Restless Legs Syndrome affects a significant percentage of the population: RLS causes an irresistible urge to move one's body to stop uncomfortable sensations in the legs. The condition can make sleep or rest difficult. In a study of nearly 60 people with RLS, researchers found the drug pregabalin – approved for the treatment of epilepsy, nerve pain, anxiety and fibromyalgia – relieved symptoms for nearly two-thirds of patients. For those who still had symptoms, they improved by 66 percent while taking the drug.

Pergolode (permax) is an anti-parkinsonion, as is Sinemet, and is a dopamine agent. It has proved useful easing the symptoms of RLS. Parkinson's Disease prescriptions would obviously have very potent ingredients and medications can have unhealthy effects on the body after time, or when combined with other prescriptions. The pharmaceutical companies want to find more patients to treat with every new medication but it's unethical to suggest a processed chemical for a simple affliction that can be treated with a natural supplement.

The marketing of the tonics and potions of old has evolved into a sophisticated industry led by huge pharmaceutical corporations such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Bayer - entities motivated by a need to produce profits for shareholders. No expense is spared to find new homes for their prescriptions in the bodies of patients who are not seriously ill. This is accelerating in spite of the fact that more deaths are caused by legal prescription drugs than by illegal drugs. In order to recoup the costs of the massive research and development procedures necessary to create a new medication, they market the product as a full-time treatment for one disease and a partially-proven "possible" treatment in unrelated conditions. They qualify this (and protect themselves legally) by listing a litany of side-effects that may occur in a percentage of people, either affecting another condition or conflicting with another medication.

Vitamin deficiencies, especially magnesium, cause problems related to the circulatory system and organs like the kidneys and heart. Magnesium deficiency has been shown to increase the likelihood of Type 2 Diabetes; in fact Diabetes is described as a "magnesium-deficient state" by Dr. Jerry Nadler of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. His research indicates that having a low magnesium level not only causes irritability, muscle weakness, and irregular heartbeat, it also increases a person's chances of developing Diabetes by one-third. Dr. Nadler states that supplements can improve insulin activity and may lessen the complications. 400mg daily is suggested by some specialists.

Most research data is based on the United States population so it should be taken into account that food value has decreased by 50% in the last century in the United States where processed foods and fast foods became the norm. America's obsession with hot dogs, hamburgers, sugars, milk, and processed cheese could be used as the perfect example of what not to eat if a person wants to avoid heart disease and diabetes. Other countries' diets are more likely to include high-magnesium foods such as pumpkin seeds, nuts, bran, lentils, chickpeas, green leafy vegetables, and tofu - all omitted from the meat and processed foods American diet. A high-fat diet may cause magnesium to be absorbed less effectively. An imbalanced diet combined with the ready abundance of meat exists in a mindset that views regular large meals as recreational social or family feasting rather than survival, resulting in widespread obesity which in turn makes the body a candidate for acquiring Diabetes. Food intake can increase when overeating comes about as a manifestation of psychological turmoil and used to compensate for alienation or unhappiness. Even more troubling is a common attitude among men that you have to eat "a man's meal" such as a 16-ounce steak in order to prove your virility.

Magnesium is essential to good health: it is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body by volume but within the cells it is second only to potassium. It influences many enzymes needed to produce cellular energy and nerve and muscle message transmission. Magnesium helps regulate blood sugar levels and aid in the metabolism of proteins, calcium, Vitamin D, copper, zinc, and potassium. Between 60% and 65% of magnesium resides in the bones.

People with kidney disease should avoid magnesium supplement and heart patients should get advice on diet change. Most people who have heart attacks are usually magnesium deficient for magnesium is important to cardiac function and the strength of the heart muscle tissue. Heart disease is largely a matter of prevention and magnesium plays a vital role in keeping blood pressure low, strengthening red blood cells, preventing heart arrhythmias, clots, and irregular heartbeats. In several studies having a proper level of magnesium was a factor in preventing blocked or narrowed arteries.

Like all good wonder-cures, the magnesium supplement is also helpful to less serious conditions in a significant percentage of people. Studies have shown improvement in 40% of migraine sufferers, which of course means that 60% of migraine cases are not helped by magnesium supplement to any extent. Overall there is enough positive data regarding irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, general pain, and muscle spasms to make it worth adding magnesium to the diet, if not in food then in supplement form.

Another widely-used drug in North America that's a veritable gravy train is Fluoxetine, the antidepressant sold as Prozac. One hundred tablets sells for $247.47 while the cost of the active ingredient is $.11 for a markup of 224,973 percent. Another example is Claritin – the cost of 100 tablets is $215.17 where the active ingredient cost is $.71, posting a 30,306 percent markup. Celebrex reaps 21,712 percent and Prilosec sports a tidy 69,417 percent markup ratio.

A portion of the markup rewards the initial long-term investment in discovery and development and is justified but the status of pharmaceutical companies indicates the profit margins are higher than other industries: there are now over two hundred pharmaceutical corporations, and together they are more profitable than any other industry. Brand medications are dealing with products that are based on research and development, patents, brand names, and marketing so the cost from beginning to end to launch a new medication is estimated at over two billion dollars. This cost includes the many other failed drug discovery and development attempts since only a fraction of researched chemicals make it to the market. The consumer is paying to offset all the development, manufacturing, marketing, and delivery while the pharmaceutical firm can capitalize on its patent for seventeen years until the drug can be legally sold in generic form.

Competition from generic drug makers has been around for decades and there has been the new competition, ordering generic drugs online to lower prices. In addition public awareness is slowly recognizing that symptoms have root causes that can be balanced through healthier and more organic means such as vitamin and mineral supplements. A person suffering from insomnia doesn’t necessarily need to be sedated with sleeping pills if the root problem is simply leg cramps or restless leg syndrome. Being drowsy even hours after getting up is usually the effect of sleeping pills. If the sufferer does some research he'll be able to find a treatment that’s non-pharmaceutical, something natural that addresses the condition. One remedy is a supplement that goes by the trade name of "All Calm", a form of Magnesium Citrate which has helped RLS and leg cramp victims finally get a good night's sleep. There are numerous chemicals on the market for RLS, usually derivatives spun off from other symptom-treating diseases, but the person is better off to start with a supplement that has no side-effects.

Some commercial drugs seem to be created through reverse engineering of a catchy trade name. It seems as if some marketing campaigns get underway before the drug can be purported to address a particular symptom. Remember the annoying and mystifying commercials about something you just "apply directly to the forehead!" The ad never actually said what this product would do to your forehead - is it for pimples or does it cure headaches? Imagine a meeting where names like “Phastavir” or “Regulax” are tossed around as possible new products. It costs less to re-formulate an existing chemical entity than to discover a new one.  It could be sold for stress relief or anxiety attacks if a certain efficacy of that nature can be proved in clinical trials, which are slanted in favor of the companies that sponsor the trials. One way to get better results is to use young test subjects who have fewer side-effects, even if the drug is aimed at senior-aged patients.

Get a catchy name and do an advertising blitz on the new brand name and the public will buy it because it appeals to the culture of consumerism. Because obscene profits are involved the message is sent that it's necessary to have some drugs to get through the day, although conditions like depression are rooted in social problems and there's no way to package and sell counseling in a pill. Curing society's ills and curing disease aren't part of the pharmaceutical industry mandate except in the rare cases where one of the drugs actually does cure the disease permanently. Treating symptoms is the bread and butter of pharmaceuticals, not wiping out disease. Repeat customers of non-essential drugs are the most valuable because they are convinced that they need to shop for pills that will take away every bit of boredom, suspicion of allergy, every little ache and pain - so convenience and mental security is a motivator.
 
We've been programmed by advertising to believe that drugs cure illness, not vitamins. The intense effort at political lobbying extended by the pharmaceutical giants and the fact that they finance and control the research enables them to propagate this belief with the public and the medical community. Many medical institutions are on the gravy train with sponsorships and support from the drug czars. The common sense road of nutrition therapy and vitamin supplements is discredited and very much the electric car of the medical world…held back in favor of the gas-guzzler.

To quote Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine: the pharmaceutical industry she says is "primarily a marketing machine to sell drugs of dubious benefit. Big pharma is taking us for a ride: the combined profits from the ten drug companies in the Fortune 500 were more than the other 490 corporations put together."

The phenomenon usually occurs in the lower legs; in anatomical geography it's the high-traffic zone for musculature. The largest muscle below the knee is the calf, or gastrocnemius, which is an area in which many people develop varicose veins, another cause of persistent leg cramps due to poor circulation. Underneath the calf is the soleus in the center of the leg. A thin muscle running along the center on the outside of the soleus is the peroneus, and towards the inner part the extensor digitorum longus. The muscle outside along the shin (and one that can harbor seriously painful cramps) is the tibialis anterior. There are a lot of muscles packed into an area that must work often to walk, run, cycle, or swim through most of the waking hours. Athletes are quite familiar with pulls and strains of the muscles or the tendons attached to them such as the Achilles tendon connecting the peroneus longus to the heel. A torn Achilles tendon or pulled hamstring farther up the leg puts the leg out of action and requires a long period of healing.

Although there are cases of RLS in young people, and known as Primary RLS (until recently often misdiagnosed as "growing pains" or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), Restless Legs Syndrome is more common in older people and often appears as one passes middle age. Several contributing factors are iron-poor blood (anemia), kidney disease, thyroid problems, pregnancy, Parkinson’s disease, circulatory problems, obesity, osteoarthritis, varicose veins, and disruption of sufficient vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, or oxygen due to chemotherapy or immune disorder. Since the body systems are interconnected, the root cause of one condition may stem from other weak systems.

The first reflex of doctors when trying to discover treatments for a disorder is to try pharmaceutical substances relating to similar conditions. Ritalin is used to treat hyperactivity and so was tested as the answer to RLS. Dopaminergic agents, Benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine sedatives, anticonvulsants, hypertensive medications (usually used for high blood pressure), even opiates have been used with mixed results as not all patients respond to any one drug. Moreover, anit-depressants and other medications may aggravate the condition. Alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco are substances that may make the condition worse and cause further lack of sleep.

A supplement in a bio-available form consisting of a specially processed and powdered magnesium citrate is readily available on the market under the brand name “All Calm” to alleviate the symptoms of RLS. It is taken orally by a small teaspoon and prepared like tea. The supplement is all-natural and provides relief without side-effects or toxic elements found in pharmaceuticals. Because there is no one cure for the condition, it's likely the safest approach to get proper rest without the annoying need to get up and move around. The most aggravating effect of RLS is the accompanying insomnia. The supplement is also useful to treat people with regular leg cramps that are not due to Restless Legs Syndrome. Like any supplement or medication, check with a doctor before using and follow the instructions so that the correct amount is used. Magnesium citrate is used as a laxative so if diarrhea occurs then follow the advice of your physician. It is recommended to follow the dosage amounts on the label.

Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a medically recognized specific chronic condition common to groups with both genetic and/or acquired factors resulting in the urge to move the limbs around, usually the legs. Sufferers are generally in the over 40 age range but young people can be affected also, and were misdiagnosed in the past. The phenomenon was simply labeled "growing pains" and it was thought that the child would grow out of it. All sorts of hyperactivity can account for young people being awake.

Other leg cramps occur when a person begins to exercise after being out of shape, when there's fatigue and dehydration, when medications interfere with the immune system, and when circulatory problems are present. Nerves fire out of control in a chain-reaction within the muscles, which then tighten up with less oxygen carried by the blood. Swimmers in cold water will attest to the possibility of binding cramps getting them in trouble; it's impossible to put weight on it while in the water and it paralyzes the leg, possibly both legs.

When a sleeping person gets awakened by leg cramps, jumping up to place weight on the leg will sometimes settle the calf muscles down to ease the pain. They can tie up the muscle area around the shins where standing with weight on the leg won't help. In that case, a hot bath and massaging the knots out of the muscles is the best first aid. The cramps can start all over as soon as you move the wrong way in bed trying to return to sleep. The aftermath of the pain and the furtive attempts to get rid of it guarantees several hours of lost sleep.

Doctors may experiment with different medications to treat chronic conditions like RLS but those may conflict with other medications and no one pharmaceutical product is used to treat insomnia with all patients. Psychological conditions causing sleep loss are particularly medicated on a case-by-case basis. Anxiety, stress, schizophrenia, mania, and depression can all lead to long periods of insomnia that are damaging to the patient. When insomnia goes beyond three weeks, it is defined medically as chronic, as opposed to someone having a few days of bad sleep due to jet lag or a short stay in an uncomfortable place such as a hospital.

Many cases of cramping have vitamins and minerals that can be used, in particular potassium, iron, and a patented supplement that contains all-natural ingredients and is branded as "All Calm" which relieves leg cramps in general and RLS in particular.

Chronic pain, fatigue, night time angina, acid reflux disease, asthma, obstructive sleep apnea, and a wide range of serious conditions will produce insomnia as a side effect, but lower leg muscle difficulty is bound to cause restless nights, and the condition seems to be alleviated universally by the All Calm supplement and so would be the logical place to start when searching for a remedy. Like all treatments it's wise to get a doctor’s advice and read the instructions regarding method of use.