Who is Dear Dr. Levin?

[Guest guest]

Dear Group,

" Dear Dr. Levin " was going through a bad time emotionally and physically, due

to his RLS. He found himself practically living on the computer, with the

group, doing research, keeping up-to-date medically.......plus his other

interests . He was also beginning to see some signs of depression and I

believe he needed to get out and about more, and connect with his friends.

He had a few frustrations with the group, but he dealt with that very well in

my opinion. You never really know how deeply people are effected by what is

going on. From time to time, he would be challenged by someone in the group

and then he would withdraw for a while. He contributed a tremendous amount

of his time and money, paying for all the newest medical books and paying the

fee to take the medical exam each year so that he could legally advise us.

Truly, his actions were above and beyond the call of duty. He was also

involved in setting up the RLS Foundation and served on it's board for years.

He spoke of wanting

to do some traveling, and I sincerely hope and pray that he is casually

roaming about Europe....eating in wonderful restaurants.......perhaps

visiting Mozart's birthplace.......

Dick Levin is such a kind, generous man........extremely knowledgable and

intelligent. We were very fortunate to have had him as long as we did. His

expertise as a pharmacist was invaluable in dealing with our medication and

any side-effects or interactions we might experience. He very much approved

of people trying to help themselves and had an open mind in regard to

alternative medicine......but he was very frustrated with anyone who was too

" zealous " in their approach, or those who went from " doctor " to " doctor " ,

being sold all kind of treatments until they could not possibly know if any

of them, or which of them, was actually helping. As a scientist, he knew

that all of our prescription drugs began as herbs or " natural " substances,

and that the supplements of today were being taken as if they were magical,

simply because they were not prescription medications. He gave his honest

opinion and his best advice and did not tell people what they should or

should not do in this regard.

We are not without professional help just because he is gone, though. We

have several people who are pharmacists and physicians in the group. If you

have a question, just put it out there. If it is not answered, ask again.

There are also ways for the layman to find information on the internet that

is extremely helpful. Dr. Levin was retired, so he had more time to give

than the people in our group today.

There is also Dr. Mark Buchfuhrer at the Southern California RLS Support

Group, who will answer any and all questions sent by e-mail. His address is:

somnomed@...

If you have not read the letters at this site, you really ought to do this:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/somno/rls.htm

Connie, 63, MD