Medical marijuana and restless leg syndrome

@kilnaboy74, welcome. I found these 2 study abstracts in a quick internet search. They are behind a paywall, so you have to purchase them to read the whole study unfortunately.
- Effects of Cannabinoids on Sleep and their Therapeutic Potential for Sleep Disorders: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13311-021-01013-w
- Cannabis for Restless Legs Syndrome: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-61663-2_13

Fellow members @merpreb @robinsonbeth @mari3gold4 and @ess77 may have further information and experiences with medical marijuana for restless legs.

Kilna, are you experiencing any side effects from the CBD/THC? What time of day do you take it?

@kilnaboy74- Good morning. It's nice to meet you. I also have restless leg syndrome and I take ropinirole. I was told to take it at 5 PM as that is the most effective time. My experience says that that helps, but if I have a breakthrough and take an extra one immediately it helps.

I have not found that CBD oil helps me at all except for anxiety. And I don't take THC because, unlike my younger days, I don't like the high, at least not where my head is now. And I haven't tried any creams. I feel that too many people offer too much snake oil to make a buck.

If you have a breakthrough what do you do?

I have this and the "root cause" seems to be lower back for me. I do cat/cow/child/cobra yoga, clamshell stretches, leg edema massage, pumping of feet and hamstring stretches - on the bed, before sleep. I do THC/CBD tincture under my tongue. I mix my own and try to buy the indica strain. The CBD tincture I buy is 600mg and the THC is 600. Roughly 2:1 of CBD/THC, about an hour before bed. I have a sleep disturbance going on also, and Percoset helps with that. Scar tissue in my knee is contributory; so a good brand cbd ointment (I use Happy Salve), or lidocaine patch there. I think the THC helps the activation of cbd and, you can experiment to see what works; keep adding a little more. For breakthrough, I take 1/2 THC/CBD gummy an hour or so later, as well as cold/heat and magnesium. Leafly is a good website. It is a misery, for sure but at least I am mostly sleeping well. Sleep doctor appointment in November.

@merpreb , @kilnaboy74 @colleenyoung and all.
Merry, I am 74 and never tried any MM at all until 2 years ago! I definitely do not ever want the 'high' or wonky effects, I don't even drink alcohol for that reason. So, if I'm using MM it's because it really works for me. And, it does.

I have anxiety, of course, lots of pain from firbo, arthritis over my body/all joints, herniated discs in lumbar/cervical/one repaired w/cement procedure at T12. add Sarcoid and pain from autoimmune illnesses, sinus infection that's leading to surgery and is presently causing serious headaches and other pain, etc. So, I've tried a bunch of stuff.

By using the 1:1, CBD/THC tincture, 1 dropper at night....250mg each, about an hour before bed, with some CBD 800mg cream as needed on my hands/wrists/etc, and Robaxin 750mg 3x daily, I no longer take Lyrica, Oxycodone, Gabapantin, 800 mg Ibuprophen 4x daily, etc. I'm only using Robaxin, occasionally Voltaren cream, CBD cream, Frankincense and Myrrh balm, and MM tincture. It seems to be a good combination for me at this moment. It also gets tweaked a lot as needed. If I'm more active, or have a new infection which happens very often as my immune system is quite messed up...I've learned, thankfully, and with a lot of help from the Connect folks, that using these different products and methods at different times, seems to work.

So, let me urge you to reconsider, if you still need some help. I've changed my thinking so much now and am thrilled with the results. I'm off 'hard-core' prescription drugs, it seems to me to be a good direction for me.

Wishing you well in this journey. Bless you and may you have a painless night.
elizabeth

@merpreb and all....
Need to add one thing to the message just sent to you....I am now taking Requip, ropinirole, as you mentioned. I take 2 tablets an hour before bed.

Wow, what a huge help this is! I am almost able to keep my legs still much of the night. No longer have the pain, movements, irritable feelings in my legs. It's for me a wonder drug.

I also found after the second day taking Requip, I walk more easily, can lift my legs better, they don't feel like tree trunks and 1000pounds heavy, feet lift and don't walk as stiffly as before. It helps the dopamine in my brain in some way that indicates I may have some Parkinsonism according to neurology. I don't care, but I'm thrilled. It also helps reduce tremors, and fogginess.

What a change in my life from just this one drug. I'm so thankful. Add that the the help from the other areas, I consider myself so blessed. Hope you get the good results as well, Merry.
bless you and all.
elizabeth

@colleenyoung, my side effects for now are the high from THC. I take the two oils at 9 p.m. in addition to my prescription drugs, so that the high is in my system only when I sleep. I hope to tweak everything until I can completely eliminate the use of pramipexole. Thank you for your suggested readings.

@merpreb, RLS and sleep apnea are serious issues for me because of the lack of quality sleep. So when you ask what I do if I have a breakthrough, my best reply is before MM use, I just suffered. Augmentation would set in any time of day, even at 9 a.m., though I would take pramipexole (same class as Ropinerol) at 5 p.m. Nothing would take away the RLS until I tried MM. Now I can sleep 6-7 hours straight. And my apnea dropped from 7-9 times per hour to 2-3.

Again, I wonder what the short and long term use of MM will do to my cognitive thinking and memory.

what is MM?

nobody need reply. MM is medical marijuana!

@kilnaboy74- You have had quite an awful time with RLS and Sleep Apnea and I don't blame you for searching for more help. First, in my experience, you know that if you take enough THC you will be stoned so that will at least temporarily affect your thinking and maybe memory. Long-term effects depend on your dose, age, and general health. Also, do you have cbd oil with thc or smoke and do CBD?
https://integrisok.com/resources/on-your-health/2021/february/impacts-of-chronic-marijuana-use
This article is the role that CBD oil has on THC
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3797438/
"The amount of CBD administered, the ratio of CBD to THC, and the timing of administration all seem to be important in determining the possible effects of CBD (22, 23). Most clinical studies on the effects of CBD are not relevant for generalizing to the effects of CBD in “recreational” cannabis users. In many of these studies, the doses that have been used are not relevant to the situation typically encountered by recreational cannabis users."

Here is another article that you might like:
https://www.healthline.com/health/cbd-vs-thc
From my own experience, I will tell you that friends that I have known who smoked a lot of POT,(CBD oil wasn't available then), were very affected. Their memories are shot and making sense is difficult.

Your age and current health are important also. And sleep is definitely very important.

Here is something that might interest you
https://cannabis.uci.edu/research/whats-new/
Do you feel any effects when you wake up, like feeling groggy?