First of all, hello. My name is Christina. I am 35 years old (next week) and have suffered from Restless Leg Syndrome since before they had a name for it. At least, before my physician knew what it was. I remember telling him that my legs were "jumpy" only to have him look at me like I was crazy.
I remember feeling this strange sensation in my legs that would cause me to have to move. When it got really bad even that wouldn't help. I would find myself stomping my feet and pacing the floor at night sometimes being brought to tears in frustration. Bruises on my legs from punching them just to get a few seconds of relief was getting old too. I couldn't sit through a whole movie and definitely no long car rides. I have threatened to jump out of our moving vehicle if my husband did not pull over somewhere. Someone described it as feeling like your legs are possessed. Often it's hard to explain to other's who have not experienced it and they think it's just another excuse or the person suffering is a hypochondriac. Don't worry, you are not and it is real.
I am on Requip, which is my survival. They make a generic now, which is actually what I have. I can tell you though that the RLS has gotten worse since I had my knee replaced in June. The condition was totally controlled with one pill a day and now I often have to take two. This is unless I am more active during the day. I think that this is the bigger issue. I was a lot more active before the surgery and then not so much. I would have to access going on just my experience that the trauma of another surgery and the in-activeness have contributed to the worsening of the RLS. Hopefully, when I try to return to work in January that it will get better.
I am sorry to tell you that it is definitely hereditary. My father, his mother, two of my aunts and my little boy suffer too. He is only 5 and it is breaking my heart to see him suffer. I watch him at night twitching and jolting his legs in his sleep. Luckily, he can sleep through it although it can't be very restful. The good news is that I am finding ways to help alleviate it for him. I got him some whole food vitamins. They cost about $12 at the grocery store in the organic department and are called yummi bears. I started myself on an adult version of the vitamins, which of course are not as fun as a gummy. Three "horse" pills daily! Also not the cheapest but worth it if you have medical problems or want to avoid them. Not as expensive as if you tried to buy and eat all of the fruit and vegetables in the vitamins though. Or as filling.
Another thing that I noticed is that if I eat too much sugar (holiday cookies) that it becomes worse. When I was at my Mom's for the knee replacement, I walked in to a homeopathic store with my 5 year old son, Michael, to look around. The owner introduced herself and told us that she is a doctor of Oriental Medicine. I do not know anything about the field however, I was very impressed by some of the conclusions she came up with simply seeing him. She said he looked slightly anemic by his skin color, which would affect RLS. I tried an herbal remedy for the RLS because I don't want him to start up man made medicine unless nothing else works. He's only 5yrs old. I know what it's like to take many pills everyday and it's sometimes very difficult. After some further research, I found that she was right. Low iron makes the condition worse. This is when I started the vitamins and better planning out our meals. My son's legs got so much better. Now, he hardly suffers and I know that when he does that he has not been eating well. It only started up again since he has been going to school where I cannot control his meals as well. Only time will tell if it worsens with age and human factors. For now, I do not dwell on it by making him feel like he has a problem.
Hopefully and assuming this gets published more people will write about there experiences and what they do. I would love to learn more from actual sufferers that have found relief. I wonder if it is related to the nerves because certain sitting positions and touches can bring it on immediately. I read that massage can help but that is totally opposite for me. Warm baths are not helpful either. I tried Acupuncture and couldn't even stay still long enough to try to benefit from it. As soon as she started working on my legs it was over for me. Certain spots on my thighs is what starts the charges of energy. That's a good example. It's like energy running through my legs. Sometimes it hurts and tingles and sometimes I just simply want to run. The strange thing that I cannot explain is that if I have to go to the bathroom and procrastinate my legs can start up. What correlation could that possible have? I can see the topic now "Urination and RLS". Crazy, right. Not if you experience it!
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