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Do you often feel a strange tingling, numbness or itching in your leg? It only goes away if you move the limb a little? See if you belong to a not so small group of people with RLS.
“Ants are walking on me”
It is very difficult to precisely describe the symptoms of RLS. The feeling that arises is like numbness, itching (the feeling of ants under the skin), with an irresistible urge to get up and move around. The feeling is deep in the muscles, especially between the knee and ankle, less often in the feet, thighs, arms and hands. It can appear on one side of the body, although it is most common on both sides. Symptoms can be very bothersome. For example, imagine a business meeting in which the president of the company has to suddenly leap from his chair to vigorously bend and straighten his leg several times. Embarrassing, right? Nevertheless, it is burdensome when we go to the cinema, theater or when we travel by car or plane.
Symptoms mainly occur when we are at rest, when we are lying down or sitting down. During the day, this usually happens when we stay in one position for a long time. However, they mainly occur in the evening and at night, which prevents relaxation. They wake you up by forcing you to bend and straighten your leg. People with RLS often complain that they roll from side to side at night, get out of bed because they feel they have to wander around the room. Then the strange feeling in the legs passes. The precious time our body has set aside for sleep also passes along with it. In the morning, a person wakes up sleepy and sometimes even tired. Restless Legs Syndrome can sometimes cause insomnia.
It’s just fatigue …
Most people who experience these symptoms put them on the backs of everyday stress and fatigue. There is rarely anyone who can accurately describe their symptoms, so most people fear that they will not be taken seriously. Mistake! In fact, restless legs syndrome is a disease that is little known and often difficult to recognize also among primary care physicians. However, this does not mean that it should not be talked about.
Four essential questions
If you suspect you have RLS, ask yourself a few questions:
Are there any unpleasant discomfort in the lower limbs?
Do these complaints occur at rest?
Do these ailments go away with exercise?
Do symptoms occur most often in the evening and at night?
If the answer to all of these questions is positive, you most likely have RLS. In this case, it is worth going to a neurologist who will help confirm or rule out the diagnosis, and thus implement appropriate treatment. Remember to tell your doctor about any ailments when talking to your doctor. This is very important because currently medicine does not have any test or objective examination that would allow to recognize this disease.
Research to date shows that the cause of this condition is most likely a disorder in the dopamine-secreting system (a chemical produced in the brain) that causes unpleasant sensations. Restless legs syndrome is more common in women than in men. Symptoms can occur from early childhood to old age. 60% of people with Restless Legs Syndrome have the disorder genetically. It happens, however, that this syndrome is the result of iron deficiency. That is why it occurs in pregnant women. It is also observed in people with diabetes and kidney failure.
Treatment
The therapy includes 3 aspects.
1. Lifestyle modification: regular daily exercise, leg bandages or compression stockings, reducing coffee, alcohol and nicotine consumption, maintaining proper sleep hygiene (airing the bedroom before going to bed, fixed hours of going to bed). Before falling asleep, it is also worth taking a walk, stretching your legs, doing a few squats and moving your feet, massage your legs, depending on your individual preferences – wash your legs in warm or cold water, then apply a cold or warm compress, lie on your side with a pillow between your knees.
2. Treatment of coexisting diseases (iron deficiency, diabetes).
3. Drug therapy.
Text: lek. med. Matylda Mazur
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