Clinical Management of Restless Legs Syndrome

The only book that clearly details all the treatment options including the subtle issue of augmentation. If you primary care doctor keeps increasing your dose of dopamine antagonists, you had better read this book or see this doctor. You will life will be so much better. It seems most doctors prescribe for the short term without thinking about the long term management issues ... Read this book and you will then learn how little your own RLS or primary care doctor really knows about RLS. Please vote that this review was Helpful to you. Thanks

If this is the only book you read on RLS, also called Willis-Ekbom Disease, this is the one it should be.This book is written for healthcare professionals. It provides a multitude of research studies to inform the practitioner, explains why certain things work, don't work, and so on. It provides dosages for all of the various medications. It explains what augmentation is, why it's so hard to treat, and how to treat it. It also discussed non-pharm therapies and what to do with patients who have RLS that doesn't respond well to traditional treatments. There should be one in every primary care physician's office, as well as the offices of every sleep doctor, neurologist or pulmonologist.But, it's just as, or equally, appropriate for those with the disease. It does use many medical terms and can be difficult for a patient to understand. But, may patients end up with doctors who do not know how to treat the disease. Or have limited experience with it. As a patient, you can identify what your options are, what your doctors could (or should) be doing, and know the questions to ask to get the treatment you need.As we learn more about RLS, or WED, we learn that people with it are at greater risk for heart attack, high blood pressure, and according to a recent study at Harvard, die approximately 8 years sooner than people without it. This book helps ensure that people with it get the treatment they need and that will hopefully prevent heart issues and potentially extend their lives.This is a second edition. It has updated information that is important, especially about using dopamine agonists. The writing style and content is very similar to the prior version.

UPDATE: 2013 - a new edition was published this year. This first edition is still a good book in many ways, but there is a lot of new information about augmentation and medication in the new edition that wasn't known when this was written. If at all possible, get the newer edition. If, however, money is tight, do consider getting this edition as a used book - you can likely find it for a low price. Just know that there is more up-to-date information. Also, in 2013 the RLS Foundation formally changed its name and petitioned to change the name of RLS to Willis-Ekbom Disease, or WED for short (outloud, say the letters, W-E-D, rather than saying it as a word). The reason for the change is to address that 1) This is now considered a disease, not a syndrome; 2) it's not only in the legs and can be just about anywhere in the body; 3) it's not really about being restless; and 4) The old name doesn't sound very serious. The word restless conjures images of people sitting and shaking their legs - as if they were anxious but could easily stop at will. WED is a chronic neurological movement disorder that affects those with it as much, or more, than other chronic illnesses, such as Type 2 diabetes. People with it do not shake or move uncontrollably, rather they have a strong URGE to move, usually accompanied by an uncomfortable, icky, nasty, sometimes painful sensation. The sensation and urge together create anxiety; the person MUST move to make the sensation and urge go away. Movement may be walking, stretching, yoga, running, or any other exercise. The urge/sensation may return as soon as movement stops, making it impossible to sleep, read, relax, attend events, and so on. While worse at night, for patients with severe symptoms, the urge and sensations may occur 24 hours a day.(the following was written about the first edition)If you have WED/RLS and are having difficulty getting the help you need from your doctor, this is for you - you can read it together. If you are a doctor and want to know more about WEED/RLS and how to treat it, buy this immediately. If you are someone who is not sure your WED/RLS doc is doing the best by you, definitely buy this.This is written for a medical audience, no question. But, a layperson should be able to read it without too many difficulties. It clearly explains what WED/RLS is, when it should be treated, and provides excellent treatment guidelines. It has treatment algorithms, dosage charts for drugs in all four categories, and includes information on working with patients.It also covers the issue of augmentation in detail; augmentation is the supposedly uncommon side effect of dopaminergic drugs, such as Requip (ropinerole), Sinemet (carpidopa/levadopa) and Mirapex (pramipexole). I said supposedly uncommon because it now turns out to be extremely common; according to research, 50-70% of people who take a dopaminergic for 5 years will experience augmentation. Over the last ten years, doctors often prescribed the approved dopaminergics for WED/RLS; when patients suddenly had worsened WED/RLS, more severe WED/RLS, or the WED/RLS moved to other body parts, neither the patient or physician had any idea of what to do. With this book, everyone knows. In the second edition, however, there is more information about how important it is to test serum ferritin and to have serum ferritin levels to at least 70-100 before using dopaminergics.This book clearly makes the case for using opioids for WED/RLS when other treatments fail. It provides clear guidance for when and how to use opioid therapy. It also discusses mimic diseases and the common primary diseases that can cause WED/RLS.Highly recommended for every primary care physician, sleep doctor, neurologist, psychiatrist and rheumatologist out there. While PCPs may not want to learn the complexities of moderate to severe WED/RLS, they should know how to identify it and what symptoms may suggest problems. And, if a specialist isn't available, they may be the only doctor to help. While specialists may think they do not need this book, it's been my experience that too many specialists are operating on old, outdated or limited information about this disease and do not realize it; reading this book given them the information needed to that they would be able to provide the best treatment to their patients....who deserve it. If you are a patient and have a doctor who doesn't seem to be up on the best treatments for WED/RLS, consider buying a copy for them. It may be worth it to you in the long run.My only complaint would be that I don't remember any reference to celiac disease and WED/RLS. WED/RLS is affected by iron levels - both serum ferritin and hemoglobin. People with WED/RLS often have low serum ferritin, but not often anemia. Untreated celiacs do not absorb iron. An extremely common misdiagnosis in celiac disease is that of anemia. 97% of celiacs in the US are undiagnosed. Estimates are that 30-40% of celiacs complain of WED/RLS before diagnosis. But, we know that only 10% of the US population has WED/RLS. Given these facts, anemia with WED/RLS may be a possible indicator of celiac - and at least warrants a test. Not everyone with anemia and WED/RLS will have celiac, but if testing for celiac when people have both anemia and WED/RLS catches even another 1% of celiacs, that is a good thing. And, likely it would catch more than that.

If you have RLS, take this book to your Dr! Most Drs say they know how to treat RLS but they do not.

Lots of information. Highly recommend.

Very technical book. Really meant for doctor's, but it has good information and details about the medications used to treat RLS. I have a severe case and needed to read everything I could get my hands on to educate myself in order to best assist my doctor in knowing what medications may work in my case.

As a sufferer from RLS, I was wanting more information on contributing factors, lifestyle measures I could take to reduce my symptoms, and info on the long-term and short-term risks of Mirapex, the medication I am on. The book was extremely valuable! It answered all of my questions. I highly recommend this book to anyone who suffers from RLS.

I recently heard a webinar by Dr. B (2nd author), who is well known among the RLS crowd. He said this is still the most up to date information around. Most of the new advances have been in the genetics of RLS, not treatment. It's also cheap enough that you can buy a copy to give to your primary care physician (who treat most of the RLS cases). I did for mine, and he was very appreciative of having all the background and treatment information in such a compact and quick to read format.

I am a long time sufferer of RLS and would not be without this book.In fact I owned the previous edition and lent it out, who knows where it is now and if someone is finding it useful then I'm happy.This book is written the ''''THE EXPERTS'''' it is easy to read and understand.It has so much information that is relevant, especially on treatment and on augmentation. Most GPs haven't a clue about augmentation let alone the RLS disease itself. Mine is full of pencil comments and post-its. I take it with me to my doctor appointments when discussing medications.If you are a sufferer of this horrendous, life changing, depressing, ....... disease , then this is the book for you.Yes, I know it's expensive, I paid nearly £20. and I think I waited a little while it came from the USA (can''t be certain). It was worth every penny. Can't recommend this book highly enough.

Excellent book. A must have if you have RLS. All I need to do now is pluck up the courage to show it to my Dr and draw his attention to the pages which contradict what he is saying about RLS!!

I love it, is not the proper expletive, however if you are a severe RLS sufferer, I need not say more - buy it.