Magnesium Treatment and Considerations With My RLS

I am on a journey to find alternative treatments for my restless leg syndrome (RLS) so I am less dependant on my medication. It is a bit of trial and error. One of the very first things I attempted to tame my RLS was magnesium.

It seemed logical to me since I also have fibromyalgia. RLS and fibromyalgia are comorbid and I needed to take magnesium for fibromyalgia. Two for one!

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What is magnesium deficiency?

The first important thing to note when considering magnesium supplementation for your RLS treatment is that it is likely resolving a magnesium deficiency that helps with RLS. It is a deficiency of magnesium that can cause sleep issues. 48 percent of Americans do not meet their dietary requirements of magnesium.^1-3

Indications of magnesium deficiency include:²

• Muscle cramps and muscle twitches
• Increased risk of depression
• Loss of appetite
• Osteoporosis
• Fatigue and muscle weakness
• Asthma
• High blood pressure
• Heart arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat
• Numbness and tingling in extremities

What to know about magnesium citrate

The most common recommendation for RLS when it comes to supplementing with magnesium is magnesium citrate. It is the one you will commonly buy at the local pharmacy. 310-320 for women and 400-420 mg/day for men total is recommended and the max level for dietary supplementation is 350 mg.²

However, common issues people have with magnesium citrate are:²

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Abdominal cramping

If you do have these side effects it is recommended to lower your dosage because you may be over your daily limit. However, if you are like me, you are quite "sensitive" to magnesium citrate at pretty much any dosage at all. I have tried taking it with food and at different times in the day. I’ve tried different dosages.

It really doesn’t matter for me what I do, I get some pretty unfortunate side effects. I have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) so perhaps that is why it is such an issue for me. For my father, this type of magnesium does assist with his RLS enough that he doesn’t need anything else.

Trying magnesium spray and magnesium glycinate

I have tried a magnesium spray that avoided these side effects. What I noticed about the spray is that it actually could help with my RLS if the symptoms were mild and if I used it pretty much right away. That is what gave me some indication magnesium might be worth further exploration.

With magnesium citrate not being an option for me, I went with another magnesium: magnesium glycinate. An interesting perk for this one is that it is used for improving sleep. There is little research on it as of yet but it is suggested for its relaxing properties to help with insomnia, stress, anxiety, and depression.

Perhaps that makes it an excellent choice for RLS for simply its calming effect and assistance with insomnia. I certainly have a preference for it since it doesn’t come with the side effects of magnesium citrate. It doesn’t bother my digestive system at all.

Why I think magenisum didn't relieve my RLS

While I was able to find a type of magnesium that agrees with my digestive system, I noticed absolutely no impact on my RLS symptom frequency or intensity.

There are 2 factors that may contribute to my complete lack of response to magnesium supplementation:

1. Magnesium seems to be beneficial with RLS when the person is deficient in magnesium. I very well may be getting enough in my diet already that it doesn’t improve my RLS.
2. It can be beneficial for mild to moderate RLS and mine, at the time I started this treatment, was at the severe level. Perhaps had I tried years prior, it would have been more effective. I find this explanation more likely of the two.

A closer look at our diets

I continue to supplement with magnesium to this day for my other medical reasons. It is a great viable first option to trying to treat my RLS and certainly, it benefits my father. I know the spray has an effect on my more mild symptoms in the evening. So perhaps supplementation has some effect I don’t notice due to the severity of my RLS.

If 48 percent of Americans do not get enough in their diet, it is possible looking at our diet or supplementation based on our doctor’s recommendation could have an impact. This is all my father uses to manage his RLS.

Sometimes we have to find the right magnesium for us though and we definitely have to follow our doctor’s recommendation on the dosage of it.

Have you tried magnesium? What was your experience? Did it relieve your RLS symptoms? Share with our community in the comments below.