Wrestless Leg Syndrom

You have such a malady?

Actually, it's RLS, Restless Leg Syndrome, and it's most annoying. My husband has it. He often he finds himself on the floor.

I believe you are mistaken, Mame. Littlek would never make such a mistake. There is a reason she placed that W there.

She's up to something.

She's trying to make us look like fools.

I think we had better shut up for now and let some other unsuspecting victims fall into her little trap.

Take more calcium supplements, littlek. Iron deficiency could be
a trigger as well.

Before I had my ovarian cyst removed, I had severe anemia. Needed two units of blood and iron supplements to beef up my body in preparation for the surgery. Restless legs were a real nuisance for a couple of years before that. Sometimes I had a difficult time sleeping, it was so bad. Since the surgery and revival of my red cells, I haven't experienced the little twitches and creepy crawly feeling at all.

Before I knew about the cyst, I thought the twitches might be from all the sugar substitutes I was using and cut them from my diet. No change. I also thought it might be the mattress on my bed and started sleeping on a layer of bed pillows for more comfort. After my surgery, I added one of those memory foam mattress toppers to the bed. Haven't had any twitches or crawly feelings at all.

Not sure which did it, the mattress topper or the enriched blood. Wouldn't hurt to get yourself tested for anemia though. How's your sleeping arrangement? Does it need some revamping?

You mean she's pulling our leg?!?!?!?

Take long walks.

I thought it was associated with low potassium.

I have this as well and have for about a year. Usually left leg more than right and only when I go to bed. I get up and stretch if it's especially annoying.

Could be. My potassium was very low also. I still get leg cramps when my potassium is low. It goes away after I take a potassium supplement. But that isn't anything like the twitching and creepy crawling feeling that I describe as restless legs.

Maybe they don't really know the cause, only that it is an imbalance of the basic minerals of life.

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/restless_legs/detail_restless_legs.htm

This is a good read

Oops, Restless Leg....... It was late. Sorry to have posted and run! I had class this weekend. Thanks for all your responses.

I do have RLS. My mother does as well. She has been working with a doctor to deal with it. Nothing seems to help her except a drug (I won't be going there until I have to) which I think treats a totally different disease. For me it seems to be far worse when I allow myself to get tired. Actually, it only happens when I am not getting enough sleep. I imagine it will get worse as I age (if my mother is a gauge).

Butrfly, the women in my family are all border-line anemic. Interesting angle! Were you sleeping badly with your old bed system? Maybe that correlation to RLS is about quality and quantity of sleep?

Snood, Squinney - exersize/stretching could help. It does not help my mother, but she's weird.

Ok, calcium, potassium (I have had weird cramps in my neck and legs), exersize, stretching, sleep.....

I'll go look at that link.

Potassium is involved with allowing muscles to relax. I forget the mechanism, but I remember always eating a couple of bananas the night before a fencing competition.

Excellent read, Mame. Thanks for that link. It pretty much confirms what I've self-diagnosed as a correlation between anemia and restless legs based on my experience before and after my surgery.

LittleK, find out how low your iron is and get a transfusion if needed. Mine was so low that even after my periods had stopped for almost a year and I was taking vitamin/mineral supplements, I still had severe anemia. Doctor said that would be normal since I was bleeding so heavily when I had periods, and was growing that huge cyst when the periods stopped.

Another telltale symptom of anemia is the intense need for something cold. I was constantly chewing on crushed ice, even in winter. I'd be shivering from the cold, yet have this unquenchable thirst for very cold liquids.

My iron has definitely not become THAT low.

suficient potassium is also important to keep your blood-pressure under conyrol .
since about age 60 i have been taking blood-presssure medication.
i took both a "water-pill" (an old-fashioned medication , but quite useful - it simply makes sure that yoour body eliminates the water pronto) and a beta-blocker .
when our doctor found out that my potassium level was low , he put me on "slow-K' potassium meds - i also eat bananas , kiwis etc - but that doesn't seem to be enough .
after starting on slow -K my blood-pressure started to go down , so now i only have take a "water-pill" ; no beta-blocker needed any more .
i'm taking five "slow-K" a day now . i was a bit concerned about that , but my doc reassured me and told me that some of his patients take as many as TEN (!) without any side-effects .
(he told mrs h to reduce my banana consumption if i should start climbing trees with a banana in my hand and start scratching "certain
spots" - quite a joker) .
hbg

It is also common for muscles to twitch as they are trying to relax. I think a stretching routine might do a world of good.

Remember to stretch for at least 16 seconds to get a benefit. (If I recall correctly.)




What's your caffeine intake in the evening?

I've been thinking more. My lil sister, who also has RLS (except it seems to hit her arms) is an exersize-a-holic. So, maybe it doesn't have as much to do with exersize as one would think.

Drewdad - no twithy muscles. Just creepy crawlies, kicking fits. No tics, no cramps that correlate (rarely do I have leg cramps). I take no evening caffeine. I have a big cuppa joe in the a.m. and then maybe (not often) a full-strength tea in the early afternoon. Nothing from before dinner on to bedtime.

A stretching routine would do me good for a bunch of reasons.

The best way to describe my version of restless leg syndrome is to have you remember back to summer time when the screen door was left open too long and the house was invaded by mosquitos and flies. Several hours later, you find yourself swatting at the pesky things as they dart through the air or crawl around your skin.

Restless legs have similar sensations as that except there's nothing there to swat at.

Another sensation, especially while trying to sleep, is an overwhelming need to suddenly shift leg position, many times an involuntary movement that is significant enough to awaken me from sleep or keep me from falling asleep.

Like I said earlier, I haven't experienced any of that since leaving the hospital after getting my body chemistry back in balance. I'm just not sure which specific applied treatment was the one that eliminated the leg problems. Articles I've read on medical websites all point to anemia as being one of the commonalities. They don't mention potassium.

If something brushes or touches my shin, when RLS is happening, I almost involuntarily jerk my leg away. Usually, I can force myself for a few moments to keep my leg still, but have to move it or move the thing brushing against me away. It affords me a little dignity. When I am reeeeaaaally tired, it's worse. I have to kick my leg, usually in little jerks, to make the feeling go away. And then it keeps coming back. It doesn't wake me up, but I am a heavy sleeper. If it did wake me up, I probably wouldn't remember by morning.