What are the treatments for restless legs syndrome?

Video Overview

What are the treatments for restless legs syndrome? We have been involved in pivotal trials here for a drug for restless drug syndrome. But we found that those drugs are vastly over-used. The major problem with restless leg syndrome has to do with answering yes to four questions - the urge questions that have to do with uncomfortable feeling of the legs. They are primarily occurring at night and are relieved by movement. We found that those same symptoms can be caused by problems with sleep-disordered breathing, patients with multiple sclerosis, and patients with peripheral neuropathy. And it is really important to find out exactly what is causing those symptoms in the majority of people before you just reach for a scrip pad and give them a drug. Because all of these drugs for restless legs that are approved by the FDA work for restless legs, but they are way overprescribed. We just showed in a paper, the American Sleep Medicine, that most of the time, drugs that are prescribed for restless legs, are prescribed for the wrong reason. People who have problems with sleep initiation, problems with their legs, because of things like back neck, pinch nerves on the back, problems with the hip, besides sleeping I get airway closure leading to jerks that look like restless legs. But, to just treat somebody on the basis of symptoms is not right. It is like treating everybody with a headache with Tylenol. Do you not want to know what causes the headache? So, there are many treatments for restless legs, but the important thing is to use them appropriately.