Six men and women speak about their experiences with RLS in the New York Times.
Lynne Kaiser, an artist, believes she has had restless leg syndrome for most of her life. She recalls waking up in the middle of the night as a child to take a hot bath or fill a hot water bottle to try to relieve the prickly sensations in her legs. It wasn’t until recently that a specialist confirmed the diagnosis. Today, Mrs. Kaiser advocates for R.L.S. patients.
My neurologist who specializes in sleep disorders put me on a new treatment regimen for RLS back in 2011 and i have been stable for 7 years now. I take one Requip (.5mg) plus two Tramadol every evening around 6 -7pm. Before I was on this regimen, I was up to 2mg of Requip every night and looking forward to uping the dose to 3mg as it was becoming ineffective. Now, I rarely have a breakthru and I have not had to increase my dosage ever. My neurologist heard papers about this combo treatment at a neurology conference back around 2010. If you visit a neurologist who specializes in sleep disorders, they will likely be familiar with the regimen. It has saved the quality of my life. Also, taking this regimen at night makes me very sleeping within 2-3 hours of taking it and I usually get a great night sleep. Hope this information is helpful for you too – at least until they find a cure. My cousin has a milder case of RLS and he does great on 600mg of Neurontin every evening. That solution did not work for me but my case was much worse.