Effective Natural Remedies for Restless Legs Syndrome Relief

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.

Horse Chestnut tabs from a health food store will relieve symptoms of RLS in some people. There is some evidence that insomnia and RLS may be secondary to folic deficiency. People with a family history of RLS may benefit from taking 5-10 mg per day of folic acid. However, those taking folic acid should make sure they are receiving at least 500-1000 mcg of vitamin B12. Also, consult a physician before using folic acid if you have epilepsy as folic acid interacts with some epilepsy medications and can trigger a seizure in some people. Obviously, from the discussion, different people benefit from different supplements and treatments. One should experiment carefully until you get it right.

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.

"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.

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.

for anyone who can't take acv for their restless legs they can rub it into their legs, this works just as well as taking it internally

A simple bar of regular Bath Soap placed under your bedsheets below your feet works amazing well to get rid of "Restless Legs"! It doesn't really seem to matter what type of soap is used, and you can even leave the soap in its wrapper. I'm not sure why this works, but I'm sure it has to do with the "outgassing" of the soap chemicals, which you can smell. Or it may have to do with the Molecular structure of soap, and the energy those molecules put off and how they influence your muscles. Either way, it works! I have read about this several times in "natural health" articles and have had many people use this. They think it sounds crazy, but they are happy either way with the results. We have found no negative side-effects with doing this. Try it yourself and stop your Restless Legs in your bed at night!

RLS --I vote "Yea" to Soap and Yea to Calcium Magnesium tablets. Don't know why the soap at your feet works, but, it does. Immediately. CM tablets also work--when I remember to take them!

I use Cream of Wheat for my RLS!! My legs have always hurt plus I've had poor circulation for as long as I can remember. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, so I researched causes and found one reason was an Iron deficiency. I then researched foods rich in Iron and came up with Cream of Wheat, 1 cup equal to 10 mg. and Total, 1 ounce equal to 18 mg. RDA is 19 mg. per day. Don't care for Total that much but love COW. Have now been taking it for 3 weeks straight, my legs are totally cured. How long did it take? Instantly. I noticed the results after the first time I took it. Even I can't believe it, it's a miracle!!!

Yes, it's metformin and since taking it my legs feel 99% better.

Metformin -- dosage for me is once a day, in the morning before I eat anything. I think the mg. is 250. Honestly, if I had known my diabetes was the REAL cause of my RLS I would've taken it years ago, but I didn't have medical insurance and couldn't afford to see a doctor. It wasn't until my sister, a nurse, contacted a (medical) doctor who saw me pro bono took a lot of tests and when apprised of my family medical history diagnosed me as having Type II diabetes and telling me my RLS was related to my diabetic neuropathy (nerve pain.)

FYI, I still have foot pain, especially after walking a lot, this is where the cream of wheat comes in, but the RLS is all but gone, except for about 1%, which is almost negligible!

Also, I've started taking mustard, approx. a couple of teaspoons. I heard about this on Dr. Oz one day, he said pro football players take it for leg pain. Even though I thought it sounded a little strange I took it and it seems to help a lot. Apparently there's something it that alleviates joint pain.

If anybody else wants to chime in on this I'm all ears.

If you research diabetes on EC you will be getting the truth about metformin. GreenMedInfo online will also get you the full picture.

I have no nerve pain since using high amounts of Amala (Indian vit. C) which is for years. I take it with honey, yes, honey about three times a week with or after meal with powdered Turmeric in goats milk. Nothing else needed. This is after a lot of research.

It is in the doctors handbook that allopathic medicine causes death which is then certified to be caused by "diabetes and heart failure".

These meds. cause dehydration till the heart gives out. Inform yourself and you will benefit.

Namaste, Om

Oh... I forgot to mention, I'm now using magnesium oil for my feet when they hurt. I love this stuff, everybody and I mean everybody should get it and try it! It comes in a spray bottle and is applied topically, I use right before bedtime and boy does it help with my throbbing pain. It calms them down and makes it possible for a restful night's sleep. When I awake poof the pain is gone!

So in conclusion, for me it's cream of wheat, table mustard and magnesium oil. And of course, metformin for the RLS.

P.S. Initially I take magnesium taurate to fall asleep... which I've been taking faithfully for approx. 8 years now. Love magnesium for all its applications!

Be very careful what you call a "cure". something may help you with your symptoms, nbt by no means is it a cure. If you stopped taking the BSM your RLS would come back, so that is not a cure, it is a method of treating RLS for SOME people. what works for one person does not work for the next person. people should use the word CURE sparingly and carefully. Insulin does not CURE Diabetes, but it controls it. Way different than a cure.

Hello Donna,

Hope you didn't have a visit from the FDA that has you so cautious about using the word "cure".

If you can remove symptoms of a problem with vitamins, minerals or supplements, I call that replacing something that you are not getting from your diet, not a cure. Of course if a deficiency is the problem, then you are going to have to continue to take the vitamins, minerals or supplements that help unless you alter your food intake to supply what you are deficient in. When you alter your diet to include what you are missing, I call this improvement in nutrition which in turn gets rid of the problem of a deficiency. However your body is most likely going to require certain vitamins, minerals, etc. so the only cure is to alter the diet to supply the required nutrients. The general consensus today seems to be that our soil is so depleted that it is next to impossible to get all our bodies need from fruits & vegetables grown in it. However it seems that our Supreme Being is doing a better job of rebuilding the soil in the woods than our farmers are (organic farmers are learning to do a better job of it) because the "critters" living in the wild seem to be quite healthy.

I have no problem calling something a cure if it does the trick! I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis / Hypothyroidism and my last bloodtest showed low Ferritin which can be a precursor to Anemia. Molasses is one of the high iron suggestions to help increase iron levels. It provides the body with something it needs....that's a cure! Obviously if you are not taking in enough of the vitamins and minerals it needs it will again become deficient.

Ok I have been using the BSM for a few weeks now. My RLS is mostly gone but stil some tension in my legs, but I have had the RLS for 25 years now so it may take some time to get rid of it completly. I am also using goji berry juice, its working wonders, my eyes are starting to get better. Between the BSM and the goji berry Im getting a lot healthyer.

I have been working with a naturopathic doctor for a number of ailments. Although I do not have RLS, this Dr. has a radio show (620am) in Pittsburgh and has commented on RSL causes. It is usually a mineral deficiency. Adding Calcium, Magnesium or Potassium is typically the remedy. However one must be aware that there is also an underlying cause depleting minerals in the body. Soda pop (pH=2.5), coffee (pH=5.0), alcohol can pull minerals from muscles (cramps) and bones (thinning) to ring the body back to alkaline (the blood is tightly regulated at a pH of ~7.4). Try cutting out such items and supplement with good quality minerals and you should see a marked improvement. Good luck!

any pain relieving balm with the active ingredients menthol and methyl salicylate should relieve your rls in about 15-25min. i used some extra strength balm which was kinda ICY to numb the discomfort and HOT to relax it away worked wonders for me and it should for you enjoy!

Stevia is widely available. I buy mine at Walmart. Among other things (oh, joy), I have Interstitial Cystitis (Painful Bladder) and artificial sweeteners cause flares.

When I was pregnant, I had terrible RLS in the third trimester. After I had the baby, it got much better. Unfortunately, five years later, I had a miscarriage and seemed to have RLS again. It wasn't as severe as the first time but it kept me up at night none the less. Meanwhile, I had started using regular deoderant with the aluminum(sp) in it. I read that that is one of the contributing factors of RLS so I stopped using antiperspirent. (Of course I use something to deoderize like a mineral rock :)) My mild case of RLS is gone.

You can make your own deodorant:

5 tbsp. Virgin Coconut Oil
1/4 cup Arrowroot Powder (or Corn Starch)
1/4 cup Baking Soda
5 drops Tea Tree Oil
Optional: Jasmine Oil or any Good smelling Essential Oil

Mix the powdered ingredients together
Add the Tea Tree Oil to Coconut Oil (and Essential Oil Fragrance) and stir

Drizzle into powdered mixture until it forms a ball sort of like play dough consistency.

I store mine in a small jar. Cleaned out pimento or small artichoke jar works well.

Apply with fingers.

Hope it helps!

I had heard that for those who inherited restless leg seem to require high doses of folic acid. I've tried this and it works great. I take about 20, 800mcg's at night.

I have had restless leg syndrome for years. One day a lady suggested magnesium to me. Now I take magnesium at night and find it helps my legs relax and I can get to sleep. My mother also has restless leg syndrome and has been taking medications for it but has had a lot of side effects. I told her about magnesium and now she only needs half the medication that she used to to get to sleep. Hopefully this helps other people.

I read all the comments made on controling restless leg... I want to add that I read the book, RLS cured forever and the author suggestion an elimination diet of all forms of dairy products (casinate, whey, milk, non-dairy creamer, etc). My RLS has improved 98%... I believe I was experiencing an allergy to dairy products due to a mineral deficiency my body is experiencing. I feel much better but it has been difficult at times when I crave donuts or products that contain dairy. However, it is worth not having RLS. I also want to add that I recently had a baby and I give him formula (I must be highly sensive to exposure... Throw-up.. Spills.. etc. ) so I believe this is why I still get some RLS. Anyway, I am going to try the vitamins, vinegar/water, blackstrap molasses and ivory soap. Thank you for all the info.

I went to the health food store to ask about what I could give my 15 month-old son for constipation. They suggested 1-2 tsp. of blackstrap molasses in his bottle. I bought the bottle, came home, came to this website and discovered all different things this stuff is good for. I am 8 months pregnant. I was having a lot of trouble sleeping and developing symptoms of restless leg syndrome (common in pregnancy). I decided to give it a shot. Long story short, my son is pooping like a champ and I started sleeping through the night without any jerking limbs ON THE FIRST DAY! I ran out for one day, and I had a horrible night sleep. I am amazed and delighted.

I have taken potassium supplements for many years (plus iron and calcium) to control my RLS symptoms. It took me a while to find the right balance of supplements, but my RLS rarely keeps me from falling asleep. It still bothers me on long car trips or in a long movie if I'm tired.

I had a sleep study done a couple of years ago, and the doctor remarked at how much leg movement I have in my sleep (even with taking the supplements). He indicated that RLS is associated with low iron. So, I increased my iron a little, and the symptoms improved. I know, however, that the potassium helps because if I run out of it my legs are "dancing" within a couple of days.

Of course, it goes without saying to check with your doc before starting ANY supplements. It is not actually low iron that can cause RLS, but low Ferritin stores. I have not seen anyone mention this.You have to ask for the Ferritin test, not just an iron test. It all depends on how your brain assimilates the iron, and stores it. Your iron level is another whole test. and, that would be why Molassess helps because of all the iron in it. Remember one "cure" that works for one person, will be troublesome for the next one. using the word cure with RLS is a misnomer, as there is no cure. Like there is no cure for diabetes. You can control the symptoms at times for RLS, but not cure it.

I started taking apple cider vinegar for the acid reflux , i took one tablespoon with a cold glass of water a day for a week and right away i notice that my legs didn't hurt at night any more, which they have been bothering me for years. i never went to the doctors about it. every night it kept me awake for hours,and i felt like crying thinking i don't want to have to go through this the rest of my life. i started taking aleve or whatever else i could think might work which i don't like taking med. aleve didn't work that good. anyway, the apple cider vinegar did work for me. i did have to quit taking it every day because i only weigh 132 pounds and the vinegar was making me lose weight so now i only do the vinegar every 3 or four days and it is still working. i'm very glad i started taking it for the acid reflux and found that my legs no longer I'm am so thankful. i have no problem going to sleep at night any more. as bad as it bothered me and now that it doesn't, i want every one that has restless legs to give it a try . oh yea i started taking it october 5th 2006. well that is a bout it good luck to any one with restless legs. i know what it is like to have restless legs ,and i hope it works for all who tries it. good luck

Yes. Thank you so very much for posting this. It really worked for me. About an half an hour to an hour before I go to sleep, I warm up a glass of water (8 oz. or so) and add 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and 2 teaspoons of honey. (I buy the one that says unfiltered apple cider vinegar made from ripe apples - organic, pasteurized). This formula really worked for me. The taste is good and I read a lot of things about apple cider vinegar, it is supposed to be a very good thing and has been used for centuries safely. So definitely give it a try. Thank you again!!!

If that's the best you have got, we are in the boat-all of us-without a paddle. I have yet to try the baking soda, although I Will. I have always thought RLS was something that my body lacked, as I thought I was the only one who suffered from this! Bar of soap is not a cure. I promise.