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Sleep improvement

Posted , 5 users are following.

thomas24929
thomas24929

I’ve suffered RLS for 40 years. For me it’s severe. I’ve altered my lifestyle to cope. I sleep wherever and whenever I can. Usually only for about 10 mins before my RLS disturbs me. On long journeys, for instance, I have to stop at every services to rest. I plan what I’m going to do through the night. I also suffer Depression. I’m therefore a neurological wreck. Serotonin and Dopamine deficient. I’m on Pramapexole which works to some extent. I fact, if I didn’t take Pramapexole at around 16.30, I wouldn’t get any sleep at all. I recently suffered a Depressive episode and came close to ending my own life. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m a father and my two daughters need me, I doubt if I would be here now. My depression medication was altered to Venlafaxin. Initially 37.5 mg. It worked and depression improved but still plagued by RLS. On visiting my doctor again, he increased my Venlafaxin to 75mg, slow release. Which brings me to the point of my discussion? Since I’ve taken 75 mg, my sleep has dramatically improved. I’m actually able to have a reasonable nights sleep. Not all the time but enough to overcome sleep depravation to a manageable level. Hope this all helps you.

2 likes, 22 replies

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  • phazie
    phazie thomas24929

    Posted

    Thank you for your nice reply. I am going to try the food map diet and hope I can stick with it. I am not very good at following a specialty diet since I have to cook each night for 4 other people but I will try. If you can't have dairy, can you have almond milk?
    • graham9772
      graham9772 phazie

      Posted

      Hi Phazie

      Its actually the FODMAP diet   The letters stand for different types of fermentable carbohydrates

      Yes almond milk is acceptable and tatses quite good.   In Australia there are several brands of lactose free milk available.  One brand is long life and another is fresh and refrigerated.

      I also cook for a family and it is difficult to cook up something for everyone at the same time as you cook rice and capsicum for yourself.   However if it works its worth it!!   After a while you get the hang of it and make up the same plateful for everyone but you just eat more of some things (like mashed potato, carrot,  and green beans and none of others, like onion and garlic.   You can eat any meat (I hope you're not a vege,   that would be really hard,  just be careful of sauces.  I know a brand of tomato sauce and sweet chilli sauce.    Capsicum chopped up small and fried with a light sprinkle of chilli flakes and then mixed with cooked rice and all fried up with a bit og sweet chilli sauce makes a nice meal.   Finish it off with a small can of pine apple and you have a good meal.

      Its a real shame about stone fruit grapes and watermelon.   Oranges and mandarins are OK.   And bananas.   I now eat a banana for breakfst and probably a snack in the afternoon.   Variety is the important thing to look for so  a little bit of lots of things.

      I have to admit that I eat a rice cake sandwich with nutella inside sometimes.    Not healthy but I am worrying about other things than healthy until I get the whole thing working smoothly.

      Stick to your list of allowable foods, keep a food diary drink plenty of plain water

      I hope you are among the lucky ones who are helped by FODMAP friendly foods.

      Good Luck

      Graham

       

  • Srahjayne17
    Srahjayne17 thomas24929

    Posted

    Hi Thomas, I'm 33 and my RLS went from mildly annoying to all the time. I tried minerals which I thought were working but I think it was just psychosomatic.. Something that has truly worked for me is high potency Magnesium. I've tried magnesium before but it HAS to be high potency. I'm a female so I notice around my monthly it gets worse so sometimes I take two pills. I also have an anti-anxiety prescription which knocks me out at night so that helps too. Have you tried any type of anti-anxiety magnesium combo?? For me, I was willing to try anything because RLS is so annoying!!
    • graham9772
      graham9772 Srahjayne17

      Posted

      Hi Srahjayne

      Can you please let me know what type of magnesium it is.   I have tried a few varieties like magnesium citrate and it makes my RLS worse.   My daughter has mild RLS and she has found that rubbing her legs with something called magnesium oil when she has symptoms works well and the symptoms go away almost immediately.

      When you say it has helped do you mean that you have no symptoms any more or that they are reduced in level or frequency?

      Thanks

      Cheers

      Graham

    • Srahjayne17
      Srahjayne17 graham9772

      Posted

      Hi Graham, if you search Amazon for "high potency" Magnesium you should find it. I'll have the occasional flare up but nothing like it used to be. Although this all started happening after I became a vegetarian so I was almost certain I had some sort of vitamin deficiency because my eating changed. Perhaps look at anything that may have changed when this started? Just an idea.

      Sarah

    • graham9772
      graham9772 Srahjayne17

      Posted

      Thanks Sarah.  I've had RLS for 55 yeras so its a bit hard to remember what started it.    In my case its probably basically heritary but seems to be triggered by food.

      Cheers

      Graham

  • graham9772
    graham9772 thomas24929

    Posted

    Hi Thomas

    How are you going?   Have you tried the FODMAP diet yet?

    I hope things are going better for you now

    Cheers

    Graham

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