RLS - Ropinirole - NO sleep.

I have long experience with RLS and the effect of lack of sleep consequent to it.

I have only found one solution.  I tried several drugs and had bad reactions to them either immediately or after a short period of use.

It has been found by some people that the cause of their RLS is a food intolerance which seems to be related to the foods that cause thew problem called irritable bowel syndrome (ibs)

This is just experience of a few people and has no scientific justification other than it has worked for some.   The Monash University in Australia developed a diet called the FODMAP diet.   This is a two part action.   The first part is a very strict exclusion diet where you make sure you dontr eat any of the foods that are causing you problems.   This is suppposed to be followed for about 8 to 12 weeks.   I found I needed longer and then your symptoms might have gone away in which case you are lucky because it means you have found a reason for your RLS.    Then what is supposed to happen is that you re-introduce foods carefully one by one until you identify certain groups that are causing you problems.    From then on you "just" avoid those foods and enjoy eating everything else.   Of course you also get to enjoy 8 hours sleep again.   For some people it workks just like the plan but for others it either doesn't work at all or they cant reintroduce any foods successfully.    I think this means that you are intolerant of any of the identified food groups.   But you still enjoy sleep.    Early evidence claimed that it had a 70% success rate with ibs but no-one has done the work to produce statistics for rls.   Mainly becasue there is little research into rls and what there is seesm to reject the food intolerance theory out of hand.   Cynics say there is no profit in a diet that works but I wouldnt be so mean.

If you arte interested the diet is free and the food is probably about the same cost as non-diet food.   You just shop carefully and read every6 label looking for any gluten, wheat, lactose and a few others.

In this topic of Restless legs syndrome there is a discussion calle RLS and diet.   There you will find some links to other institutions that have been supporting this diet in the US and UK,   Monash doesnt get a link because they have started to charge AUD10 fror a book and an App for your late modern smartphone.

I recomend you get help from a dietician who has heard of FODMAP to help you with the diet.    Once I found some foods I could eat and sleep with I have been too scared to get adventurous and really try to expand my diet.

I think I'm scared that if I eat too much off the diet it might stop working.   I think it actually works the other way so that now the consequences of slipping off the diet for a single meal or even a day seem to be less severe than they used to be.

So I recomend that you give it a few weeks.   Some people get a result the next day after starting the diet.    You might have difficulty in working out if you have RLS or effects of withdrawal from your drugs.   I have sciatica and sometimes I feel like the RLS is coming back but I think its the sciatica.    My doctor also told me that sciatica or arthritus pain can trigger RLS.  I thnk I have seen a few people on this forum report an association between the onsett of their RLS and some othe rinjury or condition like these.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to answer them

Its not an investment in time or money.   You just invest in denying some trivial pleasures in life in the quest to never see 3am again!

Thanks for your reply.   Its interesting that you have found a connection between food and RLS.  Glad to hear that you have had a few hours sleep.

Brocholli is one of the froods that you dont eat when you are on your exclusion diet.   I think this probably means that it is part of a food group that you can eat.   Which is good.

A problem with the FODMAP diet is that the food you eat has nothing to do with "healthy" food   it is just food you can eat without annoying your ibs or perhaps, RLS.    For example onion and garlic are out which really hurts some people.   But it only hurts until you find that the diet works for you.  I have had minor doses of RLS lately and I think the cause is that I have een rewarding myself with a few squares of milk chocolate per day.    I know I dont tolerate lactose but there I go taking just a little because I am sure it wont be enough to cause a problem.   Fortunately I haven't heard that smoking is excluded by the diet.  For something sweet I now rely on crystallised ginger whh is FODMAP friendly although its obviously unhealthy with all the sugar.

Read up about the diet and if you decide to take the plunge then stick to it asiduously  I have found that a small amount of banned substances is enough to waste a weeks good work.  For example in Australia potato chips (frys) are usually coated in flour to make them crispy.  You might reckon that wo9uldn't be enough to hurt you but it used to cost me two nights sleep.   At the golden arches in Aus the frys are gluten free.   If you are at a restaurant ask them to check their allergy table to see if that applies where you are.  Get your list of allowable foods

There are a few anomolies on the lists.   Monash suggest there is a threshold for some foods.   I think an example is cherries.   Some places say cherries are OK but Monash say you are allowed 5 cherries.

At first I discovered that bananas wer OK.   So I ate bananas for three meals a day and supper  -  easy and nutricious BUT too many and my RLS came back,   So to some extent you should be eating as much variety as you can find that are on your allowable list and in the supermarkets at this time of year. 

  Incidently I eat a lot of rice cakes with cheese or peanut butter.   Some cheeses are lactose free.  These are aged hard cheese or the soft cheeses like brie and Camembert.   I start every day with a mandarine or an orange and my one banana for the day.

I hope the diet helps you

Graham