Some comments

[Guest guest]

Greetings to the group!

I have been enrolled for a couple of weeks and have enjoyed reading

all of the discussion. I am 48 years old and have had RLS since I was

12. I am a pharmacist by profession. I would like to make a couple

of comments.

1. I was intrigued by Dr. Elaty’s treatise. I was especially

interested in the discussion regarding iron and plan to look into the

potential of iron therapy for myself.

2. Many people use sinemet as the first line of therapy against RLS.

I would caution those of you who use and prescribe sinemet that it

contraindicated for those of us who have a history of melanoma or

suspicious undiagnosed skin lesions. I would add also those of us who

may have a propensity for melanoma due to our ancestry or history of

sun exposure. The data that led to this warning in the official

prescribing literature is not all that convincing but still the FDA

has seen fit to leave it there. My experience leads me to believe

that not many physicians are aware of this warning. Food for thought.

3. In the February, 1999 Nights Newsletter there was a question

regarding the use of narcotics in RLS. I was a little disturbed by

the tone of the response by Dr. Barbara . She states that

she has a “rather large RLS practice” but only has two patients which

she has seen fit to treat with narcotics and those are treated only

with Tylenol #3 rather than the stronger narcotics which seem to work

much better than codeine. She goes on about the addiction potential

of narcotics when in fact, scientific research has shown that for both

pain and RLS, addiction has never been a problem. Short term physical

dependance on the narcotic may occur but is easily controlled by drug

holidays. I would submit to Dr. and other reluctant

physicians that it should be easy to screen patients exhibiting drug

seeking behavior from those who have a legitimate need for the regular

use of a narcotic. Several studies in the Journal Sleep, will support

this view. Many physicians still cling to the unenlightened view that

narcotics are dangerous drugs rather than a useful tool that can

improve someone’s quality of life whether used for pain or RLS. I

think that Doctors fear of monitoring by State regulatory boards fuels

this fear.

Once again, I thank you for all of your comments and sharing your

experiences with a fellow sufferer.

Best regards,