Vein Clinics and RLS

[Guest guest]

I was very interested to read about the vein clinics. My

RLSsymptoms occur after heavy exercise, in the area of the muscles that

have been used that day. I have often wondered if there was some problem

in the way the bloodstream was cleaning up or re-energising the muscles

after the exercise.The body seems to be screaming at me that something

is wrong in those leg muscles. A hot bath seems to help. Perhaps this

stimulates blood flow to the area. Some people obtain relief thru

massage with the " Thumper " which may also stimulate circulation to those

muscles. My blood pressure is on the low side so there may be a

circulation problem.

On the other hand, I cannot see any sign of varicose veins. My wife

has a lot of veins showing, but no RLS. And there is no explanation why

RLS comes on only when I am fully relaxed. If I sit in a comfortable

chair in front of TV and relax, I can count on the creepy crawly feeling

driving me mad. If I go out to a meeting in the evening , and sit up

around a table fully alert, participating actively, there is no RLS

problem. How do we explain this? Does RLS start when the adrenaline

stops flowing?

So far I have been able to control the symptoms with Sinemet. How does

the effectiveness of Sinemet fit in with the varicose vein theory? I

don't know. Unfortunately, I have reached the dosage of Sinemet (3

tablets nightly) where augmentation takes over. I would like to switch

to Mirapex but it is not available in Australia. Would anyone like to

suggest another alternative?

I am getting desparate and would have considered the vein treatment but

I am too far away from the clinics. I think we have to look at the

evidence carefully because other treatments do not have great results

and we don't really understand why they work. If Dr McDonagh can

produce patients who have been cured by vein treatment, I would be very

interested to hear about them.

, 61, Sydney, Australia