Might Be Worth A Try.

Hello Joan,

I do hope it works for you,  smells a bit but that washes off come morning.  It is a horrid condition and seems so to affect so many, makes you wonder why it has not been looked into more for a cure, the lack of sleep due to alone should make it worthy of investigation.

I do have another cream which you may like to try, that works for pain and achey thighs,  it may also work for RLS, I just have not tried it........as yet,  it is Hemp Oil  Lotion, has many other ingredients in it and again it is has a strong sweet smell,  available from Holland and Barratt Health food shops,  it works for my thigh problem so may well work for the rls.......  

Hope you get joy !

Warmest regards

Jessie x

Hello Jessie

Many thanks for your reply. I haven't been able to get olbas oil just yet, but is on my list. I don't mind smells like you I would try anything to help RLS. even poision!! and will also try your other suggestion. I too have requested more research into RLS but it falls on deaf ears. Been told aloe vera and raspberry juice also help RLS but I don't know quantities, has anyone else heard of this?

Is good sharing our ups and downs with medication etc oh for a cure from this horrendous condition.

kind regards

Joan

 

Hello Graham,

will look this up, always interested in ways to get relief and help, thanks for that info.  Long may this reprieve work for you !

Warmest regards

Jessie x

Hi Graham

I looked into this FODMAP diet, and found it difficult to get the hang of it, maybe it's just me! If I don't get the hang of something straight away, tend to forget it, so if you can help me with this I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks Joan

A good place to start is to go one level up in this forum and you will see that there is a discussion called "Things I have tried and how they went."

The moderator has pinned this to the top of the list so we can collect lots of experience.   

In there I have added a couple of posts giving details of where you can get informatuion about the FODMAP diet.   Follow the links there by copying and pasting the address given into the url line of your browser.

Read the articles by Monash and others.    You might be surprised to find you are reading about irritable bowel syndrome diets but there seems to be some connection.  The ibs diet works for my RLS so I suggest it to others.

If its hard to follow please get back to me and I will help you more directly.

Do some background reading first

Cheers

Graham

Hi Mali, what type of iron do you take.  Iron is my favorite RLS remedy.  The only difference between you and I is that I wait to take the iron until I have an attack.  I take a bio-available form called iron bis-glycinate and within an hour the RLS is gone for the night.  I think it works because this form of iron not only readily enters your bloodstream but I believe crosses the blood brain barrier.  RLS is ALL about the lack of iron in our brains, not really bodies.  RLS has become much more frequent in the last several months and since I have slow motility the iron only makes it slower.  I have had to resort to potassium in the form of cream of tartar.  A teaspoon provides about an hour or two of relief but that is enough to fall asleep and then I seem to be ok.  The iron and potassium work in two different ways.  Iron (in the brain) will shore up our shoddy dopamine receptors (which all people with RLS have) because that's what dopamine receptors need to be big and strong.  The receptors hurl dopamine down our central nervous system that quiets our arms and legs.  The dopamine agonists, like Mirapex, literally squeeze that dopamine out of those receptors.  In the process they down-regulate our receptors such that we have to keep taking ever increasing doses of them.  Potassium works the same way the dopamine agonists do.  Potassium, the right kind, in the right amount will cause a fairly quick large pop of dopamine release.  I haven't been using it long enough, but my guess is that I will have to keep increasing the potassium in order to get relief whereas I never have to increase the iron.  The iron feeds the receptors it doesn't squeeze the living heck out of them.  Both have to be taken during an attack or right before bed.  You wouldn't take an aspirin in the morning if you got a headache at night, right Ever wonder why some people eat a banana or two and swear that it helps their RLS and then all of a sudden not.  Every claims it was just a placebo effect.  I think not.  I think the potassium in the banana helped them but then like any good dopamine agonist you have to keep increasing the amount of potassium.

Anyways, Graham has the best solution, although I don't think it is what you eat so much as how much and when you eat it.  Fasting or consistently under-eating is now well known to increase the size and density of our receptors...everyone's not just those of us with RLS.  That might be the way to go even if you're not overweight.  There's nothing like being hungry and depressed to send signals to the brain to ramp up those receptors.

Good luck my RLS friends

Hi Mali   I totally agree that if your on a good thing then stick to it.

Iron helped me but only for a few months.   I was on iron sulphate and then I tried iron bis-glycinate on Udon's recomendation but it didn't help.   Perhaps I had already taken too much iron or something.   I was on a very high dose of iron and several people expressed an opinion that it was probably dangerous to my liver or kidney  -  some part that I want to look after so they last another 30 years.

My daughter has RLS (thanks to my genes) and she gets relief by massaging with something she calls liquid magnesium.

Eliminating some thing or things by following the FODMAP diet has 90% fixed my RLS so I am about to go for 100% by applying the magnesium liquid.

Unfortunately it gets worse as you get older so we might all have to apply a range of defences with each one contributing 10%

Does anyone know if the augmentation (needing higher and higher doses) is reversable?   By which I mean if you get relief from pottassium in bananas for a year and then you start to need more will it reset itself in another year?

Same applys to drugs.   Some gave me near complete relief for several months before I reacted badly to them.   If I return to the same drugs would I get an instant bad reaction or another few months of relief.   I know I could try it out and see but I am too scared that the FODMAP diet might stop working if I diverge from what is currently successful!

Back to "if you're on a good thing Stick to it"

Cheers

Graham you tried iron bis-glycinate?  You never mentioned that on here?  Sorry to hear that it didn't work for you.  What's the name of the brand that you used and when did you take it?  I actually open the capsule up and pour the contents into water then drink it down on an empty stomach during an attack.  How did you take your iron?  Did you try it during the 10% of the time when Fodmop does not provide relief? It takes about an hour to kick in.  Did you wait that long?  I tell people to try a second pill if the first doesn't work.  It has given complete relief to a friend of mine, my sister in law and a co-worker.  They will not leave home without their iron pills.  Like you I am not one for pushing our iron stores up to 300 like they do at Johns Hopkins.  Mine seems to hover around 100.  How about yours?  I wouldn't scare people off of trying iron by saying people told you it could be dangerous to your liver and kidney.  One iron pill is equivalent to what - a steak?  The iron pill that I take is equivalent to 132%  of the recommended daily allowance.  RDAs areusually on the low side.if iron works for you Mali, then you can go to  doctor and have it monitored.  Have you ever heard of anyone blowing out their liver or kidneys from one iron pill a day?  Steroids yes, pain killers yes, iron no.  Maybe a whole bottle of 90 within the span of one hour.  Even then I doubt it.