Grandma’s Bizarre Home Remedy: Magic Soap

If you tend to scatter your sheets and blankets, if your legs want to dance at exactly the time you want to settle down, and especially if your legs go “jumping” at night and wake you up, then you probably have Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS).

Those who cope with restless leg syndrome know exactly what I’m talking about. My sister has had RLS since she was a child, probably inherited from my father who had Parkinson’s and RLS.  When we slept in the same room growing up, I would hear a familiar, “Swish…Swash…Swish…Swash …” of her feet moving back and forth under the sheets.  I remember she complained that she couldn’t stop her feet from moving. When the “swishing” sound rustling under the covers ceased, I could finally start getting a good night sleep!

Now, if you suffer from RLS, imagine how good it would feel to have a sound nights sleep with no prickly feeling running through your restless legs, forcing you to “twitch and itch.” Sleepless nights cause stress and that will only lead to more disease. I have discovered a Restless Leg Syndrome Home Remedy that costs practically nothing and it’s so easy to use. It is, without a doubt, worth a try.

Take a bar of plain unwrapped soap, nothing with deodorant or antibacterial in it. Put the bar of soap between your mattress pad and bottom sheet, somewhere between the waist and the knees. Then sleep with the soap there for a couple of nights.

Nobody can explain why this works. It’s a strange treatment and it sounds like nonsense. People won’t even try it thinking that they are being made a fool out of, but those that have tried this are amazed and within a few good night sleep they are free of RLS symptoms.

Bar Soap History – Here is what I found about this method

(from suite101.com)

“Whether using a bar of soap to prevent and treat leg cramps is a matter of folklore, accident or science is anyone’s guess. The success of the method was reported by advice columnist Ann Landers and garnered rave reviews from her readers several times during her long career. Peter H. Gott, MD, an internist who, according to the New York Times practices in Lakeville, CT, and authored a syndicated medical advice column that appeared in 400 newspapers, published the remedy. He admitted he had no idea why the treatment could be effective, but dozens from his audience wrote him to agree that it did indeed work for them as well. Today, scores of web sites and blogs report the efficacy of this unconventional and unexplained treatment. Apparently no reputable scientist will associate herself or himself with the method. Indeed, in 2005, a letter extolling the curative power of bar soap appeared in Advance, which bills itself as “the nation’s physical therapy news.”

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RLS Natural Soap Remedy Details

• Place one, two, three or even four bars of soap, unwrapped, under the fitted bed sheet.
• Alternatively, slip the bar into a cheap nylon anklet or cut the foot off old panty hose.
• Many individuals position the bar(s) at the foot of the bed. Others experience more success when the soap is nearer the afflicted muscle.
• Others have tried putting it in their socks, but may overheat or find crumbles within the sock.  Even try holding onto the soap in your hand.
• Replace the bar(s) every two or three months.
• Large bath and small hotel-sized bars seem to work equally well.
• Some report that plain soap like Ivory works better than Dove and Dial or scented bars, but there’s no clear consensus.

Fat and Gas

I know this may sound very weird or make little sense, but thank God for home remedies.  The only explanation I can muster is that soap is alkaline (with a pH value of 9,5), which removes oil and grease because they are acids (as in fatty acids!).

Soap also contains magnesium sulfate, i.e. Epsom salts. Since restless leg syndrome is related with mineral deficiency, the magnesium in soap may help calm muscle spasms.

I’m not sure why exactly all this works, but I’m sure it has to do with the “outgassing” of the soap chemicals, which you can smell. Or, it may have to do with the molecular structure of soap, and the energy those molecules put off and how they influence your muscles.

Incidentally, caffeine and other components of coffee and tea, as well as sugar, can rob your body of iron, folate, magnesium and other nutrients that play roles in restless legs syndrome. Dr. Oz calls it the 3 C’s – Cocktail, Caffeine and Chocolate that are harmful for RLS. So it might be worth your while to make sure you’re getting the Daily Value magnesium, which is 400 milligrams. In addition, slip a bar of soap between your mattress pad and sheet!  🙂

Smelly Feet?

When I told my family about this home remedy, I admit I got a few chuckles.  However, after the first night with a bar of soap under her feet, my sister said her sheets were in the same place as when she went to bed. Usually, the sheets are untucked, pulled aside and bundled together, requiring a complete bed make over every morning.  Feet that smell like soap is a small price to pay for a good night sleep and hassle-free bed linens!

The risk is zero to place a bar of soap under the sheets and the cost is far less than prescription to help relieve the symptoms of RLS.  It may be one of Grandma’s weirdest remedies, but it is a beautiful, simple and a natural treatment for helping to cure a very uncomfortable syndrome.

For heavens sake, try it! Whose going to know you slipped a bar of soap between your mattress pad and sheet?  You can always use that bar of soap to bathe with if you grow impatient with this home remedy.