Restless Leg Syndrome

Restless Leg Syndrome

Restless Leg

To stop nighttime twitching, shaking and kicking of the legs, try taking a little niacin and a good bit of magnesium. Doses vary from person to person.

For magnesium, it depends on the form you take. Poorly absorbed magnesium oxide (still popular because it is cheap) might be needed to the tune of 600 mg or more. With much better absorbed forms of magnesium (such as magnesium citrate, gluconate, or chloride) you may get results with a lower dose. With magnesium, the usual sign of overdoing is a laxative effect. So don't take that much.

With niacin, an effective amount might range anywhere from a low 50 mg or less to a high 500 mg or more. While learning to use niacin, you are VERY likely to experience a warm, prickly flushing sensation, described elsewhere on this website (a site search for “niacin flush” will bring up the material for you). By trial and experience, you learn just how much to take. Start small and work up. I take just enough to gently flush. (Personally, I like that warm feeling, and at bedtime, it settles me right out.)

Speaking of nice and warm, consider a nice bedtime warm-to-hot Epsom salts bath. Epsom salts is magnesium sulfate, which is absorbed transdermally (through the skin). Feels great and no pills to take.

My own family members with the problem have tried these methods, and they no longer have restless legs.

One reader says:

“Just thought I'd let you know another great use for Niacin -- restless leg syndrome. My husband has never been officially diagnosed, but has a lot of trouble sleeping. This year when the work season started again, he began kicking me all night. It got so bad that I wasn't going to be able to sleep in the same room. Every few seconds, his legs would move and it was driving me up the wall. I persuaded my husband to try Niacin with Vitamin C right before bedtime. Works like a charm, in fact when he missed his vitamins the other night, I could tell within minutes. What a great solution to a problem that so many suffer with!”

Andrew Saul is the author of the books FIRE YOUR DOCTOR! How to be Independently Healthy (reader reviews at http://www.doctoryourself.com/review.html ) and DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works. (reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html )

Andrew W. Saul

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