Restless Leg Syndrome

[flower1988]

Anyone?

Combined with a very itchy stomach it's making sleep impossible at the moment I'm so tired but it's just impossible! Am 33 weeks now, ready for this all to be over! Lol.

Anyone have any tips for helping with restless leg syndrome? Much appreciated!! x

I suffered from awful restless legs towards the end of my pregnancy. I found that baths helped and also having my DH massage my legs. There are some excercises that you can do too - ask for a leaflet from the physio dept in your maternity unit. Found that my legs were worse when I slept with a pillow in between them, though some people find that this helps. I elevated my mattress slightly too at the bottom and found that this helped. The good news is that the minute you give birth your legs will be back to normal IME.

Hi, also suffering here....although I sometimes get it when not pregnant. The only thing that I have found to help (a bit) is heat - I use a hot water bottle (not a pleasant prospect in the summer) - but it distracts from the twitching......

This probably sounds silly but not getting too tired. I find it only bothers me on the nights I go to bed when I'm totally knackered! And it often starts while I'm still up if I'm really exhausted. If I go to bed while I'm still awake and not too tired then I don't get it. I know this is easier said than done though.

Plus I have been told that the same things that work for cramp work for restless legs. So, a banana a day for the potassium and tonic water for the quinine are supposed to help improve it.

definately agree with the not getting too tired thing too....

I get it whenver I'm tired (even during the middle of the day) but have found that not allowing myself to get dehydrated really helps and means that it doesn't wake me up at night. I do need to get up to go to the toilet but I tend to get back to sleep!

I have this problem too and it is driving me clinically insane. I'll be honest and confess that i haven't found anything that works yet and have taken to reading a book standing up and slightly swaying by my bed until i am so tired that i fall asleep as soon as i hit the pillow.

I will try the banana thing though it sounds less exhausting.

I think the banana thing works, and I am off tomorrow to get some tonic water to try too.

It's so miserable!

My non pregnant friend had this. She said she started taking iron supplements and it went away.

Oh, I suffer with this (although DH says he suffers more - he says I'm like Billy Elliott with worms!! - and I keep him awake )

I am definitely much worse if I'm really tired. Will try and have a banana and see if that works .....

It's so grim, you have all my sympathies.

No magic cure I'm afraid, but as Harverina says, it really does disappear the moment you give birth.

I remember getting into my own bed after Ds2 arrived and stretching out on my front, minus the twitchy legs. It was absolute bliss!

I got this before pregnancy too and it is definitely worse when I am over-tired so I generally give up and go to bed. I will try and watch a film in the evenings and that's when it will drive me mad. I do find the more I try and resist it, so I don't drive DH mad fidgeting, the worse I get. So I end up going to bed first and he has to wait until I am asleep before he comes to bed. Otherwise I try and lie still and just get worse and worse!

I have suffered from this since I was five years old. It has gotten worse since I got pregnant though. It is definitely connected to me being tired. The only thing that works for me is to go to bed with a pillow between my thighs. Before I was pregnant I used to take medication for this but I can't take it whilst pregnant. My grandad and dad has the same so I will probably pass it on to the next generation