Got a case of the Jimmy Legs?
Some people believe Restless Leg Syndrome is one of those fancy new afflictions that people think they have because it's trendy and sometimes it seems that one must suffer from some kind of syndrome or other to belong!
I may have been one of those cynics until I became pregnant with my first child and suffered from it myself. I was unaware that Restless Leg Syndrome can be triggered by pregnancy. I still suffer ('suffer' being a bit dramatic in terms of my personal experience of it) from it now but not as much as when I was pregnant with all three of my children.
So what is Restless Leg Syndrome?
In my own words, it's a compulsion to move your legs, especially at night, while at rest. Some have the feeling that ants or spiders are creeping around their legs. I don't have this. Instead it almost feels like I have a tick. Not the bug kind, but an involuntary movement of my legs. I feel like I am getting minor electric shocks. The sleepier I get, the more I want to move my feet. My husband says he always knows I'm minutes away from sleep when my legs start jerking around. Sometimes a jerk will actually wake me up as I drop off. When I was pregnant, I absolutely HAD to move my legs. Always in the evening, always when I had my preggo legs up or was in bed. And I was almost always in a relaxed or sleepy state. Sometimes I'd watch a little TV and my legs would jerk around the sofa and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I just had to move them and it was always a jerk, rather than a soft movement.
It drove me mad at times. But I put it down to a pregnancy thing - like my sciatica and my heartburn. They both left but Restless Leg Syndrome remains, albeit now a milder case of. Those mini electric shocks remain too, but not being pregnant has taken some of the sting away.
Some medical professionals doubt that Restless Leg Syndrome (first identified in 1945) needs medication. Rather, they feel it's a natural part of the human condition. They don't feel drug companies should advertise medication to stop a condition that they deem harmless and pretty normal.
Last year, sales of almost half a billion dollars were recorded for the medication Requip (made by GlaxoSmithKline) that helps suffers of RLS.
Now that generic versions of Requip have been approved by the FDA, some believe sales of any kind of drug for RLS will go down, because advertising will too. Skeptics have seen a correlation between heavy advertising of this medication and greater numbers being diagnosed, and higher drug sales. Once generics are allowed in the picture, the drug company eases up on it's advertising for it's brand name equivalent.
Others are grateful that medication has eased a lifetime of terrible discomfort, particularly at a time when one is supposed to relax and rest.
For more information on Restless Leg Syndrome, visit the Restless Leg Syndrome Foundation at www.rls.org and for more information on this story, see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24603237/
Tell Us!
Does anyone else have RLS? Or think they may have? Did anyone get it in pregnancy? Did it go away after birth? Is anyone taking medication for this and is the medication working?
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Add a Comment16 Comments
The causes of Restless legs syndrome are difficult to narrow down. For some it may be a hereditary problem, others might experience it as a result of iron deficiency or renal failure. Still others may just be in the throes of severe stress and/ or pregnancy.
March 17, 2011 - 2:54amThis Comment
I posted here 2 yrs ago, (moderator of several online support groups for RLS) I had a freind that used to give me the "eye roll" whenever the subject of RLS came up. Then she got pregnant, and developed RLS to thye point that she was absolutely desperate for sleep. She has had the baby, and now does not have RLS any more. However, the point I wnat to make is, after reading some of the comments here, I feel that I have to point out that there are various
November 11, 2010 - 2:58pmlevels of severity of RLS. Some people can exercise it into submission. Others need to have hrs of very "quiet time" to calm the legs (and arms) dwon before bed time. Excercise needs to be done at LEAST 4 hrs before bed, RLS or not. IT raises your body's core temperature, which needs to be lower for better sleep. The word "suffer" can be very aptly used for most of us who have PRIMARY RLS. There is secondary RLS, such as is caused by something like pregnancy, or a low Ferritin level, or other underlying factors. Then, there is primary RLS, which seems to have no underlying cause except that it is hereditary. There are gene mutations that have been discovered in large families that do prove that the gene can be passed down. Also, someone above mentione iron supplements. The key here is to ask your doctor for a Ferritin level test, not a regular iron serum test. Ferritin levels show how your body stores the iron. YOu can take iron supplements until the cows come home, and they will do nothing for you if your body is not storing the iron right. Two totally different blood tests. An RLSer should have a Ferritin score of at least 50. A person without RLS can have a much lower score, and it is considered normal. Just had to "educate" my GP on that issue a few weeks ago. Also, someone who was 16 yrs old said that they are uncomfortable with medicating something that is only an "irritation" in their life. As you get older, RLS usually tends to get worse, and then the word suffer comes into play. Severe sleep deprivation IS dangerous, and can cause all kinds of other sleep issues, high blood pressure, heart problems, etc. So, for the doctor on here that says that RLS is not dangerous, I really beg to differ. IT really can take ovedr your life when it is severe, ruin relationships, people lose jobs, severe daytime drowsiness so that it is impossible to drive, etc. And, the medications that are appproved for RLS certainly leave a lot to be desired for the many people who have to try them to get any relief. MIrapex and Requip have all kinds of side effects that can cause us not to be able to take them, so other drugs need to be tried off for off label uses. Mine started after I broke my back at 14, and I have always assoiciated RLS with my spine. That is not a ludicrous assumption, as I just read some studies that say that RLSer's have "more excitability" in the spinal fluid during sleep studies than people without RLS. There are way too many reasons why RLS can occur, and there is not one definitive answer anywhere. I have read every study, every book, every web site that I can find, and the only factor that continues on thru all of them is that theer could be several different causes, what works for one person does not work for the next, and that the symptoms range from "mildly irritating"
to "extremely severe", therefore severely limiting the life styles of people who deal with this and SUFFER fro it every day, 24/7.
ALSO, the web site address for the RLS Foundation in this article is NOT www.RLSF.org, it is www.rls.org
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Anon - Thanks for sharing this very helpful information, and providing the right link for the foundation. We now have a Groups feature on the site. If you would be interested in forming a group for women with RLS we would love to see it! Take care, Pat
November 11, 2010 - 5:12pmThis Comment
HI, I am the one who just posted the other day, Pat. My name is Donna, and I just tweaked my profile, and I did think about your suggestion For an RLS group, so it has been created and it is up! I saw that there was nothing for RLS and/or general sleep disorders, so I jumped in and created one. I am very happy to see the right web site listed for the RLS Foundation as well. IF you have suggestions for me, please let me know. I do moderate 3 yahoo health support groups for RLS, and most sleep disorders are discussed as they seem to run together at times, as does Fibromyalgia. Women with Fibromyalgia are 11 times more likely to develop RLS in their lifetime. A big study abot that just came out a few weeks ago.
November 12, 2010 - 6:43pmThanks for this web site, and we will see what happens with the group.
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Well, RLS is definitely hereditary. My grandfather could be seen walking the streets at 3:00 AM...guess who's followed in his "footsteps?" I'm grateful that I've found Requip. Although it doesn't work for me 100% of the time, I've decided that the improvement is worth the upset stomach it gives me and the eventual ability to fall asleep...finally. RLS had been an occasional problem for me in my 40's, but as I've aged (I'm 62), the frequency has increased. I have it every night...occasionally when driving...sitting. There's no such thing as sitting in the evening and enjoying a book. I can't even go to bed when my husband does. If I wanted to go to bed at the same time he did, I'd have to take the Requip so early in the evening that I'd be nauseas by bedtime. I've had to leave theatres, etc. I practically panic if I don't have my Requip. I have had to increase the dosage occasionally just to get to sleep. I just hope it keeps working...and I wish that the doctors who don't believe it's a real condition could "suffer" with RLS for one entire night. Believe me...they'd find a cure and fast. I don't like it about myself, but I truly envy those who can sit and relax, and take an afternoon nap...like i used to be able to do.
September 27, 2010 - 9:21amThis Comment
There is a homeopathic solution that I didn't believe would work, and it doesn't always, but it does most of the time. It's called Restful Legs, and it's made by a company called Hyland. I saw it by accident in Walmart, and decided to try it because conventional medicine has only come up with drugs that give you bizarre side effects. I found this thread trying to find out if there was a connection between RLS and birth control pills, because even though I've had it to some degree my whole life (or at least as long as I remember), I just realized it really got bad after I started taking the pill again. I tried magnesium supplements and they did nothing. I also have Renaud's Syndrome, so I think they may be related and I really don't think it's a nutrition problem.
July 16, 2009 - 1:42pmThis Comment
I've posted in other places on the site about my RLS, and I've actually found a "cure," at least for me. My RLS started with my pregnancies when I was in my 30's and has gotten worse over the years. I'm usually absolutely miserable on plane trips, in movie theaters, at long business meetings, at night when I'm trying to go to sleep, etc. One of the moderators here suggested that I try taking a magnesium supplement, which I did about 3 or 4 months ago. I take it every night and it helped somewhat by relaxing my muscles, but I still had the RLS symptoms during the day.
June 23, 2009 - 11:08pmBut then I discovered that I was anemic when I recently had an annual physical and blood tests done. My doctor had me start taking an iron supplement about a month ago, and I swear the RLS has practically disappeared. There are times when it flares up slightly, but recently I went on a 5-hour flight (and back), and I was completely comfortable. Not even a slight twitch. I can sit through movies with no problem. My husband doesn't complain about me kicking during the night, and I used to kick in my sleep all the time. I really believe that a lack of iron has something to do with RLS.....
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Alysia, It's funny that you mention that exercise relieves your symptoms. In my case, it is what triggered RLS. I used to work out religiously all throughout high school and some of college (5-6 days a week) and every single time I had an intense workout I would go to bed and it was just HORRIBLE. My legs wanted to keep going but otherwise I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. I would try to put pillow under my legs or lie sideways and put it between my legs but nothing really ever did much. Ever since I slowed down on my workouts the RLS subsided. Thank god.
June 9, 2009 - 5:45amI didn't get it when I was pregnant and I am so glad, I think when you're pregnant everything just feels ten times worse and the annoyance of RLS is enough to make you want to cry.
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I have RLS, and i'm 16 years old. It started happening during my teen years. It's something that i can control, i can suppress the urge to move my legs, but that is a horrible feeling. It feels better to just let them jerk. I recently started taking a birth control pill, for my acne, and have noticed that the RLS has gotten worse. I read somewhere that RLS does worsen during pregnancy, and my doctor told me that the pill that i am taking can simulate some effects of pregnancy. It does give me insomnia, but I really don't want to take meds for it. I just feel uncomfortable for treating a 'harmless' condition that though annoying, isn't really effecting my day to day life.
June 8, 2009 - 10:55amThis Comment
I just started taking the pill for the first time in my life (I'm 35) and I have developed HORRIBLE RLS. The doctors say that this is not a known side-effect, but after reading the article in the above link, I think that is my problem. I have gone 4 straight nights now, watching the sun rise and I am miserable. I went to my primary care doctor today and they were a lot more understanding. The agreed, that the only thing that has changed is introduction of estrogen into my body. I just had a huge uterine fibroid removed and my OB put me on the pill to prevent scarring. I have a message into her that I have stopped taking it and she needs to call me ASAP. I feel like I am losing my mind from lack of sleep!
June 23, 2009 - 10:28pmThis Comment