Restless leg hell

[stophuggingme]

As the title says really

For some time now I’ve been suffering and it’s getting worse
Have tried
Magnesium supplements
Exercise
Deep massage
Heat and cold treatment
Making sure I’m not dehydrated / too hot/ avoiding caffeine and trying not to drink much alcohol etc

I should add I am co sleeping with my third child and therefore have ruled out any form of Medical Sedative

On average they are waking me up about twenty times a night
I am feeling so down with it and don’t know what else to do

Can anyone help or share how they manage this themselves and if I am doing something wrong

I feel like Duct taping them together then weighing myself down with blankets and weights to see if it helps before I crumble with lack of sleep

Anyone?

I have this too, and mine has also worsened in recent weeks. I think anxiety caused by the current situation hasn’t helped. Waking twenty times a night sounds horribly difficult - poor you.

My only tip - which I picked up on Mumsnet a few years ago - is a form of exercise. It involves standing normally and slowly raising yourself onto tiptoes, and then slowly letting yourself back down (as slow as you can is the key). At the same time, I tense the muscle in my outer thighs. After many repetitions, my legs start getting that much-needed tired feeling. It doesn’t take the restlessness away entirely and I still need to do a bit more kicking about/weird stretching contortions before I settle, but it does bring some relief.

Unfortunately it doesn’t help for when the arms are involved!

None of the suggested treatments (e.g. cold bath) have really helped for me either. I suspect for me it’s psychosomatic, in the same way that when you think about nits your head starts to itch (and in fact I also have urticaria which is exacerbated by bloody stress and also keeps me up at night!). It has very real manifestations - e.g. for the urticaria, I’ve been getting a rash despite avoiding scratching.

Good luck, really hope it improves for you soon!

Oh, one more thing - I am certain it’s worse if I’ve eaten a dinner/evening snack that’s high in salt.

I have it and it’s awful. Worse when I drink or eat sugar at night. I have no advice, but I totally get your frustration

Have you tried iron tablets? I used to get this all the time, it's so awful.
I used to have a bowl of cereal too which used to help, I assume because of the fortified vitamins and minerals.

There's medication for it - it's called Pramipexole. Speak to your GP about it.

It is a sort of silent inexplicable hell.

I noticed my medication wasn't as effective as it used to be, and told my db (doc) that I had a feeling some of the meds that I'm already on might be causing it, as there was a period when I was off all meds and didn't have RLS. Anyway, he got a list of my meds and when I take them, and spoke to a pharmacist. Turns out, two of the medications I was taking have the opposite effect to the pramipexole, so were from my layman understanding effectively cancelling each other out. So now I take the pramipexole in the morning and the other two at night.

Are you on any meds?

Magnesium tablets and a TENS machine really helped mine

Wow thanks everyone, I really appreciate your advice
I’m not in any other meds but I have heroically suffered with low ferritin stores and was due to be tested. My periods have been horrendous and my BP a little high so GP Wanted bloods fine which have been cancelled.

I will ask my GP about that medication you mention @Prontoe

It is making me feel like I’m having a nervous breakdown as I dread nighttime. The last few nights I’ve sat in the floor in my room literally sobbing it’s been that bad.

I’m not in any other meds but I have heroically suffered with low ferritin stores and was due to be tested.

I bet that's your problem especially if you're having heavy periods. Maybe take a liquid supplement of iron/ferritin that is easily absorbed until you can get a blood test?

Oh my blood pressure was also higher than usual when I was deficient in iron, I don't know if that might be connected too?

Have you tried magnesium cream applied directly to the legs? This one helped me: www.amazon.co.uk/Better-You-Magnesium-Mineral-Lotion/dp/B07DW6TPKP?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Magnesium oil spray seems to help me

Just seconding magnesium applications - I use a pray oil. I'd say it works 4 out of 5 times.

I’ve got the spray version of the magnesium lotion and I take a high strength magnesium supplement

It works sometimes others not so well and I often need to reapply

I tend to use the voost magnesium supplement the effervescent one it seems to work where tablets fail 🤔 I also heat my feet in a hot bowl of Epsom salts when its partially bad

Second pp about low iron levels. I've just been diagnosed anemic and have restless legs, I'm hoping they will go once the iron tablets kick in! 🤞

An ibuprofen before bed helped me. I can't remember the science but I researched it when pregnant. Or a glass of tonic water.

The only thing that helped mine was a big dose of magnesium taken at night.

Another one saying low iron.

Pramipexole Rx is my saving grace allowing me to sleep at night

Eat half a banana before bed works for me

Antihistamines are supposed to help. I get it from time to time it’s awful. Hope you find something that works

I went to my GP with this weird feeling about 10 years ago - I had googled it 'need to move' and self diagnosed.
So she sent me off and told me to eat a banana a day and come back in a week if that didn't work. It didn't.
So I went back to her again and said, look, this is driving me crazy. So she prescribed me Quinine tablets and told me to come back in a week.
At this point I was nearly crying when I went to her as it was affecting me anytime I had to sit still (think Church).

So she said - Listen Prontoe the only thing that has worked in clinical trials is Pramipexole. We will start you off on a low dose and if that doesn't work, come back in a week.
So I tried it, but it didn't work. I should mention that because I was running 5k a day and drinking coffee, she told me to eliminate coffee. So I had done all that, still no relief.
So she said, we can double the dose and come back to me if still no relief as we can double the dose again.
Finally after her doubling the dose twice, it stopped.
It was like a blessed gift. I couldn't believe it.

It's not a frequently prescribed medication but most GPs have a little enclyopedia for want of a better word of medications, and if you mention it to them, they can and do prescribe it.

Antihistamines work against pramipexole. Don't ask me to try to repeat it as it was told to me, but one has one effect on receptors and the other (pramipexole) has the opposite effect. Hence me taking antihistamine at night and pramipexole (it's long release) in the morning.

I hope you get relief as I know the hell of it. Kicking the duvet and just not knowing what to do.