Ladies, have we discussed this???

[Sara]

It's 5:30 pm, and my RLS symptoms have been going gang-busters for about 2 hours now. This isn't unheard of in my case, but not "normal" pattern for me, most of the time.

So I was trying to think what, if anything, might be responsible for this early onset. Yes, I had to stay up late and had to get up early, so I'm tired. But not as tired as last weekend when I was up at 2 am one morning and didn't get to bed until 10 pm, was busy ALL day, and didn't get this much RLS.

Anyway, I won't go on and on with the possibles, except one occured to me that I'd never thought of before (that I can remember... darn CRS! ) Have any of you noticed any correlation between your RLS symptoms and your menstrual cycles??????

I think that this is another thing to keep track of in my RLS journal.

Hmmmm....
Sara

[slyemm]

Absolutely! Without a doubt! Only I haven't kept a diary for long enough to have documented evidence so I can't prove it. But I will! I can tell when my period's coming, a few days beforehand, as the restlessness becomes a 24/7 kind of thing. I have *extremely* heavy cycles so I have just assumed that my iron stores are being drained in preparation for the big day. No idea if this is medically accurate or even feasible! But in my head, that's what's happening! RLS is very bad for me right now so I'm guessing something is right around the corner! So much to look forward to .....

Take care,
Simone

[Sara]

Hi, Simone--

Not sure why that never occured to me before, because I have had to keep track of related symptoms of "that" for a number of reasons. Just never put two and two together to consider RLS as linked in any way.

I'll definitely NEED to watch for that, though. Like you, I've always had heavy cycles, and it's gotten worse, overall, as I've aged and had kids. If anything could completely rob my body of alllllll forms of iron, I guess that could be the thing that could.

So, do PLEASE check in with me later, and I'll also try to keep track. It wouldn't necessarily help in any way to know, but it would be interesting. Mine's sure nutty tonight. Going to go make some dinner and hope that standing around will ease things up a bit.

Take good care.
Sara

[becat]

Ok this is frightening,
Maybe we've all gone crazy, but this is not crazy. Yes, Yes, Yes........this time matters greatly to us.
Having been thinking this for some time know. It truely makes sense to me and I have the body to prove it.
I know the moment I ovulate (did I spell that right?). I really can. It hurts like........, well alot. The right side worse than the left. My doctor does not believe me, but it is true. I have a heavier and more painful time with this if it's the right side as well.
I was a blood donor for a long time and I found that if I donated before a right side ovulation, I had an easier time with the flow issue lessen greatly. Makes sense right? By donating by body acted like it needed to release less. Anyway....
After the doc. told me no more donations.....due to the problems it caused with RLS, I went back to the lopsided pattern.
I cramp for the first several days, again right side a killer. Yes, the soap helps.... But the thing I noticed is my legs hurt worse. My hips and lower back kick in. It's the deep ache that doesn't seem to have a starting point or a true ending.
I guess it would depend on your normal symptoms, but mine blow up out of the normal.......at least the normal for the past 4-5 months now.
It's wonderful to be a girl most of the time. I'm just not sure that menapause is going to be so easy. Scary thought.......However, I guess the flip side of that is less iron loss............right?
Hugs.

[slyemm]

I'm surprised your doctor didn't believe you regarding painful ovulation. It's a well known occurence in women. As far as I understand. There's a million websites that discuss it at any rate. Try here for starters ...

http://www.babyhopes.com/articles/painf ... ation.html

I experienced extremely painful ovulation for about 12 months. Don't know why it started or why it finished. And I have no recollection if rls was better or worse with it. It was so painful I thought I must be in labour. My husband would look at me like I was mad - moaning and groaning with contractions every few minutes. Lasted about a day (or less) each time. no idea why it went away but I'm glad it did!

Take care,
Simone

[becat]

Men! Of course not any that are here.....hehehehe.
Mine always blames everything on "that time". I'm sure he thinks PMS is monthly.... just all month long.
He's a good, kind man, but doesn't get hormones or that.
I'm glad you told me about the web site, I'll check that out next. He's always looked at me with that NUTTTTTT aHHHHHHH look. I swear I've gone to my knee at times.
Yeah the cramping is a rotten thing. I really had to laugh at the soap thing working. But it does. four months straight now and problems. Just have to figure out how to strap some to my legs.
I know that I uped the Miracle water tonight maybe that will kick in and work some magic for the legs.....
On a serious note. I know my RLS is worse because the small dose of Percodan I normally take doesn't help with my thighs. Normally, I get near total relief. Not at this time I don't. I have even tried the 1/2 tab, instead of the 1/4. I won't take anymore than half.
This normal dose takes care of the usual things for me, but that should cut the cramping or pain sensation ....IT doesn't. So, for now bless me, once a month I go back to my old life with RLS.
The heating pad is my buddy. Not a true fix, but it's comfort. It helps to sit with it under my thighs or on the lower back.

[becat]

HOLY COW it's got a name?

Painful ovulation, when severe, is referred to as mittelschmerz, a German word that means "middle pain."

That was interesting. Thank you. Now, I'm really wondering about my OBGYN......the RLS issues were totally written off to severe PMS. and Now I've found out that I have Mittelschmerz!
aAahhhhhhhh, laughed so hard almost fell out of the chair. Awesome. I needed that knowledge and the hardy laugh.
Thank you, Sly......

[Anonymous]

I have wondered what causes my RLS to come and go, sometimes for a couple of months straight, then stop. I've had a break from it since Christmas, then a couple of days ago it started again in time with my menstrual cycle. I had my blood checked last month in desperation and it was normal.

[Sara]

Becat--

I've had a husband and wife OB-GYN team for years, and I notice that overall, things I'll say to the wife doctor about "female issues" will be accepted with a nod and a "yup", and the same thing said to the husband doctor might well be greeted with a "hmmm... that's not a documented symptom of that."

Like my comments re: migraine, this is not something I've followed along with, but it's something that's on my radar now, and I'll be interested to see what my observations indicate.

I DID start a simple health journal, though I've been a little hit and miss at recording the information. It's by my bed, and I figure anything I DO remember to record can't hurt, and over time I might get into the habit better and start to see some patterns. Worth a few minutes of my time each day, anyway.

Thanks to all who commented on this.

Oh, and Suze, I have not been tested for ferritin (folks, isn't that the specific iron indicator related to RLS?), and not for iron at all in years, so I can't speak to the results you got and their relationship to RLS.

But I have read that with thyroid and iron, in general, many nutritional/body chemistry researchers believe that you can test "normal" on the standard tests, and still be suffering from the results of a less than optimum level of those chemicals in your system. For example, I have almost every single symptom of low thyroid function, but I test in the "normal" range every single time.

Not sure what that means we need to do, but it's certainly something to keep in mind with testing through your "regular" docs, as opposed to perhaps someone who specializes in RLS or whatever disorder you're concerned with?

Take care, everyone!
Sara

[Guest]

Sara,

I wanted to chime in on this topic with my 2 cents.

Hormones have been the only thing that I've been able to pin down that consistantly bother my RLS.

For me, it's that build of hormones right before my period until after the fall and they level out again. But particularly those few days just before my period. That's when I notice my face start's crawling at about noon.

I've been on hormones to try to keep them at a consistant level and that made it worse. Seems the artificial hormones are worse than the ones the body makes.

No good answers here except pay attention and talk to the doc so that you have a little extra med on hand for that time of month.

Take care,
Jamie

[ViewsAskew]

I'm not affected by this, but am wondering if the hormonal changes have any impact on neurotransmitters. I'm thinking as I type, and not out of any knowledge - just wondering what might be causing the correlation for so many of you.

Another Jumpy Owl item . Speaking of Jumpy, how the heck are you?

Ann

[sardsy75]

My monthly cycle definitely has an impact on my RLS ... particularly in the week beforehand i.e. good old PMT Week.

Now this is where it gets interesting:

My current chronic RLS condition did not "kick in" until June/July 2003 and when I started an RLS journal in MS Excel keeping track of drugs, sleep, symptoms etc, it became quite glaringly obvious after a few months that I always have an exceptionally bad run of symptoms in the lead up to my period;

however ...

for as long as I can remember since I've had my period, I would ALWAYS know it was coming as my legs would get very "tired" and I would get quite fidgety at night.

Even before I went on The Pill and had very irregular periods, I would still know when they were about to hit, as my legs would drive me mad (although not QUITE as mad as they drive me now!!!).

My normal iron has been checked numerous times since my period started and has always been normal. My serrum ferritin levels were at a very health 65 when checked a few months ago. Iron definintely has a role in there somewhere ... but exactly where, i'm not sure.

Hope this has helped you guys out!

[Sara]

Hi, Nadia--

You know, I have mild hypochondriacs in my family, so I always prided myself in knowing my body and not jumping to a lot of wild conclusions about different symptoms that, probably, were just "normal" personal health patterns and idiosyncracies.

BUT, looking back now, I sure wish I'd had an inkling a little earlier that "my foot thing" was a "real" condition, not "just me". Who knows what interesting patterns have been going on all these years that I never picked up on????

I know I have had leg "issues" with my periods at times, but I can't recall them very specifically. Certainly fatigue all along. Now I have real "almost weakness" in my legs most months, but that's a classic symptom of my enlarged and "low" uterus (sorry, probably TMI ). Certainly the lower iron levels I MUST be experiencing due to outrageous flows (TMI again ) can't be helping my RLS or any other part of my body.

I'll continue to keep tabs, and hope you ladies will keep us posted if you get any "inspirations" on this, too.

Nice to be able to hash this stuff out with folks with similar experiences.

Sara

[jrowley]

I have a aweful time around the cycle. Not only do I have pain in my legs but my IC goes wild and causes pain in my bladder. I have been having 24/7 pain in my legs since last friday and I am due to start in a few days. Does anyone else get shooting pain down their legs into their feet, especially while your sitting in a chair for a period of time? I work at a computer so by the end of the day I hurt so bad I can't hardley stand it. But I can assure all of you that your cycle will raise havac on everything. Oh and one more thing to keep in mind is that when you are about to start or have started your body looses iron from the blood loss so it makes total since to me if low iron can be the colprit of rls thats why you go into a flare when your cycling.

[Guest]

Jan,

I don't get the shooting pain for no good reason, but when I get cramps the pain shoots all the way down to my feet just like you are describing. I do take Celebrex now about 4-5 days prior to my period and the day of my period to avoid the build up of prostaglandins and cramps and the pain. Otherwise there is an adrenaline response to the pain which is a whole other animal when it comes to this RLS thing. I'm sure that this doesn't directly apply to you, but perhaps it gives you some ideas specific to your condition.

Jamie