Restless Leg Syndrome

[Ricardo1991]

Hey all,
Just posting this because my friend made me feel not so alone today. She has RLS, she's 28 and she said she's had it all of her life. She doesn't know why but she said that her mom used to take her to the ER when she was a baby because she would cry and kick all the time.
She showed me a support forum for RLS that she had seen and in my opinion it was very very similar to the horror stories we see on here!
My point being is that I guess as humans, when we have an onset condition whatever it may be - we will try our best to make it the most shitty time of our lives because our lives were so 'normal.' Which our lives were normal, because we had silence (well, sort of. I've had tinnitus before it was a tiny little whir and almost sounded like a seashell/ train in both ears).
It's been a slow process for me, but I know that habituation is what I'm working towards.
I have put myself in the mindset that this condition will be here forever, it is a part of me now, who I am and part of my body. I will try my best to look hot (lol), to be happy, to travel, to make others happy and to give my husband a great life full of laughter and support.
I think at first I didn't want to habituate because I wanted this noise to be gone, completely gone. However, that very well might not be the case. I've had it for almost 3 months already and in these 3 months I've been the most miserable in my life. Not necessarily because of the Tinnitus, but because I put my life on hold because of this stupid noise. It's just noise! I am constantly checking to see if it's still there, afraid that it will get louder, afraid that it will flare up, afraid that my hearing will get worse. While these fears are valid, there is not much we can do about it except be happy and make others happy.
I strongly believe that us as people with conditions, we have huge hearts and love which is why we are afraid that this noise is taking over our lives which it isn't.

My friend has RLS and we've been hiking, drinking, swimming, everything and she never mentioned it. I noticed that she was always moving and stuff but I honestly thought she was always stretching and just moving around, but she said that her legs are in constant pain and sometimes she gets flare ups (similar to our spikes lol) but she says that she LIVES with it.

Anyways, I am not sure if my post will reach many people or give them an epiphany, but in my case I guess it's just a self realization that things can only really get better.

Like I said, I was afraid of habituating because I wanted this condition to just GO AWAY but that isn't necessarily going to just happen. I know I have a lot of love to give and I won't waste it on tinnitus.
Ricardo

 

[hans799]

Old thread but this is something special to me.

I have health anxiety and tend to focus on random symptoms.
For about 8 months I was afraid I had RLS. I explored the topic in-depth so I have excellent knowledge of the subject.

I can validate that RLS is very similar to tinnitus. RLS is often idiopathic (cause unknown); causes anxiety, depression and insomnia; lot of people have it, but many of them just mildly and don't get the fuss about it; there is no cure.
Sound familiar?

A major difference is that there are meds for RLS. But these can only treat it for a few months, afterwards they lose efficiency and the condition often becomes permanently worse.
Also it is progressive and worsens with age.

So it is a different kind of hell: it can be treated, but only in the short term, and almost always worsens throughout life.
Tinnitus cannot really be treated, but at least it often stays stable and habituation is possible.

It's like the cousin illness of tinnitus, with the devil being the proud patriarch of the family.

 

[Kste Adams]

I also have a mild case of RLS. A few years ago I read some articles about a medical doctor who successfully treated her symptoms of multiple sclerosis with a special diet. I thought that it couldn't hurt to improve my own diet using her guidelines (mainly increasing intake of fruits and vegetables, especially sulfur-containing ones). By golly, my RLS settled down, and if I forget to eat my veggies the symptoms return after a few weeks.

I think RLS, tinnitus, visual snow, and migraines are all related: they result from some sort of neurological dysfunction, and if you have one condition you're more likely to have the others (I have all four). Thankfully the first three don't do any physical damage that we're aware of - they're just nuisances.

 

[hans799]

They might well be related. Medical science is just not advanced enough in this area to know for sure...

Although from what I've read, the leading hypothesis on RLS is that it is a dysfunction of the dopaminergic system of the brain, and dopamine-enhancing drugs (such as Parkinson meds) are indeed effective in treating it. While tinnitus seems to be related to cochlear damage and these meds don't do jack ****.

So both are "neurological noise" but with different origins.

@Kste Adams I'm very happy that diet works for you, keep eating those veggies

 

[devonlee]

This was interesting to read. I've always kind of thought that I may have some form of RLS. Nothing debilitating at this point in my life, but I'm just very restless and kick my legs all over the place in my sleep. I do wonder if the two are related, though my tinnitus is apparently caused by hearing loss.

As for treatment, the only thing I can comment on is a patient I had at one time who was on HUGE doses of trazadone and zopiclone to make them sleep and it just didn't work at all. Eventually, I mentioned that when this person got up at night, they would "bounce" their legs while walking. We determined eventually that it was RLS, took them off all of their sleeping pills, changed them to the lowest dose of Clonazepam and they started sleeping like a dream. The difference was unbelievable. I don't know if it's a conventional treatment for RLS but it worked for that patient.

 

[hans799]

Clonazepam was the drug of choice for RLS at a time. I'm glad it works for your patient

Source: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neur...less-legs-syndrome/what-is-rls/treatment.html

 

[John G]

I am no doctor. Thought I read somewhere that magnesium supplements help. I could be wrong though