Meds for RLS - Restless Leg Syndrome Message Board

Creepin n crawlin · 12-31-2000, 10:51 PM

I was diagnosed with RLS a few months ago after a year of sleepless nights (I hate going to the doctor) and trying every vitamin and cutting out all caffeine with no success. I just had a nerve conduction test and it was normal. My neurologist put me on neurontin 100mg 4x a day and it's not working at all! I've been on it for over 2 months and have seen no improvement. Before I went to the neurologist I'd been taking .50mg of xanax before bed but it quit working after a few days. I've been reading up on RLS on the internet and seeing what drugs are used to relieve the creeping. My mother in law is a walking medicine cabinet so she floated me some vicodin and klonopin to try. I found that if I take 1/2 a vicodin in the morning and 1/2 in the afternoon and a klonopin before bed I don't creep and I've had five glorious days without the horrible creeping and crawling! I might be able to tolerate this if it were just in my legs but it's all over my body, especially my back and shoulders. No way to describe it except as a creeping feeling. People look at me like I'm crazy because when I sit still for more than 5 minutes I have to rock myself to stop the creeping and nobody can understand it unless they've felt the same way. Anyway, I go back in a few days to discuss my NCV test and my meds and I want my doctor to prescribe the vicodin and klonopin but I'm afraid he's going to think I'm just a pill seeker. I told him that I tried xanax from my mother in law and that it didn't work. I must seem like a junkie going around bumming dope from family members but all I want is to be able to get through the day without rocking like a patient in the psych ward and have a full night's sleep! I'm not sure what to say to him so any advice on getting these meds without coming off as a dope addict would be greatly appreciated.

Kathryn · 01-01-2001, 04:49 PM

Hi Creepin... I use Klonopin for my RLS. It works pretty well, even though I am left kinda tired in the mornin. I just take it earlier in the evening. I take 0.5 mg 1-3 per night. Lately I have had to take 2. When it gets severe, my doc gave me sinemet and that worked especially well. Everyone is different. Hate to see you pay for a whole prescription unless you know for sure it will work. Sometimes you have to up the dose. For me, the dose of Neurontin you were on was extremely low. I had been up to 3,600 mg a day and it didn't phase me a bit.

Need to talk to your Neurologist for the med that works best for you. Also, I found a great site that talks about restless legs and there were lots of supportive suggestions including medications that work for others. Am I allowed to give the URL? I hate to get into trouble..... good luck!

Stormwillow · 01-03-2001, 12:58 PM

Hi Creepin. A word of caution on the vicodin. I have used every narcotic pain reliever on the face of the planet and Vicodin (Hydrocodone - generic) is the most sought after drug. This is one that doctors are really "stingy" about and will not dispense it. I used to take it for migraines, but I evidently built up a resistance to it because it does nothing for me now. I doubt that your neuro will prescribe this for rls. But there's no harm in trying. You may want to mention that Vicodin is considered a tranquilizer, so if it works, the doc may take that angle.