Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

I've had RLS for more years than I can remember. It wasn't severe and I could manage it. But I've taken tylenol pm at bedtime for a long time. It has progressively gotten worse, but the last couple of years the RLS has gotten really bad. Maybe it's age, I just turned 60 in August. Even long plane and car rides have become troublesome. I started taking requip about 2 months ago and have managed to get some decent sleep. I'm a runner and I Crossfit so my legs and body are almost always achy from exercise. I know that feeling, I'm very in tuned to my aches and pains. I did run a 4 mile race on Saturday but that isn't a long distance for me and my legs weren't that tired. Last night Sunday, the requip didn't seem to work or I took it to soon before bedtime but I was having one episode after another. It was from my hips down and that part of my body jumped really high. The only way I can describe it is violent, they were violent. I kept getting up from bed to walk around. I got desperate and took a pain killer and a xanax and finally fell asleep. As a side note I do have a cyst in my lower back problem L4/L5 and degeneration and a labral tear in my left hip, But again, I know that pain and what I'm feeling today is different. (I'm going for a cortisone injection on my back on Friday.)

My legs are very heavy today and they tingle, especially my quads, enough that I didn't go to CF or do any exercise (yeah, I'm an exercise junkie). Could it be from the violent episodes last night. Could the effects of RLS linger the following day?

First off, I hope that you realize that the antihistamine in Tylenol PM is known to aggravate RLS and can cause problems all by itself.

As for your question of whether a violent night of RLS can cause soreness and overuse weakness the next day, the answer is a great big YES. All that jerking due to the RLS is a violent form of exercise. The fact that it was the RLS causing the muscles to tighten rather than exercise does not matter to the muscle. It is still overuse and can cause weakness and tingling.

And you are not the only one who raced on Saturday, in my case it was a half marathon (13.1 miles for those not familiar with running).

"It was from my hips down and that part of my body jumped really high. The only way I can describe it is violent, they were violent."

This description makes me wonder if what you experienced was anything like what is shown in my sleep video in my signature. If so, mine turned out to be augmentation. Over time my legs felt progressively "heavy" as they night after night failed to get the rest needed to be restored.

[As a disclaimer, and unrelated to RLS, I'd like to throw out there that anyone experiencing a heaviness that starts in the feet and progresses up both legs evenly needs to go to the ER immediately if their symptoms fit with Guillian Barre Syndrome. A common description heard in the ER is that their legs feel like tree stumps. Other things can cause that sensation (fluid retention for me) but this one virus must be identified and support made available ASAP.]

Rustsmith wrote:First off, I hope that you realize that the antihistamine in Tylenol PM is known to aggravate RLS and can cause problems all by itself.

As for your question of whether a violent night of RLS can cause soreness and overuse weakness the next day, the answer is a great big YES. All that jerking due to the RLS is a violent form of exercise. The fact that it was the RLS causing the muscles to tighten rather than exercise does not matter to the muscle. It is still overuse and can cause weakness and tingling.

And you are not the only one who raced on Saturday, in my case it was a half marathon (13.1 miles for those not familiar with running).

I didn't know about Tylenol PM. Which race did you run?

Which race did you run?

It was a small race in Pueblo, CO called the Rock Canyon Half. I had moved to Pueblo from the Gulf Coast just 5 days before, so I was not altitude adapted and I had been lifting boxes the two days before. So, my legs were shot just going into the race. As a result, it was not my best showing.

Yeah, that altitude is a killer.