Legs
Dear Dr. Mirkin: Is there any treatment for restless legs
syndrome?
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) affects 25 percent of
people over age 65. You try to go to sleep at night and you start
to feel tingling or itching in your skin and then your legs start to
move and try to walk off the bed. Since you spend the night
trying to sleep while your legs try to wake you up, you do not
sleep well and develop daytime sleepiness. Because you are
exhausted all the time, restless legs syndrome can cause
depression.
Restless legs syndrome often occurs in people who lack iron,
so some cases can be cured with iron pills. It is also seen in kidney
failure and in any disease that damages nerves. Drugs used to treat
Parkinson’s disease can help RLS sufferers. A report from Spain shows
that the anticonvulsant, gabapentin (Neurontin), also helps to control
RLS (Neurology, Volume 59, Issue 10, 2002); check with your doctor.