Treatment

The goal for treatment of the Restless Legs Syndrome is to alleviate the symptoms that are irritating and cause sleep disturbances and discomfort. Sometimes, treating an underlying condition such as iron deficiency or diabetes helps to relieve the symptoms of RLS. Correcting iron deficiency will most likely involve the use of iron supplements by the patient. However, iron supplements should only be taken under medical supervision of a doctor.

If a patient is diagnosed with the restless legs syndrome, but not with any associated medical condition, doctors focus on lifestyle changes and medications. Medications which were developed to treat other diseases will often be used to treat restless legs. Some of these medications are:

• Opioids. These narcotic medications can relieve mild to severe symptoms of RLS. Opoids are produced naturally or artificially (synthetic). Opioids vary greatly in strength and can lead to addiction.
• Parkinson's disease medications. Medications developed to treat Parkinson's disease help to reduce the amount of motion in the legs by manipulating the level of dopamine in the brain. On a side note - patients diagnosed with RLS are not at greater risk developing Parkinson's disease than those without it.
• Muscle relaxants and sleep medications. Benzodiazepines promote better sleep, relieve anxiety, reduce restlessness, and they help to relax muscles.
• Seizure treating medications. Anticonvulsants are medications that are used to help manage or prevent episodes of abnormally increased electrical activity in a patients brain (seizures).

It will most likely take several attempts a doctor to find the right medication and dosage for a restless legs treatment. A combination of medications has shown to work best in many cases.

Important to know:

- Most of the drugs prescribed to treat RLS are not recommended to be used during pregnancy.

- Medication that has successfully worked for a patient to relieve symptoms can become ineffective after a while.

- Some medications may actually make things worse. These include (but are not limited to) Antinausea drugs, so-called Calcium channel blockers (used to treat heart conditions in ptients) and many anti-depressants. Doctors usually recommend to avoid these medications when being treated for RLS.

	If patients do not respond to Dopamine Antagonists, RLS is considered to be a misdiagnosis.