Medication To Treat RLS

Now that you understand the place medication has in your overall strategy, let's look at the different type of medications available and their pros and cons when used to treat RLS.

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Dopamine Agonists

The most commonly prescribed medications within this group are Requip and Mirapex. Mirapex is the drug that I personally use to treat my RLS and it has worked wonders for me. Doctor's do not know exactly how Mirapex works for RLS but it does for many people. Speak to your doctor to see if Mirapex is right for you.

There are some precautions however when using Mirapex in particular and Dopamine Agonists in general. Sometimes they actually cause the symptoms to worsen and start earlier in the day for some. Obviously this is not ideal and luckily I did not have this problem. The second issue with these drugs is the possibility of 'rebound'. Rebound is when you miss taking the medication for whatever reason (perhaps you forget to take it on vacation or run out etc.) and the symptoms come back with a vengance. I have experienced this effect first hand and it is absolutely horrible. I am preparing to wean myself off of Mirapex and will be working closely with my doctor to do so.

Requip and Mirapex are the first 2 medications in the U.S. to be approved by the FDA to treat Restless Legs Syndrome.

Benzodiazepines

A couple of examples of this group are Clonazopam and Valium. These do not actually treat the limb movements but just assist you in not waking when the limb movements occur. This can work great for some as even though your RLS is still occurring, you do not wake up and are able to get the deep restorative sleep needed.

I actually tried Clonazopam and as it does for some it greatly exacerbated my symptoms. It was not pretty. Aside from this, Benzodiazepines can be highly addictive. Personally, I would explore other options before taking a highly addictive drug. Another thing to note is that often RLS affects your bed partner as well. This is not to be taken lightly as it can absolutely affect your bed partners sleep. Because Benzodiazepines do not treat the symptoms, you will still have leg movements and will still be disturbing your bed partner's sleep.

There are many other types of medications that your doctor may recommend such as morphine, codeine and methadone.

If you are considering using medication to treat your RLS I would speak to your doctor about which is right for you and as this sleep disorder is so misunderstood, not a lot of physician's really understand it either. So, I would begin by mentioning both Requip and Mirapex to him/her as they have anecdotally had the greatest effectiveness in treating RLS.