I'm a 25 yr old male who has been suffering from RLS since I was a kid. My earliest memories of it are when I was 8 and 9 suffering through the 'long' (long to an 8 yr old....lol) 20 minute drive to my grandma's every weekend.
It stayed at about the same severity until about the age of 20. Until then RLS effected maybe a couple nights a week every couple of weeks, and only for an hour or two at most. Almost 'tolerable' if you will.
Since the age of 20 it has gotten much worse, some weeks affecting me every night. If I had to guess, I'd say I average two to three nights a week with NO sleep what so ever.
This lack of sleep affects every aspect of my life. I am still the humorous person as I've always been, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't irritable/moody on the days I go on no sleep. This has affected personal relationships, and caused me loads and loads of regret.
Unless someone has RLS themselves, they can't begin to understand the frustration of it.
Getting through the day at work isn't so bad, I just run on adrenaline most days. I'm a carpenter's apprentice and I, as well as my boss, would enjoy it if I got a good night's sleep, seeing as my days are spent working with powertools.
Now, to the remedies I've tried on and off over the years with some success. But, like some cruel joke, none of the remedies work 100% of the time, and some are a last resort that probably dont work more than 10% of the time.
Muscle creams: Icy Hot does nothing; I figure it's the heat. Deep Cold provides relief some nights, but others it does nothing.
Stretching: I stretch my calf muscles before bed every night, but this is only effective maybe 30% of the time.
'Sleepy Time' teas: Some nights I'll get up and make myself a 'Celestial Seasonings' herbal tea. The combination of herbs makes me feel almost 'drunk.' One tea is strong enough. On one occasion I opted for a second tea to make sure I was good and drowsy. It made me throw up. Lesson learned....
Orange Pekoe Tea: I know caffeine is believed to be a trigger of RLS, but this seems to work about 70% of the time. My girlfriend thinks it might be the warm milk in the tea that puts me to sleep.
Marijuana: This works about 90% of the time, but I'd sooner not have to smoke a couple of bongs every night that my legs act up. I wouldn't recommend that everyone rush out for a bag of marijuana, because the potency varies a great deal. The marijuana grown in Canada is some of the strongest in the world, and quite frankly it numbs my legs wonderfully, but I'd prefer to get relief for my RLS elsewheres.
Supplements: This week I will start taking a calcium/magnesium supplement to see if it helps. I've never tried this before, and after all of the hits and misses with remedies for RLS, I'm not getting my hopes up.
If I had to narrow down how RLS has effected my life the greatest, it would be, quite simply, there are days when I wanna give up and end this life. It's not something I dwell on, or spend hours thinking about, it just gets to be that a life with NO sleep is NO life.
I am Joe, and that is my story. Hopefully the proceeding makes a bit of sense. Afterall, not like I got any sleep last night.
And now I head off to my job and a day of powertools.
Incase anyone is wondering how I know all of the percentages, I keep an RLS journal documenting nights the RLS bothers me and what I to alleviate it. (If at all.)
Take care all.
MotleyCorn