Dopermine agonists are more recent restless leg syndrome treatments. In their early use they seemed to be a miracle cure as the drugs seemed to suffer much less from augmentation and failing efficacy. More recently though there have been some big problems beginning to show through. The two name you will likely see most are Mirapex (pramipexole) and Requip (ropinirole). A third contender Permax (pergolide) was removed from sale in the US as it was shown to cause heart valve issues in patients.

The list of potentially dangerous side effects of these drugs is well documented but more recently there have been cases reported of the treatments causing ’social addiction’  problems in patients including gambling addiction, sex addiction and shop lifting.

One of the newest contenders is Neupro (rotigotine). Another restless leg treatment that showed great promise initially. Although another dopamine agonist rotigotine is applied to the skin in a patch, much like a nicotine patch. The idea was to give a very low dose over 24 hours. The idea being reduced side effects and greater efficacy. Unfortunately the actual patch mechanism has proved a problem and the US and many European countries have now recalled the patches. Side effects seem to be mainly related to skin reactions to the actual patches although this is a new drug and , like it’s predecessors, I am sure time will tell if it is the miracle we are all looking for .

Another drug group used to treat restless leg symptoms is benzodiazepine, a family of drugs including Clonazepam (klonopin) and Valium (diazepam ). Primarily used to treat anxiety they act to inhibit brain activity. They are effective as ’sleeping tablets’ and can enable severe RLS sufferers to catch up on some sleep but the side effects are well documented but the most obvious and most impractical is the sedation effect that lasts well into the next day if taken at night. In many cases taking these drugs at night means you should not drive the next day and normal work functions can be seriously impaired until well into thee afternoon. These can also be highly addictive if taken regularly so your doctor is likely to only prescribe a few tablets at a time.

The bottom line is that you would be advised to avoid taking any drugs for RLS unless absolutely necessary. You should pursue all natural avenues before taking this route. I speak as a sufferer and not a medical practitioner so I understand the drive to ‘take the easy fix’ but none of the medications above seem to be a long term solution.

There are many prescription drugs available but you should get all the facts and think very carefully before taking them.