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Restless Leg Syndrome

Sleep Health | Last Active: Apr 1, 2023 | Replies (268)

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@suecreader

Amen to that @susan2018! I quickly learned as my restless legs progressed that alcohol not only started them, but it worsened through the night. You mention wine, but for me, it is any kind of alcohol. It used to be that I couldn't drink any after 6:00, and over the past years, the time has become earlier and earlier so that now, if I drink alcohol at all, it can only be one beer or one glass of wine before 3:00 p.m. I do miss the occasional glass of wine at dinner, but the after-effects are not worth it. The same is true with any product containing caffeine - chocolate, Bufferin, or coffee. As for SSRIs, they worsened my symptoms as do Ativan, Compazine, Klonapin, etc. My Sleep Center doctor suggested I use only Wellbutrin for treatment of depression since studies have shown that SSRIs especially aggravate restless legs. So, you are right about the SSRIs too . . . I was taking Celexa and when I switched to Wellbutrin, it worked even better for me than Celexa.

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Replies to "Amen to that @susan2018! I quickly learned as my restless legs progressed that alcohol not only..."

@suecreader, yes! I switched to Wellbutrin also. Even though I have a history of anxiety more than depression and I understand Wellbutrin wouldn’t normally be the med of choice for that, I seem to be doing OK on it. As for alcohol, I joke that I should have my happy hour at 11 a.m. rather than 5 p.m. i know what you mean about after effects not being worth it. I ask myself that everytime I enjoy a glass of wine. I’m not sure about the effect of caffeine for me. I do drink coffee, usually only before 2p.m. I don’t know if I could bear the experiment of going without to see if it would make a difference. I did try Requip but it stopped working and after a time made my RLS much,much worse. Recently I saw a sleep medicine doctor for insomnia and he prescribed one to two 100 mg tabs of Gabapentin for RLS at bedtime. I’ve been taking one and am sleeping pretty much through the night for the first time in years. Best to you!