Can Leg discomfort without the Urge to Move be RLS?

[trudyg]

I've recently been preliminarily diagnosed with RLS by my Dr. Although I had one night where the discomfort produced the urge to move, since then the discomfort (deep within my thighs and calves) has not produced the urge to move. The frequency has been growing. I go to sleep normally, but wake in about 4 hours with discomfort that keeps me from sleeping. After the initial nights of this, I had a period when I didn't have discomfort for about a week and slept normally. But for the last 5 nights I've had the same scenario: sleep about 4 hours and then awake from the discomfort. Instead of starting with RLS medication, my Dr. and I had decided to just work on the sleep part: she prescribed tylenol PM and Atavan. I only tried the Tylenol once as I read that benadryl makes RLS worse. I've taken Atavan twice, but it makes me feel groggy the next day. Last night I just tried as best I could to relax and managed to sleep intermittently. However, I'm very puzzled by not having the urge to more and wonder if it can be RLS without this urge. Any comments or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

[Rustsmith]

trudyg, welcome the the board.

According to "Clinical Management of Restless Legs Syndrome" by Lee, Buchfuhrer, Allen and Henning, the five clinical features of RLS are:

1. Urge to move the legs
2. Rest Induced
3. Gets better with activity
4. Evening and night is worse
5. Solely not accounted for by another medical or behavioral condition

You can also find a copy of an RLS questionnaire to get an idea of how you would score without the urge to move. One copy of the questionnaire can be found at:
http://www.ini.org/pdfs/rls-rating-scale.pdf

Finally, there are a number of other conditions that could conceivably be the cause of your condition. You didn't mention whether getting up and walking around relieved your discomfort. If not, to me the absence of an urge to move and the failure to resolve the discomfort by moving is a red flag that you and your doctor should be considering other options.

[trudyg]

Thank you so much Steve. I don't see the URL for the questionnaire...please let me know the URL. Thank you.
Trudy

[Rustsmith]

Trudy, you're right, my first attempt at the url didn't work. It should be fixed now.

[trudyg]

Thank you.