Relationship between RLS and CVI

Somewhere around 15 years ago, in Lee's Summit, MO, I came across a brochure for a treatment that said that RLS could be caused by poor circulation in your legs and that a procedure involving lasers going into your veins and doing something (I think it was sealing or cauterizing certain bad veins where the 'valves' were letting low-oxygen blood go backwards [down] the veins) would relieve RLS in something like 50% of the people who had the procedure.

Apologies for my poor memory on exact details, but I've always wondered if there was something to the idea, never pursuing the procedure. It seemed crazy and dangerous to have lasers blasting away at veins in my legs. (Aren't blood clots dangerous?)

That was also the first time I have heard of valves in my legs. Until today. I think I'll look into this further, if not mostly out of curiosity.

This is my first post and I've learned quite a bit already from the two or three threads I've read. I've never heard of RLS augmentation till now, but it sounds like that is what I'm suffering with.

My sleep clinic recently had me start backing off Pramipexole (I was taking four 1mg pills before bedtime) and I'm now taking Gabapentin and only one pill of Pramipexole. It's not really working. I see that many of you are taking Pregabalin and I'm thinking I need to ask my med team about that.

I have other questions, but I'll go looking to see if answers are already there in other threads. So happy to have a group of people dealing with what I am dealing with. It is REALLY easy to want to give up.

I just wanted to share some treatments I've been trying that seem to have made some improvements to the severity of my RLS - at least my long suffering wife has told me she is getting less disturbed when she is trying to sleep.
I previously posted about a possible link between CVI and RLS and while there seems to be no evidence that RLS can be cured/alleviated via CVI surgery I have has some success with these treatments.
In no particular order I started wearing compression socks to bed.
I started taking 2 supplements designed to assist in vein health
One is called "Youthful Legs" the other is "Venoflow" - these are both available on the iHerb website.
I would strongly recommend talking to your GP before taking any supplements as they may not be suitable for everyone but the 3 combined ie Compression socks and the 2 supplements while they have not cured my RLS it seems like the frequency and severity has been reduced which is a godsend for my long suffering wife.
The other thing I've been doing for a while is making sure I don't drink too much fluid close to bedtime as a full bladder seems to intensify my RLS so I always empty my bladder just before bedtime.
There is one more treatment that I have read about but not tried and that is exposure to near infrared. I'd be curious to know if anyone else has tried this treatment and what their results were - https://www.cureus.com/articles/183919-advancements-in-restless-leg-syndrome-management-a-review-of-physiotherapeutic-modalities-and-their-efficacy#!/

Interesting indeed. I have had severe restless legs for the last 20 years. I also have a bad valve in my right leg and notice increasing varicose veins.

This is really interesting, . I had not heard of the potential association. Do you plan to get treatment even though it's in the other leg? If you do, it would be interesting to see whether symptoms improve despite the location. I hope it either resolves your symptoms or makes a big difference. Thanks for sharing this. I hope someone chimes in who has had experience with it. Best wishes. - Lori (Team Member)