I've had Restless Leg Syndrome since I was a small kid, as far back as I can remember. Used to drive my parents and siblings crazy on long car trips. I had it bad all these years; the kind where I'd have to shake my legs quite violently throughout the first 30 minutes when I'd lay down in bed, and oftentimes during the day while sitting at a desk.
I'm now 52, and about 18 months ago, I finally found my particular cure for my body, and I wanted to share it. It's free, it's simple, and for me at least, it's the first thing that ever completely eliminated the leg thrashing.
It's dehydration. Severe and chronic dehydration, and the cure for me was reading Dr. Batmanghelidj's book, Your Body's Many Cries for Water. As a very tall male, I found that for my body, rehydration meant that I needed to drink just over a gallon of pure water every day (not including other forms such as herbal teas, etc). It had to be an entirely conscious process, because I normally wouldn't ever drink that much water. So I created a rehydration jug that I'd fill up in the morning and just carry with me each day. If I didn't do it that way, I found that I was only guessing at the amount of water I'd actually drink. In any case, after a couple of weeks, my wife noticed that I no longer was shaking my legs during the day or when first going to bed. I was quite surprised, but obviously pleased.
It's been just about 18 months since I started this "gallon of water per day" routine. On the few days where I slipped up, especially if it was 2 days in a row, my restless legs (and the accompanying severe electrical discharge through the legs) would come back. It would only be then that I'd realized that I hardly drank any water that day.
Consciously drinking a lot of water is a bizarre thing to me. While I certainly became more thirsty and conscious of being thirsty after the first month of this
Water Cure , it's rarely been something that my body signals all day, "hey, drink more water." It's as if that part of my internal system is still broken a bit, even after 18 months. I don't mind this, it's just something worth noting, that even after all this time, drinking enough water (and peeing enough throughout the day) is still something I have to remind myself to do.
I'm very familiar with the many other suggestions for RLS, including the magnesium/potassium/B vitamins, etc, as well as the removal (or in my case, the never starting) of aspartame,
Mono-Sodium-Glutamat (Natrium Glutamat) and other excitotoxins. I have no doubt that all of those are powerful adjuncts and cures. I'm not writing this to suggest otherwise. I'm simply writing what has finally, after over 4 decades of suffering, worked for me, in hopes that it helps others.
Water. Huh! Who would've thought it.
Scott
http://www.howhealthworks.com