What is restless legs syndrome?
RLS is a condition which causes your legs to feel very uncomfortable while you’re sitting or standing. People describe the sensations as feelings of crawling, tingling, pulling, throbbing, creeping, aching or burning. Your feet, calves and thighs may also feel itchy and tense.
You may feel an irresistible urge to get up and move around or to jiggle your legs, and when you do, the symptoms go away. But they start up again as soon as you are still.
RLS can begin at any age and generally gets worse as you get older. Women are more likely to get it than men and because it tends to be worse at night, it can disrupt your sleep.
For some people, RLS is merely annoying. It may occur once or twice a week and stop for periods of weeks or months. But for others, it’s frequent and tortuous, and has a huge impact on their lives.
They can’t go to the movies or theatre, overseas flights are a nightmare and it puts a huge strain on relationships, as their jiggling and pacing can annoy those around them.
How do I know I’ve got it?
There’s no specific test for RLS. Doctors use four basic criteria to diagnose it:
Are your symptoms worse at night, and barely noticeable in the morning?
Do you feel a strong, and sometimes overwhelming need to move your legs vigorously when you experience the uncomfortable sensations?
Do the symptoms get worse when you’re sitting or lying down?
Can you relieve them by moving, and do they come back when you stop moving?
Scientists suspect it is caused by an imbalance of the brain chemical, dopamine. This chemical is responsible for sending messages to control the movement of muscles.
Restless legs can be hereditary – it’s thought around half of everyone with it may have a family history, especially if they developed the symptoms at an early age. Sometimes symptoms can appear during pregnancy, especially in the last trimester.
Usually they disappear within a few weeks of the baby being born. There’s one theory that RLS can be caused, or made worse, by having low iron levels. This would explain why some women get RLS symptoms during pregnancy – a time when iron levels can be depleted.
Restless legs syndrome may also be triggered by side effects from taking certain medications, such as antihistamines, antidepressants and anti-nausea drugs, and it may also be linked to having chronic kidney disease or diabetes.
There is no cure for RLS but you can help ease your symptoms by:
Checking to see if you have an iron deficiency. If a blood test does show low iron levels, taking supplements may help, but you should always discuss this with your doctor.
Looking at the medication you’re on, which may make RLS worse.
Having your magnesium levels tested. Low magnesium may contribute to restless legs. Supplements can help.
Identifying habits and activities that make your RLS worse, and avoiding these.
Cutting out caffeine and alcohol. There’s some evidence that they may aggravate symptoms. Remember caffeine may be found in chocolate and some soft drinks as well as tea and coffee.
Soaking in a warm bath and massaging your legs to relax your muscles.
Avoiding stress, which may make that crawling, tingling sensation worse. oeditation or yoga may help.
If your RLS is severe, your doctor may prescribe medication. Unfortunately there is no single medication that can help everyone. It may take a bit of trial and error to find medication that helps you. Meanwhile, drugs taken regularly can lose their effectiveness over time, so you may need to change to other medication after a while.
Can exercising regularly help?
one study found that doing a combination of moderate aerobic exercise and lower body resistance training three days a week can reduce the severity of symptoms by as much as 50%.
The study found that it took six weeks to see the maximum benefit from the exercise programme. Anecdotally, people say moderate exercise seems to help with the symptoms of RLS but strenuous activity can make them worse.
Are there any complications?
Around 80% of people with RLS also suffer from a condition called Periodic Limb oovement of Sleep (PLoS).
This causes your legs to twitch and jerk while you’re asleep, which may wake you up repeatedly.
If you are on medication for RLS, there may be side effects, such as symptoms getting worse instead of better once you’ve been on the drugs for a while. Sometimes the medication can trigger impulsive or obsessive behaviours, such as compulsive gambling. These can be reversed by stopping the medication.
Is there a link to Parkinson’s?
Because the brain chemical dopamine plays a part in both restless legs syndrome and Parkinson’s disease, many people diagnosed with RLS worry that they’ll get Parkinson’s.
However, people with RLS have no greater risk of developing Parkinson’s than people without it.
Doctors commonly prescribe medications used to treat Parkinsons for RLS because it affects levels of dopamine.
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