Restless leg syndrome with autoimmune disease

[ranel]

I am on my 2nd WHOLE30 and loving it. Recently after going off of an anti-anxiety medication my RLS has gotten much worse. Many night with no sleep at all. I tried taking eggs out of my meals, tried epsom salt soaks, all to no avail.  Any suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

 

[ShannonM816]

Hi, ranel, sorry you're having a rough time.

 

The obvious question would be, could stopping the anti-anxiety meds have caused this? Did you work with your doctor and make sure you tapered off of them if you needed to? I'm not sure you have to with anti-anxiety meds, but I know there are meds you can't just stop taking without risking side effects.

 

If you google Whole30 restless leg syndrome, you'll find several past discussions. The most common things people seem to mention as possible causes are low magnesium (the epsom salt soaks should help with this, though you might need to supplement with some other magnesium as well if you're truly deficient in it); low iron; and not enough water and/or salt. Maybe start looking into those things and see if anything sounds like a possibility. Always consult a doctor about taking vitamins and supplements.

[ranel]

I am back on the anti-anxiety medication and sleep has been well the past two nights. Slight RLS around 4:00 this am but time to get up anyway so all was good. I do not like being dependent on these meds but given the fact I cannot sleep or lay still sort of leaves me no choice. I am taking magnesium &baths in epsom salt . I am going to look for a better grade magnesium this weekend. Any suggestions?  Thank you for your time. 

[Karen]

I use magnesium oil, it's applied topically. It's supposed to be better absorbed than epsom salt. Kind of stings at first but you get used to it. The brand I use has the word Ancient in it if that helps. Got it on Amazon.