Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

Hang in there. Hopefully, this too shall pass and the job situation will get worked out.
A couple of nights ago I stopped my oxy. That night I had horrible PLMs. I figured, withdrawal. I was afraid that I might have many nights of it, but then the last two nights I have slept. I have had the PLMs about 10 pm, about 1 hour after I went to bed. Got up, rode my bike, went back to bed. Slept the rest of both nights, except for bathroom breaks. I believe that before with the oxy, as it was leaving my body, it was telling me to take more. Body, wanting more drug, and creating more PLMs than I would normally have. Now, I also know that when I go into another bad period, I will have more PLMs. The next time though, I will just try and endure, and not take more drugs, just my regular dose of methodone. Originally, I started the oxy because of the hyper alertness and bad periods. Now that I am taking my methadone 6 hours earlier, I am no longer having the hyperalertness.

Paintings are on my facebook page.

debbluebird wrote:Paintings are on my facebook page.

Cool!

leggo wrote:how bad I feel physically, like I just don't have the chutzpah it requires to get work. For example, I applied for one job where they said send in your resume and call for an interview. I sent my resume a few days ago and I still haven't called! My follow through on things is particularly bad right now. I will try to do it tomorrow.

Then, there's all these little details with the ending of my job that I'm having trouble keeping track of.

I've been thru this sort of thing too. In fact, I might still be going thru it/ My short-term memory sucks, sometimes worse than others, and I have lists and reminders for everything. Also, I had to drop lots of things from my daily life, lots of responsibilities and leisure-time activities; it took me years to realize (to accept) that I could not do as much as I used to.

deb wrote:I decided that she needs to see me like that.

I've only had one doctor in all these years see me in the midst of bad WED. That was when I was taken off gabapentin+codeine and put on a very tiny dose (not even close to enough) of oxycodone. I lived with that for 3 weeks. She saw me unable to sit, unable to keep myself from twisting my head and arms around as I stood - I was so exhausted, too. And you know what she decided? That I was depressed. Ha ha ha ha ha. She wasn't the brightest spark in the fire.

I do think it would be helpful to us if more doctors saw us in the midst of bad symptoms!

Something weird happened. Tonight I decided to ride my bike just when I got sleep to go to bed, instead of going to bed, because for several nights, I would ly there for an hour or so, maybe sleeping, waking up to spasms. It worked. I slept for almost 3 hours, then needed a bathroom break. So I got up, etc. Then I decided to ride bike again. Usually at this time the same thing will happen. In about an hour of going back to bed spasms start. So, will see if it works again. Back to bed.

Well, my experiment worked, sort of. I still got the spasms like always, but they were more mild. I was able to lay on that side and go back to sleep.

I used to swim every night around 9 PM; but, it was before my WED was everyday. But, I rarely seemed to have RLS at the time.

Thank you...there's so much here I relate to. Helps immensely to know I'm not alone.

Here is a thought fragment. It all feels like being taxed beyond my ability to respond. That's the language I put to it tonight. Come home exhausted, almost too tired to feed the dog and floss my teeth. But of course I feed the dog. The teeth, most of the time. Anything else I can put off, I put off.

It's a feeling of not being physically or mentally able to do one more thing. I am there a lot. Just thinking about it right now makes me want to cry. So I guess I will stop thinking about it.

leggo_my_legs wrote:Here is a thought fragment. It all feels like being taxed beyond my ability to respond. That's the language I put to it tonight. Come home exhausted, almost too tired to feed the dog and floss my teeth. But of course I feed the dog. The teeth, most of the time. Anything else I can put off, I put off.

It's a feeling of not being physically or mentally able to do one more thing. I am there a lot. Just thinking about it right now makes me want to cry. So I guess I will stop thinking about it.

That is not good! (Understatement of the year, hunh.)

I can remember feeling that way a lot when I was depressed. I remember telling my family not to include me in family emails that weren't about something urgent - I didn't have the energy to read them. When I did read them, either they seemed stupid and inane or they made me more sad/depressed.

I know that part of this is being tired...wonder how much is chemical and if there is something that would improve that.

If it's depression, it's different than all previous episodes in my life. I've been on the same meds since 2005 or so. I'm afraid to change them for fear of making my situation worse. In the past when I tried to go off them, I'd get into an agitated depression and it was bad news.

It might be worth consulting with a psychiatrist I guess. I just don't know. In a little more time I'm going to ask Dr B if I can switch back to hydrocodone. It seems both my sleep and my pain was better on that when it was working. I wonder if the poor sleep is being caused by my back pain. I wake up with it. I have some bone spurs and arthritis.

I've been thinking of rejoining the gym for the water aerobics--especially while I'm inbetween jobs. I just don't be seeming to get enough benefit from just walking rhe dog.

Wish there was a faster way to get through this period. I have also been there. I know you have to be careful with which antidepressant you take, that doesn't make RLS worse.

leggo if you can in any way afford the gym, it's a good idea. Physical activity will help with general health and mental health. Re the AD and seeing a psychiatrist, would it wait til you've settled on your RLS/WED treatment? Some of it might resolve as you start to sleep better. Re back pain - yup, it's interfering with your sleep, and who needs that extra sleep loss! I hope Dr B's solution can address that too...

Thanks deb...

Beth yeah that's a good point...not to change too many things at once.

Amazingly, today I received in the mail an enrollment special from the gym waiving the start up fee and going month to month!

Swimming or water aerobics will help my joints and help relax me. I'm not sure why the oxycodone isn't doing more for my pain mgmt, maybe the rls dose is too low to cover pain management too? I don't know.

I had a very smart doctor about 3 years ago who warned me to lose weight or risk arthritis and quality of life downgrade later...um... Unfortunate that I wasn't able to follow thorough at that time.

It's almost impossible to lose weight when sleep-deprived, leggo. It messes with insulin, cortisol, and every other hormone system there is. The best you can do is eat healthy, manage stress, pet the dogs a lot, get some sunshine, and get exercise. I'm guessing water aerobics will help your pain somewhat. Take it easy on yourself, and do what feels good and makes you happy!