Whatever happened to Restless Leg Syndrome?

[panader0]

Remember that? The previously unheard of ailment was ushered in with it's drug cure. The drug that warned that it could cause uncontrollable gambling and sexual urges.
I watched a movie on TV earlier and, as usual, disgusted by the ads, especially the drug ads. Every new ailment has a drug that was made before the ailment was named. Some can cause "hostility, depression(those are anti-depressants), thoughts of suicide, rashes" and much more. People taking drugs x,y or z should not take drugs a, b or c.
Every other ad on TV is from some legal firm suing for damages if you or a loved one has taken one of these drugs and suffered x, y or z.
I'm not sure when Big Pharma got such loose regulation. What an unbelievable racket. With doctors getting kick-backs with each prescription. I'll stick with the natural stuff.

[antigop]

1. What ever happened to it? I still have it -- have had it for years

along with a lot of members of my family.

[a la izquierda]

23. I have it too...

drives me nuts at bedtime.

[Ruby the Liberal]

Check the link I posted below

May help. I have a friend who swears by it.

[a la izquierda]

29. I saw that and thanks...

I'm going to try it tonight.

[Ruby the Liberal]

25. Have you checked out this option (organic)

You rub it into the small of your back before bed.

http://www.naturesinventory.com/Relief_from_Restless_Leg_Syndrome_and_PLM_s/22.htm

[left on green only]

56. What Can I Do For Chokehold Arm Syndrome?

My arms automatically fly into it every time I see an image of someone on the right wing. Those people are all evil, straight to the core.

[Auntie Bush]

40. I've had it for a couple decades and am experiencing it at this very moment.

Driving me crazy...but never took any drugs for it...just grin and bear it! I guess I should.

[roguevalley]

52. my mother had it so badly that if she lay down her legs and arms

jerked and moved like they were hook to electricity. I have it now and again and it is HORRIFYING. I loathe this syndrome and I loathe more those who say it doesn't exist. They should have it. It made the last three years of my mother's life HELL.

[pipi_k]

66. Many people don't know

that restless legs can also affect the arms.

I've only had it happen once or twice to my arms. It was weird and disturbing...

[Le Taz Hot]

62. Here's a weird one,

I developed it during perimenopause. Once I went into full-blown menopause, it cleared up. Now the only time I get it is when I take a OTC sleeping pill.

[lightningandsnow]

2. Nice privilege.

I have bipolar disorder and would be dead without "Big Pharma". It's serious able-bodied privilege to expect everyone to just stick to the "natural stuff".

[FLAprogressive]

14. +1

[IcyPeas]

35. my mother's had it long before there was even a name for it.

she thought she was the only one.

[grilled onions]

3. I've Still Got It

I am on too many meds to add another. Between the arthritis,bad back,diabetes,bad circulation this is often a nightmare at night. I have even had it in my arms when I overuse arm muscles that are not strong to begin with. Muscle relaxers seem to work for some but what can the rest of us do for those "snakes" that visit our limbs on almost a daily basis?

[panader0]

7. Please, no offense to you and number 2

I never heard of it until I was 50 or so, and then only in connection with it's "cure".
It just seems to me that there are far more ailments now than there used to be.
And the drugs for these new ailments are causing a lot of damage.
Roll up a fatty and enjoy.

[6000eliot]

34. I've had it all my adult life. Long before the drug existed.

I won't take a prescription medication for it, though, because the side effects are worse than the condition.

[RobinA]

39. I Think

that most people who have it used to think it was something only THEY had. Then when it turned out to be an actual thing that people get it got more publicity.

[freeplessinseattle]

63. Exactly what I was thinking

Was a child when I dealt with this maddening condition, such a nightmare but didn't tell anyone besides my parents. My dad said he had the same thing when he was younger, but didn't tell anyone, either.

It is hard to describe and even now people are skeptical, and without or without the drug available I think plenty of non sufferers would still make fun those who are cursed with the weird, horrible syndrome. Even though treatment for the cursed now exists, there is no treatment as of yet to instill sensitivity and compassion.

[Aristus]

54. There are just as many ailments as there used to be, only now, they all have proper names.

Once, whole classifications of diseases could be dubbed with a single, vague, highly-non-specific term, like "consumption", "wasting", "quinsy", "the pox", "the vapors", and so on.

Nowadays, the scientific method ensures that a disease is properly designated and explained, so that it can be treated effectively.

[jpgray]

4. I think the idea is to re-patent a drug whose patent is to expire

So drum up a study that shows it aids some other ailment.

[Mojambo]

5. I kicked it. n/t

[Curmudgeoness]

6. I agree that these drug ads are aggrevating, as well as

the biggest disincentive to take them. I cannot imagine why they want to advertise on TV. Hell, when they do ads in magazines, they have three pages of minute print that no one reads. When they have an ad on TV or radio, they have to actually vocalize all the horrors of the drug.

What have these ads done for me? They make me ask my doctor a lot of questions about every med he wants to give me. And in the end, I always ask for old drugs first. I understand that there are drugs that I will need that are new and have less known about them in the general population, but just let's try that old standby first. So....thank you to the Big Pharm for making me more informed.

[elfin]

8. Try soap between the sheets

Not kidding - works for many. Also heard extra calcium can help.

Neither try will hurt you, and just may help.

This site is from docs with a show on NPR. Here is the restless leg page.

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2011/05/30/soap-saved-the-day--or-rather-the-night/

[Kaleko]

24. That's incredible.

I've suffered from RLS (leg muscles close to cramping) for years. High doses of magnesium used to help, but lately, I needed so much that it gave me diarrhea. Will try soap tonight. Thank you for that link!

[hobbit709]

9. Been replaced with the new Disease Of The Month-whatever it is now.

[enlightenment]

10. I seem to recall that when they starting letting the drug

companies advertise on TV, they didn't make them divulge potential side-effects. After a few law-suits, etc, they changed the rules so they have to divulge potential side-effects and drug interactions.

Anyone who has ever read one of the package inserts in a prescription med will come away wondering why the hell their physician proscribed such nasty, obviously dangerous stuff to them, even though a careful read will reveal that the actual incidence of most of the side-effects is extremely small.

Personally, if they have to advertise, I'm glad they add their litany of scary side-effects. At least they're mentioning them, which is more than many physicians do when they prescribe them. On the other hand, because they can't detail how rare most of the side-effects are, unless they're planning on doing hour-long commercials, I suspect many people develop some or all of the side-effects listed - or at least think they do.

My mother was that way; if there was a side-effect available, she'd suffer from it. It was pretty amazing . . . (and almost always a psychological, not physiological response).

That said, I don't think they should advertise prescription meds, any more than I think lawyers should be allowed to advertise.

[jmowreader]

57. There are two kinds of these ads

The first is a "ask your doctor if Urdixadrupen is right for you" ad that doesn't say what the medicine treats. They don't have to read off the side effects. You don't see these anymore because a drug ad that doesn't say what the drug supposedly does, doesn't work.

The other is a "can't get it up? Ask your doctor if Urdixadrupen is right for you" ad, which requires they list the side effects.

[enlightenment]

69. Makes sense.

Either one creates a problem, though - presumably (and I use that word advisedly) physicians' know which drug is best and that best choice may not be the hottest new thing to hit the marketplace. Adverts that push drugs encourage people to go to their doctors and request/demand certain brands - that may or may not be the best alternative. They encourage patients to go to their doctors thinking that there is a simple solution for a real (or perceived) problem. They lead to self-diagnoses that an incompetent or lazy or too-busy physician may go along with just to take the easy road.

Physicians are not gods, but they do - presumably - have the education and training to make more informed decisions about these matters. They don't always get it right (I used to double-check with my pharmacist, until the drug stores started replacing them with people who apparently have never seen a Merck Manual) but I know they know more than I do - most of the time (there was an ugly incident with Prilosec, but that's another story . . .).

Drug adverts tend to push the idea of patient as consumer a bit too far.




PS - love the drug name you used . . . :)

[malaise]

11. Why anyone would take these drugs with all the stated side effects

blows my mind.

I'll pass

[Warpy]

18. Uh, because they're desperate for SLEEP?

Think about it.

[TransitJohn]

12. It ought to be illegal for drug manufacturers to advertise to consumers.

Also to doctors. Doctors should be apprised of new drug therapies through their continuing education credits required to maintain their licenses.

[FLAprogressive]

16. Would you apply the same law to makers of homeopathic/"natural" "medicine"?

Not saying I disagree with you though.....

[Lionel Mandrake]

50. Quack remedies should be tested the same way

prescription meds are tested -- for safety and effectiveness, using reputable statistical methods, on sufficiently large populations, double-blinded, etc.

The public should be protected from those that are dangerous & ineffective.

[Major Hogwash]

32. No kidding. Like they want everyone addicted to whatever new pill that comes out.

Have trouble sleeping lately?
Can't take a healthy crap?
Can't seem to focus at work anymore?

New "Crac-A-Pack" can help you now!
When?
Now!
Just take a little crac from the pack, and you'll stay awake at work, and won't even need sleep!
Ask your doctor about it today!

[Riftaxe]

33. Alright, that's one vote for information suppression

and censorship, but why limit it to pharmaceuticals?

[ellenrr]

61. It is illegal in all countries except the US and New Zealand.

And it was illegal in the US until 1997.

"Evidence suggests that direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs increases pharmaceutical sales and both helps to avert underuse of medicines and leads to potential overuse. Concern about such advertising has increased recently owing to the withdrawal from the market of heavily advertised drugs found to carry serious risks. Moreover, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been criticized for its weak enforcement of laws regulating such advertising."

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa070502

[CC]

13. It is still there along with

lots of other ills. Not a fan of big for-profit pharma but drugs do have their place. Without RITUXAN my SO would most likely be dead. Because of that experience I know quite a few people that are still among the living that wouldn't be without a variety of drugs. I also knew some that are not among the living any longer for lack of a drug or drugs that could help. I even know of people no longer with us because they only used the "natural" stuff while others I know swear by natural remedies. Just because you haven't had it or known someone that had it doesn't mean it doesn't exist and just because the "natural" stuff helps you doesn't mean it can't harm another.

[Warpy]

15. It predated the drugs, actually

and was a little known sleep disorder mostly because people who had it were embarrassed to talk about it.

[Auntie Bush]

48. That would be me! My Dr wanted me to go to a sleep clinic

back in the late eighties. The insurance co never heard of such an ailment and wouldn't pay for the clinic...so I never went. I take Ambien now and don't have RL in bed anymore...but I still have the problem almost every evening...like right now! Sometimes it makes me go to bed earlier than I'd like.

[pipi_k]

49. Tell me about it....

how do you explain to someone that you feel ants and worms and electricity coursing around underneath your skin without feeling stupid, especially when the person you're telling is looking at you like you're crazy...

My legs even jump around by themselves. Anyone looking would think I'm doing it myself, but I'm not.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Raine]

19. Big pharma moved onto "greener pastures" like selling drugs to make your eyelashes

grow longer and thicker. The drug might permanently turn your blue eyes brown but what the heck your eye lashes are now longer. :eyes: No need to have to bother with false eye lashes as long as you KEEP USING the drug. x(

[Control-Z]

45. I understand one needs to

trim those eyelashes, regularly, while using the drug. Talk about a pain in the ass.

[sarcasmo]

20. Couldn't sell enough pills so the advertisements went away.

[Gormy Cuss]

64. Or, created enough demand for the drug to forgo the TV advertising.

Ads are after all just marketing devices. Once the market has matured (in this case, by having enough awareness of the drug by providers and consumers) there's no need to use a saturation marketing strategy.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. I've got it. My doc (regular md) prescribed magnesium.

Works for me.

It's no fun being wakened by what feels like a swarm of electric shocks running through your legs that don't stop.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. A good friend of mine has it

It's not made-up.

[Blasphemer]

26. I'm not a fan of advertisements for drugs

Especially when the "new" drug is an old one plus a vitamin. However, drugs are sometimes necessary for adequate treatment. Can some conditions be treated without drugs? Absolutely. I have seen that nutrition therapy, for instance, can be helpful in certain cases. Still, I would never advocate an all natural approach for everyone just because Big Pharma is a racket. There are companies who seek to take advantage of those who prefer a natural approach and they can be just as shady as Big Pharma. If your condition is obesity, for instance, there are snake oil salesmen at every turn.

[NNN0LHI]

27. My elderly mother gets them all. If she sees an ad to treat some malady she gets it

She has switched from Restless Leg Syndrome to Dry Eye Syndrome since all the RESTASIS commercials began running about a year ago.

Last year she was convinced the Mohammedans(That is what she calls Muslims), were spraying something into the air to make her sick. She is a trip.

She is like a grown up kid. She thinks if she sees a new medicine for a new malady advertised on TV and she isn't getting it someone is trying to deprive her of something she deserves and has coming to her. What she really has is a bad case of white privilege syndrome.

Don

[BiggJawn]

41. Even Cialis?

I'd hate to be her doctor... "No, you REALLY don't need THAT one!"

[NNN0LHI]

47. I made a huge mistake and referred her to my personal doctor about 10 years ago

She wasn't happy with her own doctor(Can't imagine why? Lol) so I suggested mine. Unfortunately she loved him. She has been driving this poor man completely nuts ever since. I am afraid he is getting ready to quit seeing both of us just to get rid of her.

As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.

Don

[seabeyond]

28. still got it... shake legs, tighten muscles.... no drugs. nt

[HysteryDiagnosis]

30. Whatever happened to magnesium?

Then there is this: http://www.lef.org/LEFCMS/aspx/PrintVersionMagic.aspx?CmsID=113977
Restless Leg Safety Caveats

An aggressive program of dietary supplementation should not be launched without the supervision of a qualified physician. Several of the nutrients suggested in this protocol may have adverse effects. These include:

Folic acid

Consult your doctor before taking folic acid if you have a vitamin B12 deficiency.
Daily doses of more than 1 milligram of folic acid can precipitate or exacerbate the neurological damage caused by a vitamin B12 deficiency.

Iron

Do not take iron if you have hemochromatosis or hemosiderosis.
Consult your doctor before taking iron supplements if you have an elevated serum ferritin level, alcoholic cirrhosis, a pancreatic insufficiency, or a history of chronic liver failure, chronic alcoholism, gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, or gastrointestinal bleeding.

Magnesium

Do not take magnesium if you have kidney failure or myasthenia gravis.

Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin)

Do not take cyanocobalamin if you have Leber's optic atrophy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9703590

Sleep. 1998 Aug 1;21(5):501-5.
Magnesium therapy for periodic leg movements-related insomnia and restless legs syndrome: an open pilot study.
Hornyak M, Voderholzer U, Hohagen F, Berger M, Riemann D.
Source

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany.
Abstract

Periodic limb movements during sleep (PLMS), with or without symptoms of a restless legs syndrome (RLS), may cause sleep disturbances. The pharmacologic treatments of choice are dopaminergic drugs. Their use, however, may be limited due to tolerance development or rebound phenomena.

Anecdotal observations have shown that oral magnesium therapy may ameliorate symptoms in patients with moderate RLS. We report on an open clinical and polysomnographic study in 10 patients (mean age 57 +/- 9 years; 6 men, 4 women) suffering from insomnia related to PLMS (n = 4) or mild-to-moderate RLS (n = 6). Magnesium was administered orally at a dose of 12.4 mmol in the evening over a period of 4-6 weeks.

Following magnesium treatment, PLMS associated with arousals (PLMS-A) decreased significantly (17 +/- 7 vs 7 +/- 7 events per hour of total sleep time, p < 0.05). PLMS without arousal were also moderately reduced (PLMS per hour of total sleep time 33 +/- 16 vs 21 +/- 23, p = 0.07). Sleep efficiency improved from 75 +/- 12% to 85 +/- 8% (p < 0.01). In the group of patients estimating their sleep and/or symptoms of RLS as improved after therapy (n = 7), the effects of magnesium on PLMS and PLMS-A were even more pronounced.

Our study indicates that magnesium treatment may be a useful alternative therapy in patients with mild or moderate RLS-or PLMS-related insomnia. Further investigations regarding the role of magnesium in the pathophysiology of RLS and placebo-controlled studies need to be performed.

PMID:
9703590

[nebenaube]

31. I dealt with patients that had it for five years in a sleep lab...

It often manifests at night and was called Nocturnal Myoclonus, then Periodic limb movements... It's real, you are ignorant; they just changed the nomenclature again.

[blue neen]

36. It is a very real disorder. The medications you are referring to are also used for Parkinson's.

Sometimes the meds help, sometimes they don't, and occasionally they do cause the undesirable effects of gambling binges and out-of-the ordinary sexual urges.

For the people that they do help, the medications are a Godsend.

With all of that being said, yes, Big Pharma is a racket. There really are some wonderful medications out there, though, that are saving lives. :)

[Scottybeamer70]

37. Wonder how I've managed all these years.........

without taking ANY drugs!!
Had to have a physical last year before cataract surgery.
Girl who took my blood pressure said, "Wow, you have high blood pressure."
I looked at her and said, "Then you better take it again, 'cause I've never had high blood pressure.
In fact, it is usually on the low side."
She said, "Oh, maybe I need to use this new instrument. That other one is kind of old."
DUH!!!
If I had not said something, they would have put me on medication, or at least tried.
I don't trust any of 'em! They're just pill pushers and not much else.
I'm almost 72 and have NEVER taken medications!

[SheilaT]

42. I'm a tad younger, 63, and I don't

take any medications either. So weird. I'm really healthy, also.

Not that there aren't a lot of things out there that really do need medicating, but overall Americans are very over-medicated, it seems. But so many have such serious side effects, that it hardly seems worth taking the meds.

The best thing about not having a TV is that I don't get to see any of those ads.

[RobinA]

38. My Friend

who's had it for years still has it. I real pain, from what I hear.

[BiggJawn]

43. "Ask your Doctor if Medical Advice from some TV ad is Right for You..." n/t

[Logical]

44. Wow, you think it is a MADE UP SYNDROME??? Really? Ask the millions who have it. How GOP of you!

[pipi_k]

46. Been dealing with it since 1990....

Fortunately, mine isn't as severe as I've heard it can be for some. Mine comes and goes. It can disappear for weeks...months...at a time, then come out of nowhere, stick around for a couple of weeks, then disappear again.

Just had a bout with it last night

Usually a glass of tonic water with quinine will stop the jumping and jerking and worms crawling beneath my skin sensations, but last night it didn't.

Can't even imagine what it must be like for people who get it constantly.... :(

[ThoughtCriminal]

51. Ladies and Gentlemen... Robert Klein!

I Can't Stop my Leg!

http://youtu.be/iMFEnbwBJGc

[Aristus]

53. I have two patients with RLS.

I didn't diagnose either of them, but I prescribed the standard treatment for both of them based on their past medical history, and they are currently free of symptoms.

(All those angry, outraged DU-ers who trashed me several weeks back for refusing to provide narcotics to a drug-seeker, pay attention: I DO provide my patients with the proper treatment when the standard of care calls for it.)

I'm not the biggest fan of Big Pharma in the world, and I'm constantly on the lookout for the latest trendy "disease" being touted by the drug companies and Z-list celebrities doing infomercials. But if I can help my patient obtain proper, medically sound symptom relief, I will.

[Hoopla Phil]

55. I heard they all joined the cast of Riverdance.

[ZombieHorde]

58. Unrec for ignorance. If you are able to feel shame, now is a good time. nt

[tpsbmam]

68. + a brazillion!! nt

[Warren DeMontague]

59. It went that-a-way

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/483673/483673,1305580134,32/stock-vector-walking-legs-cartoon-78065428.jpg

[freeplessinseattle]

60. I definitely had it when I was a kid, 30+ years ago

no name for it then, and maybe I'm wrong, but if I had something else unusual thing going on that has the same description then I am an even bigger freak than I already thought, lol.

It was so maddening, and interfered with my sleep which made school very difficult some days... I would cry sometimes, and try any kind of mental trick I could think of to help me sleep and distract me, to no avail.

I felt so weird and frustrated, no one to talk to about it except my parents, but at least my dad knew what I was talking about and reassured me that it should go away as I got older. I don't remember when that finally happened, but it was a great relief. Now, years later, it is at least gratifying to have my weird leg thing explained and a bit more understood, and my feelings validated.

Even though there are skeptics, well, that is to be expected I guess with anything that's not as tangible to observers and just hard to relate to. Like having a migraine, something else I've dealt with as a child but never has gone away like the leg wonkiness, unfortunately.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

65. My late stepfather had it--it's a real syndrome

When I still lived in Portland and stayed with my mother and stepfather on visits to Minnesota, I would sometimes be awakened in the middle of the night by my stepfather walking up and down the hall, trying to get his legs to quiet down.

This was before they started advertising the drugs on TV.

[tpsbmam]

67. Glad it's so easy for you to make fun of it....I have it and it adds to the things that keep

me awake at night. The others are excruciatingly painful spasms in my calves, feet & neck that wake me up out of a dead sleep. Want to make fun of those, too? And yes, I do take a medication to help with the RLS. Fortunately, it doesn't happen every night. As a matter of fact, lately I haven't had it much at all. BUT when I do have it, it's very real and very uncomfortable and medication DEFINITELY helps.

[Kaleko]

70. See post # 8 by elfin above.

I've tried the "soap under the fitted sheet" remedy for RLS last night and it worked like a charm. It's a relief not to have to take so much magnesium anymore.

Read the comments here too:

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2011/05/30/soap-saved-the-day--or-rather-the-night/

[elfin]

72. Glad it helped

Peoples Pharmacy is my first stop before heading to the doc and drugstore, unless I suspect something serious may be happening,

Now am using their gin and white raisins suggestion to kick my Naproxen (Alleve) habit. Working -- even if it may be a placebo, I am glad to be "off" another med for my chronic and severe back arthritis.

Not enough gin to cause any problems, and still take the occasional Naproxen if I feel twinges later in the day after a bit too much exertion.

Daily Naproxen was causing photosensitivity issues, but now those are alleviated as well.

[butterfly77]

71. Kicked&Recommended...