PSA for the day - do not come down with Restless Leg Syndrome

[KitchenWitch]

x(

I am having a particularly bad episode right now...it does creep into the arms too (my arms and legs are going tonight).

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. Kitchy, how does it manifest?

I get twitches sometimes in my hamstrings and glutes when I'm lying in bed. It's irritating as hell, but I get the impression RLS is worse than that.

[KitchenWitch]

3. it is like having the creepy crawlies

and you have to keep it moving to make the creepy crawlies go away.

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. That sounds like what I get

But it doesn't happen very often anymore.

Does stuff like allergy/cold meds make it worse?

[KitchenWitch]

8. No

but I seem to have the worst episodes when I am over tired.

[LynzM]

9. It's one of the main ways I know I *must* sleep

When I sit or lie down and Cannot keep my legs still... I have to sleep, there is no other cure for me. :hug: It's so annoying!

[BlueIris]

2. Nothing against KW or RLS sufferers, but--I am somewhat shocked

to find out that Restless Leg Syndrome is actually a real condition. When I worked in healthcare, I saw more and more people coming into my employer's practice to address this concern. He eventually had to come up with an acronym to describe it and picked RLS because so many patients kept using the adjective "restless" to describe what their legs were doing. He thought it was kind of a silly acronym and hoped to come up with a better one, but sometimes said he thought the epidemic of people claiming they had uncontrollably restless legs would die down, so coming up with a new term wouldn't be necessary. I can't believe this is the term the medical establishment eventually picked.

Good luck, RLS sufferers. At least there are some Rx options for you now.

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. As an acronym (techncially an abbreviation)

it sorta makes me giggle a bit. When I was writing sports for the paper in Monterey, one of the schools I covered was Robert Louis Stevenson, a private school in Pebble Beach. It was always abbreviated RLS.

[Hissyspit]

6. My mom has it pretty bad. There is some common thing to take

thast some people swear by, but I can't remember what it is. There is something called Requip, too?

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

http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/1999/03_99/evidente.htm

I have something else, where my left knee locks up while I'm asleep and it is very difficult to straighten it.

[Jamastiene]

7. Too late. I think I already have it.

Your description further down sounds exactly like what I go through sometimes. It feels like I am coming out of my skin when that happens. I feel as though running a marathon may be the only treatment at that moment. I feel for you.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. I get something like that sometimes

I've got repeated knee iunjuries, and there's times when my leg muscles won't quit contracting on their own.