Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

Ann and legs - yes, the pudding worked well. Cheap and cheerful and definitely much nicer than the sum of its parts.
Next time I'll try it with mandarins or raspberries... or both.

For whatever reason I'm having a difficult time these last few days - meds aren't quite cutting it. And calves and feet/ankles are aching.
However I've had two medication changes, Firstly my statin has been doubled and we know that they can cause muscle aches.
Secondly I've been started on a blood pressure medication which has resulted in my ankles and feet swelling somewhat.
This has confused me as I don't know if my (crawly) discomfort has anything to do with the swelling from the BP med, or muscle ache from the statin.

Anyways , when up last night at about 3am I remembered reading about the calming effect of peanut butter and milk. Mmmm... nice cold milk and a piece of gorgeous seeded bread, butter plus peanut butter. It was delicious. I tried to settle with my book on the sofa with just a lamp switched on and enjoy my snack.
Well !! if it was the pn butter and milk that worked, it worked pretty quickly. Next I knew I'd woken up, it was daylight, the tall glass of milk was on its side, on my lap, milk was puddled on the leather sofa. Had to do a clean up job.

You have to be SO tired to fall asleep glass of milk in hand. As when I fall to sleep in a yoga pose - we are just not meant to be that tired, yet here we all are!

Hope you settle in to the new meds soon. I have a new one added recently and was a bit worried about it - for bladder urgency. But it actually makes me tired and counteracts the methadone and pramipexole! I was so happy I decided to only take it at night. Doesn't help much when I need it during the day, but I can live with finding a bathroom quickly if I have slept.

I have attended for bladder urgency.
Female doctor suggests that when urgency strikes (and we know that the bladder is not full) we should just relax and sing a song to ourselves. Or count backwards from 100 in 7s. Aye... right.... !!

I'm happy to hear that you may get a bonus from your medication.

Polar Bear wrote:I have attended for bladder urgency.
Female doctor suggests that when urgency strikes (and we know that the bladder is not full) we should just relax and sing a song to ourselves. Or count backwards from 100 in 7s. Aye... right.... !!

I'm happy to hear that you may get a bonus from your medication.

I figured someone here would have had the same issue - very common in women, apparently. Over the years, I've tried so many methods, lol. The relaxing thing? 15 years of trying -it can help sometimes, but over time it hasn't made it better, and many times it doesn't help AT ALL! I've tried retraining - setting a timer and slowly increasing the length between bathroom trips - as well as exercises, tightening muscles in strategic places, etc. Only thing I haven't tried, that I know of, is biofeedback.

I've done the setting a timer also.
Also keeping a chart with times and measured liquid output.

I know fine well that it can be done because very often its 3 - 4 hours without difficulty but other times it's only 20 minutes and urgent.
The old saying of "never pass a clean toilet" definitely causes bad training. But to not avail of every opportunity can be risky business.

Polar Bear wrote:I've done the setting a timer also.
Also keeping a chart with times and measured liquid output.

I know fine well that it can be done because very often its 3 - 4 hours without difficulty but other times it's only 20 minutes and urgent.
The old saying of "never pass a clean toilet" definitely causes bad training. But to not avail of every opportunity can be risky business.

Exactly!

I always pee before I go anywhere or do anything, whether I have to or not. The preventative pee, I call it.

You have to be SO tired to fall asleep glass of milk in hand. As when I fall to sleep in a yoga pose - we are just not meant to be that tired, yet here we all are!

I fell asleep the other night in child's pose on the floor beside my bed. I wasn't doing yoga or anything, I was just crouching beside the bed in mental agony, exhausted after being woken up by symptoms and wanting nothing more than to sleep. Which I suddenly(?) did, in that position. When I woke up, I was without feeling from the hips on down. It was scary weird.

Mental agony from physical symptoms - says it all !!

badnights wrote:I always pee before I go anywhere or do anything, whether I have to or not. The preventative pee, I call it.

You have to be SO tired to fall asleep glass of milk in hand. As when I fall to sleep in a yoga pose - we are just not meant to be that tired, yet here we all are!

I fell asleep the other night in child's pose on the floor beside my bed. I wasn't doing yoga or anything, I was just crouching beside the bed in mental agony, exhausted after being woken up by symptoms and wanting nothing more than to sleep. Which I suddenly(?) did, in that position. When I woke up, I was without feeling from the hips on down. It was scary weird.

Definitely scary weird!!!

What calms me at night is Gabapentin and a good mug of vanilla decalf coffee. Yumm.

I think that because of all of the meds that I take they have really messed up my ability to fall asleep without them. As I lie here feeling exhausted, my legs are calm and nothing hurts, but I feel like I can't fall asleep. I think that I have become used to the meds making me fall asleep.
So many times when I am feeling like this, I find myself taking another pill of some kind.
Getting back to the subject, what calms me, I know I said earlier that I exercise. I don't think that calms me. It is just something that I do to pass time during the night.
Funny thing happened all day today. I was so sleepy, I kept closing my eyes falling asleep, when I needed to be awake. I am exhausted all the time, so matter how much sleep I get and I have been getting sleep lately. My other complaint is I have no energy.
So I guess I really don't have anything that calms me during the night. The sleep I get is all drug induced.

You might check out L theanine. Calms without sedation. Also non narcotic Trazadone. Prescription need for the last one. Calms too.

I have some cheese and peanut butter crackers and a few ounces of tonic water. Then I play a few games of “Words with Friends”, or do jigsaw puzzles on my IPad. When I feel a bit groggy, I go to bed or sleep on the sofa.

I have also found that when my legs feel cold, which causes them to tense up, which leads to jerking and general anxiety, I heat my legs with my blow drier, put a blanket over my legs and fall asleep.

Hope this helps someone!

Rubbing Voltaren gel into my calves stops the pain within a few minutes. It doesn't last very long but along with staying up for about an hour it allows me to get back to sleep. I also use magnesium oil but I'm not sure if that works at all or if it is just the rubbing motion that helps.

I have a magnesium spray which I've used according to instructions, 11 sprays is a dose. but I've not felt any benefit. Another item to fill up the cabinet.
Yes, I have also on occasion used a topical rub which helps (Volterol or Feldene) when my legs ache though not sure if the ache is from RLS or Fibro, or just from tiredness.

Just to add I have started using cbd oil, slow and gentle start. One drop twice a day (2mg per drop) for about a week, then two drops twice daily, building up to a sweet point where it helps. I don't know if it should help RLS but perhaps it will promote a well being taking into consideration my other aches and pains. Nothing to lose really.