Restless leg syndrome - aaaarrggghhh!!

[crazynell]

does anyone else get this - an urge to keep moving your legs especially at night in bed and when watching tv in the evening - i call it the twitches - it drives me mad!!!
The only way i can ease it is to get up and stretch my muscles - sometimes nothing seems to ease it and i end up having a disturbed night, this can happen almost every night, sometimes!

I thought it was connected to a lack of magnesium - so i take magnesium supplements and i STILL get it!
Its even got a proper name: Eckborn syndrome

Me

My DF suffered terribly with it and kindly passed it on.

Have progressed to having restless arms at the same time

Yeah i do the vibratey leg thing. Drives my DP nuts. Sometimes it gets really bad and i have to stand up and move around.
Apparently (Havnt tried) tonic water helps.

DH has it and I think I have it mildly.

me! and it can be qutie painful. I get it particularly badly in Novemberish and end of spring - as the seasons change. Also after any particularly strenuous workout. I was prescribed amitriptylene (sp?) in tiny doses for it once (5mg a night - at much higher doses it's some form of anti-d) - it's meant to relax your muscles. It wiped me out like nothing on earth - could barely lift my head from the pillow the next day, so quit it.

I'm glad to see i'm not the only twitcher here :) although, seriously i wouldnt wish it on anyone.
it seems to run in families - my mum gets it too and my sister

Oh yes. Mum had it, I have it and my younger daughter has it. We call it "the fidgets".

Younger daughter rarely goes to the cinema as she hates having to get up and leave half way through because she can't bear to sit still any longer.

I'm the same grimble - rarely go to the cinema or theatre.

I have it. I am taking iron supplements at the moment as I understand it can be linked to low iron levels, too soon to tell if it's had an effect but worth a try.

Sympathy for all fellow twitchers! My twitchiness isn't caused by restless leg syndrome, though. I have some kind of neurological problem, possibly Essential Tremor (which I thought just affected your hands). If your twitches spread to other parts of your body, it might be worth a mention to your G.P.

I have found that the hot weather has made me worse. Anyone else been caught making yourself look a bit nutty by slapping your legs in an attempt to stop the twitches?!

The quinine in tonic water can help some people with restless legs, I tried it when I was pregnant and it did stop my legs hopping around as much, but it stop it completely.

I might try tonic water - with a bit of whisky in it :) I read somewhere that iron deficiency was accuse too - has anybody got any other remedies. Apart from slapping rubbing stretching etc etc :)

Err not really, but I have been known to jump up from the sofa, run up and down on the spot, race around the room then disappear into the garden screaming "AAAAAHHHH - bloody fidgets".

HTH

I tend to get it if I am over-tired or don't drop off to sleep straight away.

I have also noticed that I am more likely to get it if I have had a hot bath at night rather than a shower.

It is horrible.

Raising my legs on a pillow seems to help a bit.

I'm the opposite...if I don't have a long soak in the bath it's terrible and I have to have a heavy duvet on

mine is when i can't sleep - or maybe this is why i can't sleep..
I lie in bed and keep stretching my legs, if this doesn't help i put one foot on the knee of the other one - i'm glad dh is a deep sleeper(!) - and hold it like this for as long as i can - more than a minute - if this doesn't do it i jump up and walk around, rub my muscles, stand on tip toes stretching my muscles - and on and on it goes.........

tonic water worked for me. I had it horribly when pg and then again when I was on methotrexate. Wierdly paracetamol / co-codamol helped a bit.

Hope it goes soon.