RLS. . .
My life gets stranger and yet better every day. I have discovered much to my amazement that I have RLS, or Restless Leg Syndrome. What is restless Leg Syndrome, well apparently it is what I have called foot-pain.
Now let me explain further, I have had an issue that I have had ever since I can remember with pain the the bottom of my feet. It feels like you are about to get a charlie horse, or like they are constantly being tickled to the point of pain. So my feet are constantly tense, feeling like they are cramping and I find myself moving them and moving them throughout the night to try to get comfortable. It has kept me awake at night. I cannot sleep and twist and turn all night. Sometimes it is so bad I just give up and walk around in order to make myself feel better, and sometimes it makes me startle awake if I have finally fallen asleep.
Well with four children you can imagine what a irritant this has been. I am so over-tired all the time I dissolve into tears in seconds. My doctor started prescribing sedatives that are supposed to be helping this process but I found myself taking more and more because it was still not effective in getting me to sleep. Then when I finally would fall asleep I would be very tired the next day or be unable to awake in the day and then Gil was up a creek without a paddle where the business is concerned.
So last week at the doctor's office I was discussing with him again the situation and saying I don't want to keep taking heavier and heavier narcotics. I want just to fall asleep and I can't no matter what relaxation techniques I have tried and what other systems I have put into place. So he delved in, "What exactly keeps you awake? Are you having flashbacks? Are you scared about the children? Are your thoughts racing? What is it exactly?
Well, to me it has been this awful pain in my feet. How do you explain it? I've always thought it must be a strange phenomenon that happens just to me, that is just in my head and isn't real. So I've never actually talked about it with anyone except Gil and Giles. So I take a deep breath and say "foot pain" and then give him the explanation above and what that feels like. He looks at me sort of comically and then says, "That's RLS, restless leg syndrome." How long have you had this problem. I'm like as far back as I can remember. In fact I don't recall not having foot pain, just not this severe.
He then begins to tell me that this is a nervous system disease that is akin to Parkinson's. It's not Parkinson's, nor does it mean you'll get Parkinson's, (in fact you probably won't), but this pain is not anxiety. He says it is one of the easiest things to fix. You take a very small dose of Parkinson's medicine and he says it will be like a light switch. Poof! The foot pain would be good and I probably would not even need the sedatives anymore. YIPEE!!
So I started that night and waited in high anticipation. However I still had issues falling asleep, however instead of not falling asleep at all, I did eventually fall asleep and when I fell asleep I slept like a baby. I didn't wake up startled, I didn't have bad dreams, so for the first time in forever I was able to wake up and actually be awake. I cannot tell you the level of joy that this has brought me. Instead of wandering around feeling only 20% awake or having so much trouble getting out of bed that I needed to consume large amounts of coffee, I actually just woke up.
I thought that maybe I just wasn't a morning person and it took me awhile to get moving. Apparently I was wrong I have never woken up so awake except at Christmas, or if something special was happening and on my wedding day. Even on those occasions it was more that I didn't really sleep at all because I was so excited about the event the next day.
I feel like I have woken up and it is a brand new world out there, and I like it.
Now let me explain further, I have had an issue that I have had ever since I can remember with pain the the bottom of my feet. It feels like you are about to get a charlie horse, or like they are constantly being tickled to the point of pain. So my feet are constantly tense, feeling like they are cramping and I find myself moving them and moving them throughout the night to try to get comfortable. It has kept me awake at night. I cannot sleep and twist and turn all night. Sometimes it is so bad I just give up and walk around in order to make myself feel better, and sometimes it makes me startle awake if I have finally fallen asleep.
Well with four children you can imagine what a irritant this has been. I am so over-tired all the time I dissolve into tears in seconds. My doctor started prescribing sedatives that are supposed to be helping this process but I found myself taking more and more because it was still not effective in getting me to sleep. Then when I finally would fall asleep I would be very tired the next day or be unable to awake in the day and then Gil was up a creek without a paddle where the business is concerned.
So last week at the doctor's office I was discussing with him again the situation and saying I don't want to keep taking heavier and heavier narcotics. I want just to fall asleep and I can't no matter what relaxation techniques I have tried and what other systems I have put into place. So he delved in, "What exactly keeps you awake? Are you having flashbacks? Are you scared about the children? Are your thoughts racing? What is it exactly?
Well, to me it has been this awful pain in my feet. How do you explain it? I've always thought it must be a strange phenomenon that happens just to me, that is just in my head and isn't real. So I've never actually talked about it with anyone except Gil and Giles. So I take a deep breath and say "foot pain" and then give him the explanation above and what that feels like. He looks at me sort of comically and then says, "That's RLS, restless leg syndrome." How long have you had this problem. I'm like as far back as I can remember. In fact I don't recall not having foot pain, just not this severe.
He then begins to tell me that this is a nervous system disease that is akin to Parkinson's. It's not Parkinson's, nor does it mean you'll get Parkinson's, (in fact you probably won't), but this pain is not anxiety. He says it is one of the easiest things to fix. You take a very small dose of Parkinson's medicine and he says it will be like a light switch. Poof! The foot pain would be good and I probably would not even need the sedatives anymore. YIPEE!!
So I started that night and waited in high anticipation. However I still had issues falling asleep, however instead of not falling asleep at all, I did eventually fall asleep and when I fell asleep I slept like a baby. I didn't wake up startled, I didn't have bad dreams, so for the first time in forever I was able to wake up and actually be awake. I cannot tell you the level of joy that this has brought me. Instead of wandering around feeling only 20% awake or having so much trouble getting out of bed that I needed to consume large amounts of coffee, I actually just woke up.
I thought that maybe I just wasn't a morning person and it took me awhile to get moving. Apparently I was wrong I have never woken up so awake except at Christmas, or if something special was happening and on my wedding day. Even on those occasions it was more that I didn't really sleep at all because I was so excited about the event the next day.
I feel like I have woken up and it is a brand new world out there, and I like it.
posted by Anne | 8:00 PM
2 Comments:
I've been having extreme pain in both of my feet. It's been going on for several months now. I've seen a poditrist, chiropractor, nerologist, and my regular physician. I've had blood work, nerve and muscle conduction test, and X-rays, all of which have come to no conclusion. Everything seems to be fine, except for the fact that my feet are always hurting. The main pain is in the balls and toes of my feet and off to the sides and stretching from my toes to the tops of my feet. It is a cramping, burning, throbbing pain. The pain is there always, whether I'm standing, sitting, walking, sleeping. It is always there but does hurt more at night. They've put me on an anti-inflammatory medication which doesn't seem to be helping much. I've been on it for 3 month and am keeping a pain chart. In one month I had 1 day without pain. I don't have cramping. Do you think that this could be RLS? I'm very glad that you're feeling better. Thank you for your advice.
One way to judge if you have RLS is if moving them, keeping them in constant motion helps. My father also has RLS and so does my older sister, We have discovered that it is hereditary and my dads is more of a painful feeling that travels up into his legs while mine is located more in my feet. Movement calms the pain a little bit although twitching does not seem to completely rid the pain, just help it. Hope this helps.
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