Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

This is my first post. Thanks for a great website.

I have had RLS for over 10 years, recently it seems to be getting worse (with age).

How do you deal with RLS during the day? I work at an office and sit a lot at a desk throughout the day....most of the time, if I do streches where I bend over and touch my toes, that releives the RLS for a while. I was just curious as to what other people do to releave RLS during the day.

thanks
-M

Hello M and we are happy to see you posting.
I have symptoms 24/7 and found this to be quite a burden when I was working - now retired.

How do you cope with your symptoms in general, have you been diagnosed officially and are you taking any medication.
Also have you ever had your iron ferritin serum level checked. This is not done as a matter of course when having bloods checked, it has to be specifically requested.
Doctors will accept low figures 10 or 20 as normal - but this is not so for WED sufferers, we want it up as near 100 as possible especially if considering taking any of the dopamine agonist medications. A higher ferritin level means less chance of augmentation which can be caused by the dopamine agonist medications and to a lesser extent by tramadol.

With regard to coping while working at a desk. My solution was to place a coffee table on top of my desk raising it to a suitable level.... and stand to work. Fortunately I was not in a position where the public could see me. Also I had been working with the company for several years and by that stage they were aware of my difficulties. Boss even offered to buy me any type of chair that could in any way be of help. I wasn't interested in a new chair, being able to stand when necessary helped so much. When not using the coffee table it stored out of sight underneath my desk. It might be worth a try if you are in a suitable environment.

Thanks for the reply Polar Bear. I have not had my iron checked. Looks like I need to add that to my "to do list".

As far as the coffee table, cool idea. Not too practical for me, though. Like I said, luckily for me - I don't have to deal with this all the time at work, just some spouts which I can live with and usually stretching soothes them.

I take riporiniral sometime when the symptoms are really bad, the drug makes me tired though, so I'll probably ask to be put on another one.

I work at home the vast majority of the time, so I just walk/move through it. I go and garden, clean, stuff I do at night, too. A few times it's happened at a client site. I have had to excuse myself to use the restroom and I do some stretches, etc.

I know a few people have a foot pillow thingee that they "knead" under their desk. A few others have a "standing" desk. It's amazing we can do what we do, isn't it?

My desk at work can be raised or lowered, and it really helps to stand up a lot. If I sit, I take my shoes off and sit on my legs or tuck one up under me. Stretching is good, or doing a few squats or ankle raises.

I don't get restless legs during the day, but do get restless and fidgety. As a result, I move around a lot. I teach school, so am on my feet a lot for that, which helps. At night, when the restless legs symptoms are apparent, riding a stationary bike while reading or watching television helps.

I put a small exercise bike in my office, in the corner so you couldn't see it unless you came all the way in. I could talk on the phone, read papers, etc. I also used one of those exercise balls to sit on, and being able to move around helped. Except my boss kept stealing it.

This topic has been split by a moderator.

A number of posts have been moved from this topic to a new one named "having ferritin serum level checked", placed in the Non-prescription forum. The new topic deals with both oral and intravenous iron, so it is also relevant to the Prescription forum. The split was done because the subject of conversation had deviated from the original subject of this thread. People looking for information on iron supplements won't be looking in the Physical Therapies forum; hopefully the split will help those people. I apologize to anyone looking for the topic here, but I think you can find it in it's new home : viewtopic.php?f=20&t=8795

I definitely get them during the day, I usually just jiggle them incessantly. I've tried magnesium, tyrosine and iron all in one go and it seemed to help (Natural Calm is a good one that worked for me very well for awhile). Once or twice adderall helped, but it made my jaw really clenchy at that dose. I'm thinking of trying out compression socks.