to find, though. Just do a search on Amazon.

I found that they worked best if I put the boots on the moment I feel the first hollow, fluid feeling that indicates an attack of RLS is coming. If I put them on when an episode is in full swing, it seems to intensify the sensations before they ease up. Medication is controlling my RLS at the moment so I’ve not used them for awhile but had been using them three or four times a day, often preemptively.

There is an RLS forum that has an enormous amount of information on RLS and lots of tips for controlling it. I forget what it’s called but there aren’t that many out there so should be easy to find.

I wish you the best of luck. RLS is horrible.

[jabro70]

I was blessed with a crapload of old Gabapentin, left over from my pill-mill days

It's very useful for RLS, though.

I would agree with CatfatherB. Gabapentin is a Godsend for RLS - and I always wake up in a great mood the morning after I take it. Shouldn’t be too hard to get your Dr to prescribe it either. I went to the Doctor and told her that my legs were burning with the uncontrollable urge to stretch them till the tendons popped every night when I lay down for bed. She gave me Gabapentin and told me to let her know if it didn’t take care of it. I really don’t take it very often- a good Red vein in the evening usually does the trick.

[herbalhippie]

my legs were burning with the uncontrollable urge to stretch them till the tendons popped every night when I lay down for bed.

I have had this happen to me only a few times, thank goodness. It's horrible! I'd lay there and stretch my lower leg muscles until I hurt myself.

I've got a lot of Gabapentin but have never taken it. Had a PCP a couple years ago that pushed that stuff like he owned stock. I accepted a prescription just to get him off my back about it. Told him I didn't like how it made me feel.

Now I'm curious how it would make me feel.

[jabro70]

Now I'm curious how it would make me feel.

There wasn’t any buzz to it, just wonderful, peaceful sleep and then you wake up in a great mood. But yeah, I get it.

[gumbyke1]

There is a product you can get at some drugs stores or Amazon called Hylands Restful Legs. Ive taken it before and it definitely helps!

https://www.amazon.com/Hylands-Restful- ... r=8-3&th=1

[DNA011001]

There is a product you can get at some drugs stores or Amazon called Hylands Restful Legs. Ive taken it before and it definitely helps!

I like Hylands a lot, plus they are homeopathic. I used both restless legs formulas, the nerve tonic (for stress), and the calms (for relaxation, sleep). They used to have a morning one too that was kind of motivating, mood boosting, I think, but haven’t seen that one is a store for a while. They used to help my rls and other stuff. I still use the Calms a lot. I personally do not like gabapentin, or similar things, bc of how they made me feel, especially now that I am no longer on serious pharmaceuticals.
I actually rarely get any RLS symptoms anymore for the last few months, thanks to this forum! I read someone mention something similar about cutting out sugar from their diet and it helping.

Quit eating sugar! It’s really hard but I quit sugar for a month and cured it...

So I tried that. I used to put sugar and raw honey in my teas and coffees. I drink A LOT of teas, mostly herbal, so the sugar really added up. Plus, I eat a lot of fruit daily. So, I thought I would experiment and see if I noticed any difference if I stopped adding sweetener to drinks. Wow! I hardly ever get restless legs and it has improved several other things as well. Thank You everyone who has posted that info in the forum, because it had a real impact for me!

[Oletimer]

A good fix it, I take a bath towel, run under water,and squeeze out excess water,,put it in microwave about 1or 2 minutes, lay another towel on bed to protect covers,,lay down and wrap the steaming damp towel lengthwise around leg,,Be careful, hot! I'm asleep before it cools off,,,it's a cure for those horrifying Charlie horses in legs too,,I use a hand towel for neck spasms, I think the heat and moisture dialate blood vessels,relaxes nerve and muscles