Restless Leg Syndrome: Respite Part II
One of the honed skills of a most excellent detective revolves around the process of eliminating suspects. This is key in nabbing the right culprit. How many news stories have you read about the wrong person languishing in jail for a crime they didn’t commit? The same is true when parsing health clues…. We’ve got to find the true offender.
The reality is that there may be a single culprit, or a gang of culprits….. AND, there might be some shady characters who look suspicious, but are not the real troublemakers. As the lead health detective, you may choose to haul them in for questioning (closer evaluation), only to find out they are truly innocent. Don’t get discouraged…. readjust your Sherlock Holmes cap and move on to question the next suspect!
As you’ve learned, all restless leg syndrome cases are unique. Unfortunately, nearly all cases are treated the same way by introducing pharmaceuticals to mediate discomfort. The most common medications used are anti-seizure medications (ex: gabapentin), drugs to treat Parkinson’s (ex: levodopa/carbidopa), opioids (ex: tramadol), or benzodiazepines (ex: clonazepam). I can personally guarantee that while each of these may soothe the legs, if used long term, will lead to misery and/or dysfunction in another part of the body.
If you’d like to build some gentle DIY soothing support for restless legs while you work on finding the root cause, try these recipes and find the one that serves you best. You’ll not want to stop here tho, because the culprit is still on the loose.
(Each recipe makes a 10ml roller bottle)
🌿Recipe #1🌿
20 drops Marjoram
20 drops Roman Chamomile
10 drops Lavender
10 drops Frankincense
Fill remaining space in roller bottle with carrier oil.
******
🌿Recipe #2🌿
15 drops Lavender
10 drops Roman Chamomile
10 drops Vetiver
5 drops Lemongrass
5 drops Marjoram
5 drops Blue Yarrow
5 drops Peppermint
5 drops Clove
3 drops Ginger
3 drops black pepper
Fill remaining space in roller bottle with carrier oil.
******
🌿Recipe #3🌿
AromaSiez (snap a roller fitment on that puppy and use as is!)
*****
🌿Recipe #4🌿
10 drops Peace & Calming
10 drops Panaway
10 drops Stress Away
10 drops Lavender
Fill remaining space in roller bottle with carrier oil
*****
Other ways to naturally alleviate the discomfort of restless legs include:
*Reducing caffeine intake (especially after lunch)
*Stop smoking
*Weight loss (Recall that elevated BMI contributes to restless legs)
*Increased exercise
*Cryotherapy
*Warm or cold compresses
*Weighted blankets
*Avoiding certain foods including processed foods, fatty fried foods, sodas, sugar, excessive alcohol, and caffeine.
*Adding specific food “tools” to your diet (ex: cashews, almonds, peanuts or brown rice) that are rich in magnesium. If you add magnesium to your diet thru supplementation, you’ll want to look for forms such as glycinate or malate for maximum bioavailability.
*Balance your micronutrient load with Young Living’s Mineral Essence and NingXia Red. You’ll be so glad you added both of these to your routine!
*Young Living CBD muscle rub. CBD has a relaxing effect on the muscles and a calming effect on nerves.
*Work on ways to improve your natural dopamine levels.
*Quinine water (true tonic water)
If you’ve done your prep work, you may now have a line up of suspects causing your restless legs. I am an enormous advocate of proper and extensive lab work, as concrete answers eliminate the guesswork. It will save both time and frustration.
-Iron deficiency may be easily identified and treated once you have concrete lab work answers on both iron and ferritin levels. It’s not generally a good idea to supplement iron until you know. Too much iron in the body can be quite damaging over time.
-If you suspect a hormone imbalance (including thyroid) may be a contributing factor, lab work can confirm your suspicions.. A hormone imbalance will also yield many other possible clues. Find your clue cluster, and you’ll likely find the culprit, and then you can get to work on the solution!
-Nutritional deficiencies can be so very subtle, and don’t always have a strong set of clues. Magnesium is a simple and safe supplement to try if lab work simply isn’t possible. Ample magnesium in the diet is also helpful for reducing chronic constipation episodes, reducing symptoms of depression, improving PMS symptoms, preventing migraines, and more!
-Kidney disease can be a hard one, as both the disease itself and many medications used in chronic kidney disease patients are potential culprits.
-Arguably, drug 💊induced restless legs is among the biggest offenders. Not surprisingly, countries that do not rely on pharmaceuticals as their predominant mode of care have the lowest incidence of restless leg syndrome within their population. Additionally, these countries also tend to live within a diet structure that has minimal processed foods and sugars available to them.
Take a close look at the medications that can cause restless legs (last week’s post). The biggest known offenders are 💊acid reducers (ex: omeprazole, pantoprazole, esomeprazole) 💊 escitalopram, 💊fluoxetine, 💊levodopa/carbidopa, 💊, levothyroxine, 💊mirtazapine, 💊olanzapine, and💊 tramadol. Many of these medications could be avoided with lifestyle choices and changes that address balancing mind, body, and spirit.
Approximately 10% of the population is on medication for heartburn and GERD related symptoms. According to a recent study:
“… consuming these powerful acid-blocking agents is strongly linked to a significantly higher incidence of restless legs syndrome, compared to those who did not consume these medications.”
Gah! Please go back and re-read all you’ve learned about the clues within the digestive system. Pairing up clues is the name of the game!
Finally, if you have children, remember that restless legs is not an “adults only” dysfunction. Up to 6% of kiddos have restless legs which often are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Kids are not always able to verbalize what they are experiencing, which can add to the challenge. Sleep, mood, cognition, and quality of life are significantly affected in the pediatric population. Not surprisingly, ADHD, depressive symptoms and anxiousness are often included in the clue cluster.
xoxo~ liz
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