Restless leg and insomnia hell

[Puppyyikes]

I haven’t slept more than a few hours a night for the past several months. I have tried:

magnesium pills and cream
flight socks
tens machine
iron
stretching
salt baths
acupuncture
elevating legs
ice packs
heat packs

what am I missing??

I am becoming the most utterly miserable person and I don’t see how I can continue like this for four more months. My biggest fear right now is that it won’t go away after birth as I’ve read this happens for some women. Can anyone give me some hope??

I had to walk for at least an hour a day. Does that help at all? It's horrible. I didn't have insomnia but had horrendous RLS.

Oh and it went away instantly after the birth don't worry. I've always got restless legs if I don't get enough exercise though. Pregnancy was a different level.

Did you use magnesium glycinate, that’s the one for sleep etc

Those weird spiky acupressure mat things helped me - or may at least worked as a placebo

Have you tried better you magnesium spray? I tend to find it helps my restless legs, altho isn't instant ❤️ but I found when I was getting it really bad I was just spraying my legs every evening before going to bed and it wasn't happening.

Of course can't guarantee it does actually do anything and it mighta just been making my brain think it'd help ❤️

My midwife insisted it was lack of potassium and had me eating loads of bananas. It helped a bit but I always wondered if it was psychological.

I had this with my last pregnancy and ate so many bananas which did seem to help a bit. I stumbled across a theory that it’s to do with folic acid deficiency - might be worth looking into….

Tonic water helped mine
I still get them now, 16 years since my first pregnancy but it's usually if my iron has dropped or if I'm excessively tired.

Is your insomnia down to the RL or would you be awake all night anyway?

I got RL and found a hot bath before bed helped. It also helped if my partner massaged them before bed, but almost sports massage style, not nice and relaxy but rough and hard. He would really press on the muscles and get them all hot (and a bit sore!).

RL is horrible, I know. I’m sorry I can’t suggest anything else to try now but if it doesn’t go away after the birth you can take Pramipexole. I take two at bedtime and they have changed everything.

Things that helped me are;

Moving around every hour in the daytime - RLS is much worse if I’m sedentary

Biocare pregnancy supplements

Avoiding too much salt and sugar - Chinese food in particular makes my RLS so bad

Bananas plus healthy diet and plenty of water in general

Sweet Bee sleep balm applied to soles of feet and legs 30 mins before bed

Check your iron levels and have you tried magnesium powder? I find it works faster and better than pills.

Ahh, pregnancy restless legs and insomnia has driven me crazy.
I find magnesium cream/spray helps sometimes. I went to the GP in the end for insomnia. He recommended cyclizine for the insomnia. It's actually used for morning sickness, so can be used in pregnancy. I found that helped me and because I could fall asleep, I wasn't kicking my legs around like a mad woman due to restless legs!

The one I use has a few different forms of magnesium- is it best to use just glycinate?

Thanks for your advice everyone- did most of you find it went away after birth? If so, how long did it take?

Orgasm works

One paracetamol. It's the only thing that has ever worked for me. Paracetamol is safe to take in pregnancy, but obviously check with your midwife just in case.

omg I suffered terribly with this even before pregnancy! have you tried cutting out caffeine completely for me this helped me alot! and I mean alot although I miss certain things its worth it as its hell having RL

Ahhh I remember the torture of RLS when pregnant… but have hope. It went away as soon as they were born for me. Hot bath just before bed and the old wives tale of a bar of soap under the sheet by my feet worked! Good luck and know you’re not alone!

Why are so many zombie threads on restless legs trending atm?

It's one poster @LookingAtMyBhunas dredging them up to post an eBay link to something

Edited because this thread is ancient and I didn’t realise!

I am interested to know why you tried flight socks, which only come up to the knee and what compression level they were? As this may have something to do with why they didn’t work.
Flight socks off the shelf don’t always have enough compression in them to be helpful for such symptoms and you may have needed a garment that went to the groin, like a thigh high or tights (if you could stand them in bed).