Does ibuprofen help with RLS?

People with RLS may experience many different sensations. Feeling the need to stretch your legs but it often doesn't help for long, feeling like something is crawling on your legs, and more. These feelings interfer with your sleep and RLS is a Sleep Disorder. On nights when your RLS is worse you may feel like you slept but will still be tired when you get up. I have taken Ibuprofen before bed if I'm still having symptoms after taking my usual treatments and meds.

hi my RLS are the same its not beetles or squiggles or anything like that, it starts just like yours then goes on to be painful sometimes it makes my whole body jump and there is no way i could stay in bed or sit down with my feet up in any way. ibuprofen does help me sometimes,but because of kidneys, blood pressure meds, andblood disorders im not allowed to take them often, i take sifrol but since my arms have got the jerks now i am withdrawing off those. i am at the moments trying tamazepam, which help me sleep except im still awake sat here and its 2 45am

Thank you for the reply. Here is more context: I actually had a sleep study done almost 15 years ago and was diagnosed with moderate plmd. The study did not evaluate rls (Not sure why it did not. Maybe because the main reason I went that time was day time fatigue issues and I was trying to figure out reasons. I did not know or ask specifically about rls I guess. Either way, the study did not look at RLS).

So basically I am still trying to figure out what's going on..the reason I think it is RLS is because my symptoms match the descriptions to a good extent. And more importantly I am very healthy in general and do not have any other illnesses etc that may be confused with RLS (no vein issues, arthritis, etc..I am 43, exercise a lot etc),.so I have to think this is RLS. But then again ibuprofen helps a lot which I thought was kinda strange..oh and I don't have those kind of movements that are described above (only minor rubbing stretching to feel better).


Thanks again..

Thank you for reaching out.


While we can't say if you do or do not have RLS, we can help explain something and definitely can offer you emotional support.
There are two important things to remember:
1) not everyone presents the same way with their disease
2) Treatments differ per person. What works for some may not work for others because everyone's chemistry is different.


There are also different causes for RLS so that also contributes to why people can present differently and treatment methods can vary.

Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory painkiller so in some ways, yes it can help with RLS symptoms especially if those symptoms are causing you physical pain. Then there is the anti-inflammatory side of things, NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) can often be prescribed to help with RLS symptoms.


As for movements, that again can vary. The one thing that is consistent is that it is an involuntary movement. For me, it starts off with a sensation that my muscles are stuck in a state of going from clenched up to relaxed, to clenched up. Then it starts to feel like they are stuck in a clenched state and this is where the pain starts. Then there is the need to move the limb(s) acting up, whether it's the legs. Keeping the limb still causes more pain and tension and moving them can help alleviate that. Why? I don't know but it does to a degree.


You very well could have RLS. I highly recommend talking to your doctor about it. A sleep study can be done and that can reveal if you have RLS or not because of how you are monitored.

I hope this information helps you. If you don't mind, can you please keep us updated?

🥄🦄 Ray (Team member)