Effective Natural Remedies for Restless Legs Syndrome Relief

Eliminate Coffee

Posted by Sabrana (Newcastle, Nsw) on 07/27/2011
★★★★★

Hi,

I just wanted to share that since giving up coffee, I don't have Restless Legs syndrome anymore. Simple.

Thanks

Eliminate Coffee

Posted by David (Greenville, Sc) on 10/04/2012

Try this; worked for me. My leg agitation would drive me crazy at night and I realized that there was a corrolation between intake of sugar after six oclock or so, and the irritable leg issue.

Two solutions: First I cut way back on night time consumption of sugar products. Especially damaging is sugar late at night. That almost always caused RLS.

But, if I break down and do have the ice cream etc. And know that the irritation is likely, in fact, I usually can feel it coming on even before I am ready to sleep, I use a solution of baking soda in water; a half teaspoon in a half cup of water and apply on my knee caps... Which is where the irritation centers in on me. Then I drink the remainder of the soda/water. That combo alkalizes the body. The sugar is a terrible cause of acidic body condition, probably produced over a lifetime of too much sugar consumption and the inability to metabolize it efficently gives a side effect of acidic condition which perhaps along with insulin issues causes the RLS.

This formula really works. No sugar at night but if you do and the RLS starts take the baking soda in water topically and drink the rest to create an alkaline condition.

A Bar of Soap

Posted by Debbie (Melbourne, Australia) on 07/02/2011

Surveyor65, From the Doctoryourself.com website:

Just thought I'd let you know another great use for Niacin -- restless leg syndrome. My husband has never been officially diagnosed, but has a lot of trouble sleeping. This year when the work season started again, he began kicking me all night. It got so bad that I wasn't going to be able to sleep in the same room. Every few seconds, his legs would move and it was driving me up the wall. I persuaded my husband to try Niacin with Vitamin C right before bedtime. Works like a charm, in fact when he missed his vitamins the other night, I could tell within minutes. What a great solution to a problem that so many suffer with! "

"Doses vary from person to person, ranging anywhere from a low 50-100 mg to a high 500 mg".

Source: http://www.doctoryourself.com/leg.htm

Niacin

Posted by Wendy D (Houston, Texas/usa) on 06/18/2011
★★★★★

Niacin (use the non-flushing kind) may work for some people. I read where you can take 50mg to 500mg an hour and 1/2 before bed with food can help. I had a bad couple of nights with relatively little sleep due to my legs and tried all of my usual tricks that didn't work. I bought a 250mg of niacin, opened it and sprinkled about 1/3 into a glass of water and drank it. Last night I slept like a baby.

Niacin is known to give the skin a flush for awhile. I would start off slow to see if you react to even the non-flushing kind.

Aspirin

Posted by Zoe (Seattle, Wa) on 07/12/2012
★★★★★

Yup, aspirin works for me. I read somewhere that RLS is basically the brain mis-firing low-level pain signals. Aspirin works to block just enough of those signals that RLS goes away - other painkillers work, Tylenol is the safest to take long-term (some studies show elevated liver enzymes after a few weeks, but nothing to be alarmed about and no liver damage occurs). Aspirin has side-effects like blood-thinning if taken over the long-term. I just switch 'em off, but do talk to your doctor.

Pineapple Juice, Tonic Water, Nutmeg

Posted by Tulip (Monticello, Arkansas) on 11/14/2010
★★★★★

For RLS: 3 oz. Pineapple Juice, 3 oz. Tonic Water with quinine, and a couple of shakes of Nutmeg. Mix these 3 ingredients together and drink nightly about 30 minutes before your RLS usually kicks in. I was given this recipe by a holistic doctor and it works every night.

A Bar of Soap

Posted by Blanche (New Iberia, La.) on 03/24/2010
★★★★★

Yep. I felt a little foolish doing this, but it does indeed work for RLS. I happened to use an old bar of Lifebuoy soap, and it is firm enough to have lasted for at least three years. Every now and then I use it for handwashing or something and it seems to revive the smell of it, which I happen to like.

A Bar of Soap

Posted by Sal (Fresno, Ca, 93726) on 01/04/2010
★★★★★

Yes. A bar of ivory soap also worked for my RLS. You would have to put a new one every now and then.

A Bar of Soap

Posted by Stephanie (Racine, WI) on 07/29/2009
★★★★★

I have used the bar under the sheets as well. I think it is a life saver!!! another trick, if you wear socks to bed at night; you can also use a sliver of soap in each sock. I do this too, when my husband complains about the bar of soap in the bed.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Barbara (Swansea, South Wales) on 07/13/2009

I have just recently been suffering from RSL and it is making my life completely miserable. So I have just been reading all the useful remedies provided by fellow sufferers. Thank you very much. Starting to-day! I am going to have a go. Strangely however I have always dedicated my good health to Cider Vinegar, but in recent times have neglected to do so. I wonder if this is the cause of my nightly suffering. I saw my doctor who gave me pain-killers and sleeping tablets but they are causing other problems like I do not have the energy I usually have. I will start to-day from the beginning of these pages and will let you know in about a week how I have got on.

Thank you all so much.

Barbara from Wales

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Gail (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) on 04/29/2009
★★★★★

RLS

I believe the recommended dose of vinegar for weight loss is 2 teaspoons in 16oz of water sipped throught the day I don't know if this will be enough for rls if not do it 2 or 3 times throught the day but also rub your legs with the vinegar, I get almost instant relief from this. Hope it works for u too. Gail

Selenium Deficiency Trigger

Posted by Rich (Boca Raton, Fl) on 03/28/2009
★★★★★

Restless Leg Syndrome: I have a theory on this one, that this disease, RLS, exists in the animal world with a different name. WMD - White Muscle Disease.

Somebody on here with this disease will eventually get a blood test. I propose that someone with RLS tests for Selenium Deficiency.

Magnesium

Posted by Mary (Douglasville, Georgia, USA) on 03/28/2009

I have found magnesium supplements at bedtime work like a charm. However, they also loosen the bowels a bit, but nothing uncontrollable.

A Bar of Soap

Posted by Rita (Plano, TX) on 03/19/2009
★★★★★

I had never heard about putting the bar of soap at your feet but I have put soap on a wet paper towel and rubbed it on my legs at work. It works wonderful. I am so glad someone told me about it. It's awful when you are trying to work or sleep and can't because of RLS.

Folic Acid

Posted by Pamela (New Smyrna Beach, FL) on 02/19/2009
★★★★★

Folic Acid cured my inherited Restless Legs. My mother also had restless legs. I am 47 years old and I have had restless legs in the evening for about 10 years. I couldn't sit on the couch and try to relax or take a long car ride at night without my legs going crazy twitching. It's only been in the last year or so that it has actually affected me in bed while I'm trying to sleep. It progressively got worse until it was keeping me awake for most of the night. That's when I realized I was not going to take this lightly anymore. I have done research and tried many things over the years, but when you read so many things some of it just goes over your head. The folic acid connection was one of the things that just kept going over my head. So when I looked deeper into it recently, I started seeing many accounts of how folic acid deficiency can be inherited. Some people just cannot absorb and utilize folate effectively and that can be an inherited problem. I looked deeper and learned that some of the signs of folic acid deficiency, aside from restless legs, are periodontal disease (my mom had it in her mid thirties and had all her teeth removed), poor circulation (my hands & feet are always cold), and even Alzheimer's (my mom contracted Alzheimer's in her mid sixties). I read that if this is the case with you that you need to supplement with high doses of folic acid. I bought the 800 mcg tablets and started with just a couple of them at a time. I have built up to taking 15 of them at night before bed and my restless legs are no more. I can hardly believe it, but it's true. It took about a week or two for it to completely disappear and if my body adjusts to this dosage and it comes back, I will just continue to increase my dosage as necessary. I am a firm believer in healing ourselves with natural products and methods. I have used much information from this wonderful site to improve and cure my problems.

I'd like to add that EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), which is a form of self-applied acupressure, has also helped me greatly. Used correctly, it will stop the twitching in your legs. For me it was only temporary because of the folic acid deficiency, but it was a huge help to me in the middle of the night when I couldn't get to sleep because of my restless legs. I hope this can help someone else who struggles with this problem.

Multiple Remedies

Posted by Margaret (Denver, Co) on 12/09/2010

"three places inside the legs that feel hard and painful" sound like trigger points. Check out the book "Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" by Clair Davies to see if it makes sense to you. I've suffered from RLS for about 10 years and finally reached out to a naturopath who immediately knew what caused it and what to do. RLS is from lymphatic waste pooling in the legs which irritates the nerves, causing the muscles to spasm. This made perfect sense to me, but I'd never thought of it before. Before I went to the naturopath, I'd been taking 3 capsules of magnesium asporotate (Solaray brand) before bed, which works as a muscle relaxant. (Taking much more than that has a laxative effect. ) I'd also do deep runner stretches of the hip flexors, which were the muscles giving me all the trouble. This helped somewhat. Often I'd be up 2-3 times during the night, awakened by jerky legs. I'd walk around the house, sometimes almost to the point of tears because it was SO incredibly frustrating. The magnesium and stretching helped, but obviously they weren't enough. The naturopath suggested the following things which worked like magic:

- 10 to 15 minutes daily bouncing on a mini trampoline. This helps stimulate and clear the lymphatic system
- homeopathic lymphatic drops daily, again to stimulate the lymphatic system
- curcumin daily to clean out the liver which deals with waste delivered to it by the lymphatic system
- yoga, especially inverted poses. For the last 25 or so years I've taken good care of myself: exercised regularly, eaten health food, drank plenty of water, taken supplements. I was already avoiding foods that cause toxins (waste) in the first place--meaning junk food and foods I was allergic to. This was a difficult problem to solve. Now, I usually sleep normally and have slacked off on the trampoline. (If I did the trampoline daily, I'd probably have a complete cure. ) When I exercise a lot, the RLS flares up. I can usually stop it and get back to sleep by deep leg stretches and then a shoulder stand for about 5 minutes. This was really affecting my life in a negative way. I'm so thankful I found things that worked and hope others do too.

Prescription Drug Link to Rls

Posted by Sharin (Seattle, WA) on 10/06/2008
0 out of 5 stars

Guess what kids, one of the major causes of RLS, is anti depressants and over the counter cold/sinus meds. muscle relaxers too. You didn't hear much about RLS until everyone and their brother was on ANTI Ds. Also, a lot of sinus medications, cold and flu meds.

I noticed this as a child, I could not take over the counter or prescribed meds because of those side effects. I decided I would rather have the symptoms of the cold or allergies than the RLS they gave me, back in the 1960s, 70s,80s, they didnt have a name for it, you hardly ever heard of it. But once the whole world got in anti depressents you starting hear about it. Even Nyquil or Benedryl does it to me, flexeril, all that stuff.

So if you have RLS, you might start looking back on when it started and what meds you introduced into your life. I'm not saying you should go off your prescribed meds, but every once in awhile the insert of a medication will now list RLS as a side effect, but not often enough. I hope this info can help someone. Just a thought.

Magnesium

Posted by Paige (Portland, OR) on 03/16/2008
★★★★★

I have had problems with RLS and have found two remedies that work for me.

The first is magnesium supplementation, which I see is often mentioned on this site. When I feel the twitching, unable-to-stop-moving feeling, I get out of bed and take the recommended dose of a calcium/magnesium/Vitamin D supplement. I get back in bed and am asleep before I remember to check if it has worked. This doesn't seem to have a cumulative effect; I have to take this most nights. I might not need it a few times a week.

The second remedy I've found is a very healthy diet. When I eat nothing but fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and a little fish, I never get RLS symptoms. As soon as I add unhealthier things to my diet, it comes back. I hope this is helpful to some of you out there and I hope you try some of these remedies before turning to Requip or some other drug.