BORN WITH RLS/BERTHED TO LIFE BY SOMETHING?

[buglegs]

Diagnosed with RLS / PLMD back in 2001, started on 0.25 mg Requip increased to 4 mg over the years. The requip stopped working and I was switched to Mirapex 1.0 MG 2xday (equivalent to 12 MG Requip later finding out) which worked great for about 7-months. I started having trouble breathing, felt as if someone had put a plastic bag over my head causing suffocation, stopped Mirapex and restarted requip 4MG at night. I'M CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING AUMENTATION, so I'm getting about 2-3 hours sleep each night. I need to taper-off requip and start something different, no more dopamine antagonist for me once I figure out the less painful way to become Dopamine Antagonist free.

Anyways the topic of my conversation is do you believe that RLS which I believe to actually be a disease and not a syndrome could actually be in your genes at birth waiting to be activated by some outside means? The reason I ask this question is because of the initial way my RLS started. US Navy,
USS Enterprise (CVN-65) 4-year tour which lead to my last deployment in 98-99, ended up heading for Persian Gulf (WAR), October - November 1998. The possibility of Anthrax attacks were considered high, so everyone on-board the ship were given 3-Anthrax Vaccines over 6-week period and the vaccines were all of a sudden stopped. The Anthrax Vaccines are a series of 6-shots over a certain period. I departed the USS Enterprise in July 1999 reported for duty ONBOARD Naval Station Norfolk, VA , Shore Duty...Depression set-in, agitated all the time, mad most of the time for unknown reasons, constantly tired day after day, tried covering-up with alcohol. I went to the doctor and he says: I believe you have depression lets send you for a sleep lab this is approx. August 2001 time-frame. I was diagnosed with Restless Leg Syndrome / Periodic Limb Movement / Obstructive Sleep Apnea...started on the 0.25 Requip and CPAP machine...before the vaccines I was fine???

[Rustsmith]

RLS has officially be recognized as a disease. It was initially named as a syndrome at a time when some people had it ideopathically while others had it as a comorbid condition for things such as kidney dialysis, Parkinsons and the third trimester of pregnancy.

About ten years ago, an effort was made by all the international RLS organizations to change the name to "Willis Ekbom Disease" in recognition of the two doctors responsible for initially describing the symptoms of RLS. VERY unfortunately, the organizations decided to reverse course after about two years because the new name wasn't catching on. The RLS name was too well entrenched and it was too difficult to educate doctors who were not in frequent contact with the various international foundations.

As for genetics, the answer to your question is an absolute "Yes". About 20 different genes have been correlated with RLS using the GWAS technique. Three genes have a strong correlation and are now listed as risk factors for RLS. The researchers are now trying to figure out what these genes do and how they cause RLS. These three are PTPRD, BTBD9, and MEIS1. 23andMe says that I have two of the three, so like almost all genetics, having the gene only increases your susceptibility and doesn't cause you to get the condition.