I wasn't formally diagnosed with it, but I do have it...but I found mine was actually due to a vitamin deficiency (one of the B vitamins). When I am taking my supplements daily, the RLS goes away.
It's terrible when I'm not. I have to punch my arms and legs to try to get the feeling to go away in order to get the sensation to be less noticeable (good thing I don't bruise easily).
I was surprised when they started advertising RLS on television. I thought it was just some weird thing with me. Never thought of it as something anyone else experienced.
I can't answer your question about the meds, but hopefully someone else can.

Linda

Proudgm - I'm late to reply because I don't usually watch this forum but I agree with Linda. It CAN be caused by a vitamin deficiency. I had trouble with it when I was pregnant. It's hard to get enough vitamins when you're eating for two and in my case, I was eating for three since I was pregnant with twins. It makes it hard to sleep since it seems like when you try to relax, that's when it bothers you the most. My leg muscles would crawl and then jerk just as I was starting to go to drift off.
I was thinking it was vitamin E that helped me but it's possible that they use other vitamins to help it also.
Try putting "RLS vitamins" in the google search box and see what you find. Some people use magnesium as a natural muscle relaxer and years ago, when I worked at a pharmacy, I was surprised how many people swore by it for migraine headaches. I can't find it now but I'm sure that I've read that Missouri's ground water has a low amount of magnesium in relation to the amount of calcium that it has. A high amount of calcium makes you need more magnesium. It might be something that you would want to research.

Here is a link that might be useful: Get a good night's sleep Missouri

Christie Thanks for the link. It's worth a try.

Proudgm - After looking at that link some more, I think it's also an ad for a vitamin supplement that they sell. I've never ordered anything from that site so I don't know anything about it. I usually just buy vitamins at Wal-Mart. lol If you take vitamin E, be sure and get the low strength and I'm sure it would be a good idea to check with your doctor first if your taking perscription meds just in case.

you know, i had rls when i was pregnant, but they told me to take calcium.
my brother has rls and he does the relive. his rls is gone. its a vitamin thing. his wife does too. she had some sort of thing where she couldn't be in the sun, and she'd get all kind of burns and such couldn't ge tpregnant. now she's not allergic to the sun, and has a 6 mo old girl. so i'd say that stuff works great. :') she put lucy on the baby stuff for her stuff that makes baby's cry all the time, ya know for like the burping and stuff. she's getting better. i think its relive . com or something like that. i hope you get better!!! ~Medo

My DH started having a problem with his legs constantly moving after he had open heart surgery 11 years ago. It got worse and worse and at the time there was no treatment like there is today and in fact it was an unknown condition. Well to make a long story short he also started to have problems with his gait and I recognized that his gait looked like he had PArkinsons syndrome so I researched the medications he was taking and found that Calcium Channel blockers which are given for heart problems can cause movement disorders. So I went with him to the cardiogist who swore he had never heard of that but agreed to take him off the calcium channel blocker. He did and all the problems went away..no more restless legs or gait problems. I assume your doctor evaluated any meds you take routinly to rule out similar side effects. I hope you find help with the sinemet.
Joann

I've had it for as long as I can remember, but never was clinically diagnosed. Didn't even know there was a name for it until a few years back! For me it's much more frequent the more stressed I am feeling...I also have ADHD. Much of the times I have had to sleep on the couch because the twitching and kicking gets to be quite disturbing. Sometimes I just have to let myself fall asleep watching TV and that can often not be until 4'ish in the a.m. Sometimes I have to pace around the house or do something like jump-n-jacks to rid of it. Sometimes I need to have my legs massaged and sometimes the only relief I can get is to "smoke a little" which seams to coat the nerve endings...not that I advocate it!...it just works for me!
I always thought it was excess energy trying to exist through my legs. It only occurs as I'm falling asleep or in the stage between being awake and being fully asleep. It's DEFINITELY not the same ADHD type bouncing around kind of energy...this is an uncontrollable and involuntary impulse to jerk or move the legs or go straight mad!

I have it but mine is not a serious problem and it hasn't been diagnosed by a Dr. I get it when I'm tired. If I get too tired then I can't sleep because I can't be still.
When I speak of it to others they think I mean leg cramps and those do have to do with calcium. I have read that people with RLS can also have a crawling itchy feeling and I can remember having that as far back as 13 years old. Do you have it all the time? I think talking to your Dr. about supplements and checking your meds is good advice. Also try not to do too much and rest and relax if you can.