@degarden_girl - your kind words of sympathy were so nice - thank you! I have not heard of high doses of Vitamin D as a therapy that would be effective against restless legs. I'll give that a try. As I said, sometimes I feel so desperate for sleep . . . . at the same time, I do want to make wise choices. Good advice to ask my regular MD who oversees general health issues how much Vit D is considered safe on a daily basis. Bet it felt like a miracle for you when you discovered that it worked for you. Yes, I believe I would feel like someone handed me a million dollars if I found something that would help me sleep and be 'normal' again. Not sleeping limits my activities since I'm afraid to drive very much since I drop to sleep involuntarily, and I don't stay travel or stay overnight with others since I never know what level of intensity my RLS will be.
As for the connection to the brain - I think you are right. When I tried the Relaxis pad, a representative from the company was checking in with me on a weekly basis and giving me different tips to try to get the pad to work for me. It is an FDA approved device, but it seemed to work in different positions and/or times of day for 2-3 hours, and then stopped working after two-three days. His company believes that RLS starts in the thalamus part of the brain, and during the day when the brain is active, we don't notice RLS symptoms. However, when we go to bed, the thalamus needs to be busy due to a chemical imbalance with hormones, and it kicks the RLS into gear thus creating the horrible feeling of not being able to lay still at night. He suggested listening to songs that are NOT soothing sounds, but instead rock music or other types that engage the mind more fully than nature sounds. I am on the road to believing him since it seems when I try to practice the CBT techniques of getting up and doing something calm .