A 24 hour patch to manage RLS?

[Jan9222]

Thanks CTravel!
I'm sure I'll be venting alot here...since we've moved away from my friends and family, I don't have anyone here except for my husband...which I am very lucky he is as understanding as he is...God bless him!!! I don't get out of the house much and I don't work to make friends...so it does get a little lonely and frustrating and depressing !!! (as you can tell, I like the emoticons..lol)

Like you said, people just don't have any idea what it's like to have RLS and yes, if they lived our lives for a day/night, they would be more understanding about it!!

Thanks again!!

[ctravel12]

Hi Jan9222 you are more than welcome. That is wonderful that your husband is so understanding. My husband is the same way.

I am sorry that you do not get out very much. Have you checked in your area for a rls suport group? Reason for saying this is as I am a group leader for rls in my town. You meet some wonderful people and they are going through exactly what you are going through and certainly understand. It might be something that you might be want to check out. One thing it will get you out of the house. I hope you do not mind me telling you this. It is bad enough having rls and then moving away from your friends and family has got to be very devasting and depressing.

I hope that things work out well for you. If you need someone to talk to, I am here and do not mind listening. Who knows I may be able to give you some advise which will be very helpful and also know other members will post and give you some good advise too.

I joined this board in 2006 and believe me that was the best thing that I could of done. They have helped me in so many ways.

We also have a chat line for rls and I host the one on Monday nights, so if you want to join, please do so. Just go on rls.org and it will walk you through it. If you have any problems logging in let me know and I will walk you through it. I live in Az. and we do not change time and I get on at 7pm in that way other people get on and it is not too late for them. It is a great chat line and alot of nice people to chat too.

Hope to see Monday night and hope that you check out to see if there is a suport group in your area.

Take care and have a nice day.

[abbycakes]

Hi Jan9222,

Thanks for the information about the patch. I just don't think it will work for me since I've been on the Oxycodone ER. My neuro didn't have it yet, so I still have to wait.

I'm having another sleep study done...this is through the sleep center that my GP has originally sent me to. In the meantime, I put in a request for my GP to write a referral to the University of Washington's Sleep Study Center since I really don't think the one I go to is well-versed in RLS and PLMD...they are really pushing the C-PAP, and want me to try it since they said my breathing was partially or fully blocked 10.3 times per hour on average (with kicking at 30.1 times per hour, average), which is my question at this point.

Does anyone out there use a C-PAP to control their PLMD? That's what I'm still battling at this point because, you know, my neuro isn't a sleep specialist (his words, not mine...way to pass the buck!).

Thanks for listening,
Jen

[ViewsAskew]

Jen, I have read that it is common for PLMs to be associated with apnea. I have witnessed it in my partner, too. And, I've read that with C-PAP, the movements do decrease. I do not know how common this is, but common enough that I found a few articles about it.

Just my experience, but multiple sleep studies - and at different places - can be very helpful. My first one was at a place where they were pushing apnea. They put a mask on me after my first leg jerk and awakening, lol. I never slept again all night long.

I had two more after that. They found that apnea was not at all the problem and that I had moderate PLMD - and that was while on treatment, so I can only imagine how bad it was without treatment.

You may have apnea and a C-PAP may help. And, you may not. Hopefully your insurance is covering this next test. If possible, talk to the sleep techs and sleep doc prior. Explain what happened. Explain that you really need them to watch carefully and discriminate. If they see disordered breathing, they should put the mask on you THAT NIGHT. It's a way to test to see if it changes both the awakenings and the movements. If you need to, also negotiate for the time you go to sleep and when you have to get up. To me, a sleep study isn't very effective if you normally go to sleep at 2 or 3 AM, but they only will monitor you from 10 PM until 6 AM. At the most, they get 3-4 hours of data - not 8. It's the whole night's sleep (if you sleep that much) that they need to monitor to see the big picture.