amandajo, I think it's a good sign that your doctor was asking you for details about what it feels like. Sounds like he really does want to understand. I have never had a doctor ask me what it feels like, although I have had two who listened when I tried to tell them. I am sure that your doctor taking the initiative to try to find out what you're gong through shows that he is honestly trying to understand it.
Plan how you will describe it to him next time you see him. Remember, he doesn't know already. You have to tell him how it feels, and the consequences like no sleep, not only no sleep but being tortured while not sleeping, being passed over for promotion at work becuase you've gotten stupid from no sleep, etc. - whatever is true for you. There are some things most doctors don't know about RLS/WED: what the symptoms are like for us, and the impact the disease has on our sleep, and on oor lives as a whole. Even the sleep specialist you see may not know these things. Don't assume he/she does.
I don't recommend asking for any particular medication from any doctor, but especially not an opioid because of all the BS susrrounding them. Do your own research - the book that Ann recommended is a great start, or get a membership in the Foundation so you can download their Medical Bulletin for Healthcare PRoviders, cheaper and almost as good - and carry some printouts or books with you to your appt. Take the time to highlight the parts that are relevant to you beforehand, so the doctor can flip to those parts quickly during your short appointment. Tell him you have been researching your disease, and could he please tell you what he thinks of this material that you've found. Or if it's the book, would he like to look at it.
Let him come to his own conclusions. It's probably necessary to be his guinea pig if he wants to try you on something like Horizant first, but do not wait a month or two before telling him that it doesn't work. If he prescribes something, you get a plan in place at the time he prescribes it for how you should contact him if it does not work. Eventually, if you're desrcibing your symptoms and your life accurately and if he's reading the literature (helped along by your offerings, to get him pointed in the right direction), then he will realize he has to resort to opioids.
Meantime, intead of trying to get hold of tramadol illegally, why not try kratom?
amandajo wrote: used to work in nursing homes on midnight shift so I would be working through the night and so tired and exhausted by the time I got home nothing short of bombs going off under my bed would've kept me up..maybe that's why it didn't bother me as much when I was younger.
Maybe the fact that you were working shifts masked the symptoms, especially if you rotated night and day shifts on some schedule.
But my arms...nothing helps. Sometimes I get so frustrated I end up hitting my arms or laying on them until they are numb. But that only helps for a brief time.
I have displaced (minor dislocation) a small bone in my wrist and strained soft tissue in my other wrist, from falling asleep on my hands with my wrists bent to kill the sensations.
I have been trying the horizant he prescribed me but it's doing nothing at all for me.
Not surprising. See the thread "Does anyone successfully use ONLY an anti-convulsant?"