Webinar 2016: What is the Role of Opioids in RLS?

What is the Role of Opioids in RLS? Presented by Christopher J.Earley, MB, BCh, PhD - RLS Foundation Quality Care Center Director at Johns Hopkins Center for Restless Legs Syndrome.

© RLS Foundation 2016

[LatterDaisySaint]

28:35 - I have Akathisia, which is a medication injury from taking psych drugs AS PRESCRIBED. Akathisia is the most horrific side effect/iatrogenic illness in existence. Akathisia is often described as not being able to sit still, having the irresistible URGE to move, extreme restless agitation. It also includes the INNER mental/emotional agitation, terror, and extreme anguish. Having a doctor willing to LISTEN, and LEARN and prescribe an opiate treatment HAS SAVED MY LIFE.

[shirleybuck]

Doctor Earley has devoted his life to solving the puzzle to this disease. Brilliant, funny, and very sincere man. Go see him if you can.

[flyinggeckos]

This is so well done! Thank you thank you!

[BigdogR]

So informative, thank you! I had some prejudice towards methadone before this webcast, thinking that it was easier to create dependency, and harder to stop, than other opiates. I see I have been highly misinformed! It appears that methadone can be highly effective in low doses for RLS, for many patients where other therapies have failed.

[douglaserickson]

Restless Legs affects so many people, why so few studies of endorphin imbalance in striatum and thalimus?

[polarbearhero]

Don’t understand this sentence: For pain “5 mg of OxyCodon equals 5 mg of methadone”. But for RLS “5 mg of methadone equals 20 mg of OxyCodon”. Isn’t this true for all pain not just for RLS? That’s how the morphine equivalents work out when opiates are prescribed. They are not prescribed mg for mg.

I’ve found 5 mg of methadone is the same or a bit better at relieving RLS sensations than 20 mg of OxyCodon or 30 mg of morphine.

[vsvnrg]

what happens when you are totally addicted and because of this, the doctor refuses to write more prescriptions? you can get it off the street. can't afford it anymore? sell your house and things will be fine. i found a naturopath who showed me what caused it and suggested oak or pine tree bark or grape seed extract. i go for the gse because its cheaper.

[rickyjohn]

Lack of opiates / opioids will cause the worst RLS you’ve ever encountered believe me!!

[misterserious]

Unfortunately, opioids are the WRONG thing to do.
RLS is the result of chronic endorphin depletion. That is easily and quickly reversed with low dose naltrexone. If you stop, it simply comes back, but people generally feel better with improved endorphin levels. Thats my experience in over 10 years of research into endorphin depletion syndromes and its reversal.
Not only that, but low endorphin levels means you lose much of your cellular immunity making you even sicker.

Narcotics are an admission of physician ignorance, diagnostic failure and effectively predispose the sufferer to significant risk dependency and expense. Not only that, continued narcotics use further diminishes endogenous endorphin production and nowadays, doctors wont prescribe narcotics without expensive testing and frequent office visits, leaving the sufferer even worse off than when they started.
IN MY PROFESSIONAL OPINION, TREATMENT OF RLS WITH NARCOTICS IS MALPRACTICE.