restless legs syndrome

[SecondCor521]

Martha,

I looked it up and tonic water (as in a vodka tonic, apparently) was what I was referring to earlier. But the web stuff I read said it is for leg cramps, and RLS is not leg cramps, as you know. IIRC it helped a little but not much. Also drinking straight tonic water isn't really pleasant.

I would say that in my case the RLS was at its most severe when I was most stressed, and now that my stress levels are much lower the RLS has abated. Are you stressed?

2Cor521

 

[Bestwifeever]

Martha, I have heard quinine (as in tablets or tonic water but sans the gin or vodka ) can help muscle issues, including cramping legs and restless leg syndrome. It would be a cheap thing to try.... Some other "natural" solutions including quinine are at

Symptoms, Their Causes & Cures Restless Legs

Also, you've probably already tried sleeping with a pillow or two under your feet, but that might help?

 

[TromboneAl]

Thanks for bringing this up, Martha. I think I probably have this too. I'll be all drowsy and comfortable, falling asleep, and then it starts. I roll over and it goes away, but only for about 10 seconds. Very unpleasant.

Here are two things I do, that seem to help:

1. Tense and release. I'm not talking about some some little namby pamby muscle contraction. I mean full-body, give it all you've got contract all your muscles until you're shaking for a full six seconds or longer, and then release and breath deeply. Doesn't always work, but there have been times when I've had RL and this has immediately solved it.

2. Drink a good amount of water (that is, from the water bottle by the bed). It means you'll have to get up later to go the bathroom, so this is a trade-off.

 

[Martha]

Al, I have done the tense and release thing too and sometimes it helps.

 

[Sarah in SC]

My mom has this condition, the most extreme version. She has myriad health issues, and has tried all kinds of cures for it. Nothing helps much, or for long. The one thing that has brought her some relief (in addition to taking the RLS drug Miraplex) is oxycontin, in a very low dose, when the leg cramps and nightime kicking become too violent for her or Dad to sleep at all. I think it just knocks her out, honestly.

But Mom is a tough case--double kidney tranplant, Hep C treated, knee replacement, etc. She takes a lot of anti-rejection meds, too, plus antibiotics, so it is hard to tell what might be interacting to cause the RLS symptoms to wax and wane. She also takes Iron, Magnesium, vitamins, etc.

It sounds horrible--and I've watched her try to sleep--she looks like she is running. Must be exhausting after spending all night like that. Martha and the others have my sympathy.

 

[happilymarried]

Questions about symptoms

Hi there --

I had what I thought was RLS, but it really was a pinched nerve in one of my lumbar. I have some questions for you maybe to try to narrow the symptoms down a bit to see:

1. Have you ever had a history of neck or back problems?
2. When you are at rest -- are you sitting, lying down? What positions are you generally in (legs crossed, head on pillow, etc.)
3. When you are asleep, what position are you in? Side? Back? Do you watch TV before while in bed? If so, how are you positioned?
4. Do you feel RLS symptoms while driving in traffic, long distances, etc.?
5. Do you stretch regularly? In particular how flexible are your hamstrings and lower back muscles?

If it is a pinched nerve, I have a couple of yoga exercises that almost completely diminish the RLS-like symptoms I feel.

 

[Canadian Grunt]

For as long as I can remember, I have had the symptoms of restless legs syndrome . Specifically:

1. an urge to move the limbs with or without sensations (for me, I do have sensations, best described as "icky.")
2. improvement with activity (get up and walk and it immediately goes away)
3. worsening at rest
4. worsening in the evening or night.

It makes it hard to go to sleep and I have to get up often to walk a bit. Or, I might stretch and rub my calves very vigorously for relief. I learned years ago that caffeine would make it impossible to sleep, so I lightly use caffeine only in the morning and only a bit. My iron levels tend towards the high end so it isn't an iron deficiency, which according to wikipedia is a somewhat common cause.


Anyway, I have never asked my current doctor about it, probably because I have lived with it my whole life. It was those dang commercials for Requip that made me realize what it is and that maybe there is a solution. But I also know that the restless leg commercials are a favorite target of people who criticize cures waiting for a disease.

So, does anyone else have this problem that makes it so hard to go to sleep at night? Have you ever tried any drugs for it?

I had this problem, although some of it is brought on by surgery. I had a nerve transplant to fix a cut nerve in my arm and have sensitivity at the graft site.

Most of the problem has gone away after I moved to a quieter neighbourhood and bought another bed.

I found stretching the calf muscles and limiting alcohol helps to a great degree. No drugs, I think it can be managed without drugs.

 

[tashon]

Hi there --

I had what I thought was RLS, but it really was a pinched nerve in one of my lumbar. I have some questions for you maybe to try to narrow the symptoms down a bit to see:

1. Have you ever had a history of neck or back problems?
2. When you are at rest -- are you sitting, lying down? What positions are you generally in (legs crossed, head on pillow, etc.)
3. When you are asleep, what position are you in? Side? Back? Do you watch TV before while in bed? If so, how are you positioned?
4. Do you feel RLS symptoms while driving in traffic, long distances, etc.?
5. Do you stretch regularly? In particular how flexible are your hamstrings and lower back muscles?

If it is a pinched nerve, I have a couple of yoga exercises that almost completely diminish the RLS-like symptoms I feel.

I also see a chiropractor. Not sure spinal manipulation helps much but would be very interested in hearing your yoga positions.

 

[gandalf42]

I had RLS as a symptom of advanced kidney disease. It was always in the evening time. A very unpleasant sensation.

It has completely gone away after the kidney transplant (no, that's not a recomendation). Interestingly they have had me on a magnesium supplement following the transplant so I couldn't say definitively whether the transplant resolved it or the magnesium supplement. My bet is still on the transplant but who knows?

 

[Sarah in SC]

Gandalf, that is interesting, as Mom is a kidney recipient as well. That is one of the reasons the docs have such a hard time with this. They don't know whether to attribute her symptoms to her not infrequent kidney infections (she is 5+ years post transplant) or to something else.

 

[gandalf42]

Did she have RLS as bad before the transplant as well? I am very happy that mine went away post-transplant.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Yes, Gandalf, and I believe it was worse for a while before the transplant, then better right after the transplant. But it does come and go to some extent even now.

 

[Pat D]

For as long as I can remember, I have had the symptoms of restless legs syndrome . Specifically:

1. an urge to move the limbs with or without sensations (for me, I do have sensations, best described as "icky.")
2. improvement with activity (get up and walk and it immediately goes away)
3. worsening at rest
4. worsening in the evening or night.

It makes it hard to go to sleep and I have to get up often to walk a bit. Or, I might stretch and rub my calves very vigorously for relief. I learned years ago that caffeine would make it impossible to sleep, so I lightly use caffeine only in the morning and only a bit. My iron levels tend towards the high end so it isn't an iron deficiency, which according to wikipedia is a somewhat common cause.


Anyway, I have never asked my current doctor about it, probably because I have lived with it my whole life. It was those dang commercials for Requip that made me realize what it is and that maybe there is a solution. But I also know that the restless leg commercials are a favorite target of people who criticize cures waiting for a disease.

So, does anyone else have this problem that makes it so hard to go to sleep at night? Have you ever tried any drugs for it?

I've got the same thing. It drives me nuts. The only thing that works is elevation of the legs but the key here is to make sure your legs are very high, meaning much higher than your head. Hope this helps.

 

[mickeyd]

"She's got the jimmy legs, Jerry!" Cosmo Cramer
~~~~~

"Estelle's got the jimmy arms" Frank Costanza

"You can get it in your arms too?" Cosmo Cramer

 

[JustMeUC]

I have had it for as long as I remember, at least since I was a teenager. I tried everything I ever read about it, every folk remedy out there. The toll it took on my life is unbelievable. I used to get just a very few hours of sleep a night. I would walk, rub my legs together, do little karate chops on them (which actually helped, while doing it), walk, massage them, rub them together frantically, chop chop chop some more and eventually fall asleep. Couldn't lay down and watch tv either. As long as my legs were in a downward position, fine, elevate them and the creepy crawly crap started. Terrible Terrible thing if you have it bad. When requip came out and I tried it I found out what it was like to get a full nights sleep like a normal human being. You won't pry my requip from me for ANY amount of money. Never Ever Ever!

It must be genetic as both my grandmother and mother had it too.

 

[TromboneAl]

It's now been a month since this topic came up. I've been taking half of an aspirin each night before going to bed, and haven't had any restless legs since. Could be a placebo effect or chance, but that's my observation.

 

[FIYes]

DH has this syndrome---not taking any treatment for it---the side effects for the advertised drugs sound scary. Interestingly, I heard a radio program the other day the referred to the Viking effect of this syndrome---apparently Scandinavian ancestry increases the probability of RLS---at least that was the thought on program.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Non-drug therapies like massage don't have any supporting evidence.

I think maybe this means there haven't been a lot of studies done
on non-drug therapies, for painfully obvious reasons.

I have suffered from this affliction (mild to moderate) for some years.
Without question, the best single thing I can do is to cut back on my
caffeine (I guess this counts as a non-drug therapy Also, there is no
question in my mind that things like massage (even just rubbing one
calf briefly with the heel of the other foot), pounding the offending calf
with fist, standard calf-stretching exercises, and hot baths (or simply
a hot-water bottle) ARE effective. Effective enough to avoid drugs ?
Maybe not.

That being said, I am taking 250ug of klonazepam most nights, more
for an over-active mind than for RLS. My doc says he has no problem
with my taking this dosage long-term, but I'd be curious of other
opinion on that .

 

[alwaysjammin]

you should see a physician, preferably a psychiatrist as they are the experts with these problems
A.J.

 

[free4now]

Funny, out here in CA there are newspaper advertisements from the pot docs encouraging you to make an appointment if you have RLS. I actually know someone who does find marijuana very helpful for his RLS, but it seems like a shotgun approach to me.