Thank you for the support. I've had some success w/you approach in that I used to get RLS in my legs and now I only get it in between my shoulder blades. I largely attribute this to stretching and foam rolling my legs. However, it doesn't seem to work the same for my back. Either the RLS comes back after 10-20 minutes OR it moves to the other side of my back. Its something I'd like to explore more in the future, but, in my current state, I cannot afford to experiment.XenMan wrote:I stay away from the forums as there are too many 'drugs are the only answer' people. Having explored and experimented with my very bad RLS, my success and now normal sleep is due to accepting that all presented knowledge is wrong about RLS. Views are also USA centric with the absolute insanity of using opiates and benzos; which is sign of giving up and basically palliative care.Oozz wrote: As much as I hate to say it, WED has made me a stronger and better person. It broke me and may break me again, but it will never defeat me. If it is alright with you, I’d like to continue sharing my thoughts here.
I wont waste my time with my views, but I'm here to encourage you to explore your own methods. You sound similar to me in that you have some common sense and experience with exercise and knowing your body. Other posts talked about trigger points, these are the starting points to successful management. I can only talk about the calf and foot region, but it should translate to other areas. I use a golf ball and roll it around finding the sensitive areas. You can't treat these during the day, but when you have symptoms while sleeping, if they are pressed for around 10 seconds firmly the RLS symptoms will stop for the night.
It is a bit of an art, but in time you will know the spots. They should also resolve over time, but new ones will emerge.
As for being broken, I have been there. It doesn't help with there being some bad stats on mortality for RLS sufferers as well as just losing my motivation for everything. Let your thoughts out and share them, just to know you aren't alone.
Good luck.
Are you sleeping through the night w/o any awakenings? And, how is the quality of your sleep?
I also understand your frustrations with the mainstream medical approach. Its analogous to the saying... "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." With that said, I don't discount the progress made or the effectiveness of medication. For some people, myself included. its the only consistent way we've found to get sleep.