Restless legs anyone?

S

step_a_holic

Cathlete
Just curious to see if anyone here experiences this. I've seen the commercial for Restless Leg Syndrome. Not sure if this is what I have, but over the past few weeks I've had this "sensation" in my legs. I can't quite describe it. Almost like anxiety, for lack of a better explanation. What is odd though is that it goes away after I workout, which I don't normally have the chance to do until around 7pm, so for the majority of the day I have this "feeling" in my legs.

I don't think it's this Restless Leg Syndrome since it doesn't keep me up at night. And I certainly don't want to have to take medication for it.

Does anyone else experience anything like this?

TIA, Melissa
 
Interestingly enough I was just at the doctor to talk about problems I'm having sleeping. One of the questions he asked was about involuntary movement. I told him about my "need to move" that I always called "fidgets." Its a sensation I get in my legs that feels like I need to stretch, move, walk around, something...He said that might be why I have trouble sleeping & prescribed that new drug. I'm going to try it out for the first time tonight.

I asked that big question...will I ahve to take this "forever?" He said if it is RLS I will have to take this forever. But he isn't really sure that's what it is & is going to see me again in a few weeks. We'll see.
 
That is interesting. Also interesting, Johnswife, is that I am a "John"'s wife too. Hmmm....coincidence.

I hope that the medicine helps you. Is the medication only if it keeps you up at night? I don't have a problem at night unless I haven't exercised. Mine is mostly during the day up until I exercise.

I appreciate your responding to my post!

Good luck!!!

Melissa
 
I have had RLS since I was a child. My mom, two brothers and sister also have it (my dad is the only one who does not have it). My mom's mom had it, too. I am convinced it is genetic.

Here is what works for me...avoid sodium ESPECIALLY in soda and diet soda. Salty foods always agitate the situation. I eat a banana every day, the potassium is supposed to help and I have noticed remarkable differences by eating one every day. My brother eats 2. Finally, I seem more comfortable sleeping on my stomach if it sneaks up on me anyway. Still, this only happens if I had a salty dinner like pizza or something at a restaurant. I have it pretty bad and I have been able to control it without medication. Hopefully you can as well!
 
I can tell you, I have RLS and it sucks!! Its not as severe as my mother's (yes, it is partly genetic), but it hits when I'm tired. It's not painful, per se, but very uncomfortable. It strikes at all hours, not just necessarily at night. I used to have problems in my 20s and 30s if I went out late on a weeknight and didn't get much sleep,I would be "twitching" under the desk all day. I would have to keep bouncing my legs to make it bearable. Now if I'm up late watching a movie or something and I start falling asleep on the sofa, for example, it will come on.
I do find that rest, exercise and a balanced diet help. I've read suggestions that it may be tied to B vitamins (don't remember specifically which ones). The commercial on tv does, actually, describe it perfectly. If you have it, I'm pretty sure you would know it (unless maybe yours is just more mild). I started suffering in my mid-teens. I'm 40 now. My mother's worsened as she got older, but she's also completely out of shape, has a terrible diet and smokes, so.....
 
Yes, I have this too. In the evening, my legs get that same sensation you mentioned..jerky jumpy feeling. At night, hubby claims I am like a human vibrator and vibrate the entire bed. I don't know this is happening, but happens just as I drift into sleep.

Charlotte~~
 
Me too. It makes it hard to fall asleep sometimes, but usually isn't so bad it wakes me up. My DH complains about the bed shaking too. I think I read that increase B vitamins help too.
 
I have RLS and I think in my case it's linked to low iron (mainly b/c I'm a vegetarian). My grandmother had this condition as well and she always had low iron troubles as well. My doctor advised that I take an iron supplement and I have found that it works. My legs will twitch all night for weeks on end if I don't take a supplement.
 
I've had it for years and finally, back in January, I went to the doctor about it. They put me on Requip. It's the same medicine used to treat Parkinson's Disease. I can't tell you how much more I look forward to going to bed at night. It started working the very night I started the medicine. I can sleep now and so can my husband. He's told me before that I'd be up all night "kung fooing" he'd call it.

I take one pill every night now and I haven't had "jumpy legs" since.

Dianne
 
I have it, too. It's exacerbated by my anti-depressant Lexapro and being tired. It's killer when I have to drive late at night more than about 15 miles. I have to kick the $%$% out of the car floor about every 20 seconds. Sleeping on my stomach helps me, too!! something about making my feet flex down and being about to rock them back and forth. Miserable. I'm interested to hear others' ideas about salt and bananas... I'll try that!!

:7
 
Thanks for all the feedback everyone, I really appreciate it.

My sodium intake is fairly low although I will watch it closely. I'm going to try the "banana a day" and see if that helps. It usually doesn't interrupt my sleep or make it difficult to get to sleep, but yesterday I was able to exercise at 1:00 in the afternoon vs. the usual 7:00 pm and I noticed that my legs were bothering me much more in the evening than they usually do. I almost wanted to do another hour of cardio just to give them something to do!!!!;-)

Thanks again everyone!

Melissa
 
I've had this since I was in my mid-teens, and it was actually the one and only reason I exercised consistently for many years! I had to do something about it several times a day, so rather than have one "workout" a day, often I would do 15 minutes of something several times a day. I had been known to run the 1.5 mile loop around my neighborhood many times throughout the day!

I have found, though, that the more I exercise, the worse it gets. I would have to make sure I would do my final workout right before I went to bed if I wanted to sleep at all. I'm not sure what it is, but my theory is that maybe exercise depletes something that I'm not replacing very well that triggers this.

A good, balanced diet with tons of fruits and veggies also does wonders. Over the last two years my diet has been radically altered, and I eat tons of fruits, veggies, and veggie juice a day. I rarely have the same sensations, though if I am doing lots of weight training regularly, it will come back to some degree. Yoga also seems to take it away more than other exercise. Any kind of long-term stretching would probably do the same.

Sara
 
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