Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

Now that we know a lot more about RLS and both doctors and patients are more aware of it because of the availability of pharma drugs, we're also more likely to get misdiagnosed.

There are several other conditions that are very similar and if a doctor of patient isn't aware of the subteties, it it easy to think it's RLS when it's something else. Here are two articles that illustrate this:

http://www.clinicaladvisor.com/restless ... le/402886/

http://www.news-press.com/story/life/we ... /70284578/

We've had several people here who had neuropathy instead of RLS, and some who had neuropathy AND RLS. It can be hard to tease these apart.

And, if the article on venous insufficiency is correct, it can absolutely mimic RKS. Here is more information that says the same thing: http://www.veincenternorthtexas.com/rls-treatment.html. A quote from the site: "It is becoming more apparent that, in an unknown percentage of RLS cases, the symptoms are secondary to underlying venous disease. Many of these patients have subtle physical findings not likely to be discovered with a cursory physical examination. RLS patients should therefore be properly evaluated for venous insufficiency by a vascular ultrasound technician familiar with the nuances superficial venous reflux (not simply the standard DVT evaluation). Any RLS patient found to have arborizing telangiectasias, varicose veins, or venous insufficiency should be referred to an experienced phlebologist (refer to http://www.phlebology.org to find a phlebologist in your area) for appropriate evaluation and treatment."

RLS can occur as a secondary condition to peripheral neuropathy, too. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695234/

Excellent information! Thank you for posting this and for the reminder that things are not always what they seem.

Great Information

Thank you!!! This information is fabulous. I am going to look into Venous Insufficiency as soon as possible as it closely resembles my symptoms. Even if that's not the cause I will be one step further.

Interesting!! I always used Ekbom's Disease because I thought Restless Leg Syndrome was just not a serious enough name for the severity of what some of us go through in a night, week, month.
This is news to me. I'll pass it along to my GP.
Thank you.

better use Willis-Ekbom disease
Ekbom's disease is a different disorder (a psychaitric one)

I was under the impression RLS and WED were one and the same. If you Google Willis-Ekbom disease it also brings up RLS.

RLS and WED are one in the same. What is different is PLMS and PLMD. The original post was to say that sometimes we think it is RLS/WED, but it isn't.

One/two of the 'Somethings Else' that it also is/are is ADD.

I have both WED and ADD, the latter very late in diagnosis, but in hindsight always there.
If the hypoadenosine-hyperglutamate-hypodopamine-hypoGABA trail is followed up, you will find a lot of ADD.

I cannot find the link, I shall search for it, but it has been posited that up to 37% of WED patients have ADD.

ADD does not always look like a small boy bouncing off the walls.
It can look like me - a very smart, anxious, hypersensitive, sleepless, inward, shy, reflexive woman of 73.

There was a study that showed that children of mothers with WED/RLS are more likey to have ADD. My younger son has both ADD and WED (and anxiety and a touch of OCD). My older son has none of the above. I strayed off topic, but that's another documented link between WED and ADD.

badnights wrote:There was a study that showed that children of mothers with WED/RLS are more likey to have ADD.

No reference of that anywhere, as would be expected.

As for the link to ADHD, "However, the association did not hold true after adjusting for the presence of sleep disturbances..."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25555628

Bad science in general on this subject.

No reference of that anywhere,

Here are the references:
Gao, X., Lyall, K., Palacios, N., Walters, A.S., and Ascherio, A., 2011. RLS in middle aged women and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in their offspring. Sleep Medicine v12 p89-91.

Xiong, 2011. Restless legs syndrome mothers and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder children: What happened between them? Sleep Medicine v12 p5-6 (Editorial)

As for the link to ADHD,

You are raising this on your own; I did not bring it up. Since you raised it, the article you link to concludes "The findings suggest a strong link between RLS and adult ADHD symptoms. Clinicians should be aware of RLS among adult ADHD patients, especially as there might be a negative interactive effect.". The point they try to make is that RLS in adults - particularly, the sleep loss caused by RLS - can lead to ADHD-like symptoms, therefore diagnosis of ADHD should be made carefully after ruling out RLS; and treatment of RLS, where present, and the resulting improvement in sleep, should alleviate any ADHD-like symptoms.