I'm new and it's 2:00 AM
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:27 am
Hi! My name is Bob. I’m a “kick-a-holic”. I’m new here, and just wanted to ask a question, but first an introduction and some background.
I’m a retired geek, 66, and live in Minneapolis.
Diagnosis
I was first “dx’ed” in Fall, 1968. It was late night in and ER. I had broken my ankle at a boy scout campout. I told the ER doctor “You should see the kid I kicked.” He said “I’m going to give you some Demerol to stop the pain and it should stop that ‘nocturnal myoclonus’ too.” (Nocturnal = night-time. Myoclonus = twitch.) Next morning my own doctor told me it was “kick-bottom” syndrome. He retired a year or two later and his successor told me it was Eckbom syndrome, not kick-bottom. He said that nowadays they call it Restless Leg Syndrome. Ach! “Nocturnal myoclonus,” “Ekbom” “RLS”. A skunk by any other name would smell the same. (Paraphrased from Romeo and Juliet.)
History
I’ve had this as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I remember seeing my sister twitch while asleep and just thinking “Everyone does that.” By hindsight, she just had “sleep jerks” and she concurs with that assessment. But I’m quite sure my dad had it too. Anyway, I never gave it a whole lot of thought until that ER doctor gave it a name.
Symptoms
Actually, what bothers me most is the kicking. I’ve gathered that it’s a common symptom of RLS and called PLMD Periodic Leg Movement Disorder. Or “nocturnal myoclonus”. A skunk by any other name . . .
For me, it’s like this. I get this very uncomfortable sensation in my foot that moves quickly up my calf. I wouldn’t call it “creepy-crawly” but I guess you could. Usually it happens in only one leg (either leg) at a time, but occasionally both. If it stops with my ankle, I flex my ankle and extend my toes hard. That can give me cramps in my foot or even in my calf. If the sensation moves on up my calf, I flex my knee, and perhaps my hip. It’s like jerking my leg away from someone tickling my foot when I’m half asleep. If the sensation moves all the way up to my knee, I kick. Hard. If it happens in both legs at the same time, I kick hard enough to knock myself out of bed. Or to knock my wife out of bed. (I actually did that once).
She loves me… She loves me not… She…
These movements may vary, but they’re almost always stereotyped in the way I just described. I’d say they were involuntary, but they’re something that I do. I mean the urge is so strong that even if I resisted it, I’m sure my legs would jerk by themselves anyway. Know what I mean? It’s almost (a lot!) like a knee-jerk reflex.
This normally occurs only at night beginning about 20 minutes after I go to bed. It sometimes happen sitting a very long time like at a desk or on an airplane. I’m sure that on international flights I must drive the passenger in front of me bananas. When it happens, I get up and walk around for a few minutes (about 10 minutes?) and I’m good for another 20 of lying down. That’s usually long enough to go to sleep. If it wakes me up, I walk around again. If it gets really bothersome, I’ll take a codeine tablet. That brings me to
Medication
My doctor once was going to prescribe some anti-Parkinson drug, but I’d really rather not take drugs if I can cope without. I do occasionally take a Tylenol 3, and that helps. It puts me to sleep pretty fast. If it gets really bad, on rare occasions I take a Vicodin. My doctor is OK with that.
I see some comments about not taking Benedryl. I took one last year and didn’t notice any problems. That was occasioned when I took a swig of coffee and choked. There was a yellow jacket swimming in it. I got stung once or twice in the back of the throat, twice on the side of my tongue, once on the inside of my upper lip and twice on the outside of the lower lip. I took the Benedryl to make sure I could keep breathing. It didn’t kill me.
That’s my story, so if anyone’s borne with me this long:
My Question
Night before last I kicked with unusual enthusiasm. About 2:00 A.M. I woke my self up by flexing my knee so hard that it popped. In fact, whether it was the kick or my scream, it was enough to wake my wife up too. It hurt so bad I could hardly get out of bed. I walked—or hobbled—around for a while, and returned to bed. My knee had quit hurting, but it didn’t seem like I had even gotten back to sleep when I kicked again. That was at 3:50 AM. When I went back to bed, my knee kept throbbing, so I got back up and took a Vicodin. The newspaper was delivered, so I sat and read that until the Vicodin kicked in. Then I slept until it wore off. I have a doctor appointment in two weeks, but in the meanwhile I wonder if anyone else has had an experience like this where you kick hard enough to really hurt yourself? Any suggestions?
Thanks.
I’m a retired geek, 66, and live in Minneapolis.
Diagnosis
I was first “dx’ed” in Fall, 1968. It was late night in and ER. I had broken my ankle at a boy scout campout. I told the ER doctor “You should see the kid I kicked.” He said “I’m going to give you some Demerol to stop the pain and it should stop that ‘nocturnal myoclonus’ too.” (Nocturnal = night-time. Myoclonus = twitch.) Next morning my own doctor told me it was “kick-bottom” syndrome. He retired a year or two later and his successor told me it was Eckbom syndrome, not kick-bottom. He said that nowadays they call it Restless Leg Syndrome. Ach! “Nocturnal myoclonus,” “Ekbom” “RLS”. A skunk by any other name would smell the same. (Paraphrased from Romeo and Juliet.)
History
I’ve had this as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I remember seeing my sister twitch while asleep and just thinking “Everyone does that.” By hindsight, she just had “sleep jerks” and she concurs with that assessment. But I’m quite sure my dad had it too. Anyway, I never gave it a whole lot of thought until that ER doctor gave it a name.
Symptoms
Actually, what bothers me most is the kicking. I’ve gathered that it’s a common symptom of RLS and called PLMD Periodic Leg Movement Disorder. Or “nocturnal myoclonus”. A skunk by any other name . . .
For me, it’s like this. I get this very uncomfortable sensation in my foot that moves quickly up my calf. I wouldn’t call it “creepy-crawly” but I guess you could. Usually it happens in only one leg (either leg) at a time, but occasionally both. If it stops with my ankle, I flex my ankle and extend my toes hard. That can give me cramps in my foot or even in my calf. If the sensation moves on up my calf, I flex my knee, and perhaps my hip. It’s like jerking my leg away from someone tickling my foot when I’m half asleep. If the sensation moves all the way up to my knee, I kick. Hard. If it happens in both legs at the same time, I kick hard enough to knock myself out of bed. Or to knock my wife out of bed. (I actually did that once).
She loves me… She loves me not… She…
These movements may vary, but they’re almost always stereotyped in the way I just described. I’d say they were involuntary, but they’re something that I do. I mean the urge is so strong that even if I resisted it, I’m sure my legs would jerk by themselves anyway. Know what I mean? It’s almost (a lot!) like a knee-jerk reflex.
This normally occurs only at night beginning about 20 minutes after I go to bed. It sometimes happen sitting a very long time like at a desk or on an airplane. I’m sure that on international flights I must drive the passenger in front of me bananas. When it happens, I get up and walk around for a few minutes (about 10 minutes?) and I’m good for another 20 of lying down. That’s usually long enough to go to sleep. If it wakes me up, I walk around again. If it gets really bothersome, I’ll take a codeine tablet. That brings me to
Medication
My doctor once was going to prescribe some anti-Parkinson drug, but I’d really rather not take drugs if I can cope without. I do occasionally take a Tylenol 3, and that helps. It puts me to sleep pretty fast. If it gets really bad, on rare occasions I take a Vicodin. My doctor is OK with that.
I see some comments about not taking Benedryl. I took one last year and didn’t notice any problems. That was occasioned when I took a swig of coffee and choked. There was a yellow jacket swimming in it. I got stung once or twice in the back of the throat, twice on the side of my tongue, once on the inside of my upper lip and twice on the outside of the lower lip. I took the Benedryl to make sure I could keep breathing. It didn’t kill me.
That’s my story, so if anyone’s borne with me this long:
My Question
Night before last I kicked with unusual enthusiasm. About 2:00 A.M. I woke my self up by flexing my knee so hard that it popped. In fact, whether it was the kick or my scream, it was enough to wake my wife up too. It hurt so bad I could hardly get out of bed. I walked—or hobbled—around for a while, and returned to bed. My knee had quit hurting, but it didn’t seem like I had even gotten back to sleep when I kicked again. That was at 3:50 AM. When I went back to bed, my knee kept throbbing, so I got back up and took a Vicodin. The newspaper was delivered, so I sat and read that until the Vicodin kicked in. Then I slept until it wore off. I have a doctor appointment in two weeks, but in the meanwhile I wonder if anyone else has had an experience like this where you kick hard enough to really hurt yourself? Any suggestions?
Thanks.