RLS - Restless Leg Syndrome

Restless Leg Syndrome - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restless_legs_syndrome
also known as Willis-Ekbom disease (WED)^[1] or Wittmaack-Ekbom syndrome, is a neurological disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move one's body to stop uncomfortable or odd sensations.^[2] It most commonly affects the legs, but can affect the arms, torso, head, and even phantom limbs.^[3] Moving the affected body part modulates the sensations, providing temporary relief.

What is restless legs syndrome (RLS)?

read more about it here ----> http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-related-problems/what-restless-legs-syndrome-rls

RLS Treatment Options

• Checking to see if there is an underlying iron or vitamin deficiency and then possibly supplementing your diet with iron, vitamin B12 or folate.
• Looking at medications you may be taking which could make RLS symptoms worse. These may include drugs used to treat high blood pressure, heart conditions, nausea, colds, allergies, and depression.
• Looking at any herbal and over-the-counter medicines you may be taking to see if they could be worsening your RLS.
• Identifying habits and activities that worsen RLS symptoms.
• Looking at your diet to assure it is healthy and balanced.
• Looking at various activities that may help you personally deal with RLS.
• These could include walking, stretching, taking a hot or cold bath, massage, acupressure, or relaxation techniques.
• Also keeping your mind engaged with activities like discussions, needlework or video games when you have to stay seated.
• Implementing a program of good sleep habits.
• Reducing or eliminating caffeine from your diet to aid in general sleep hygiene.

Since RLS symptoms often worsen in the evening or at night, they can have an extremely negative impact on one's sleep and daily life. Specifically, people with RLS can have difficulty falling or staying asleep, one of the main complaints, and can sometimes wake up three or more times a night. As a result, sleep deprivation can seriously impact your work, relationships and health. 

The following are 10 tips that may also help you get a better night's sleep:

1. Maintain a regular bed and wake time schedule every day, including weekends.
2. Establish a regular, relaxing bedtime routine such as soaking in a hot bath or hot tub and then reading a book or listening to soothing music.
3. Create a sleep-conducive environment that is dark, quiet, comfortable, and cool.
4. Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows.
5. Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex.
6. Finish eating at least two to three hours before your regular bedtime.
7. Exercise regularly, but complete your workout at least a few hours before bedtime.
8. Avoid caffeine (e.g., coffee, tea, soft or energy drinks) close to bedtime, as it can keep you awake.
9. Avoid nicotine (e.g., cigarettes, tobacco products) too close to bedtime.
10. Avoid alcohol close to bedtime.

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-disorders-patient-education/rls-restless-legs-syndrome-treatment-options

How do I know if I have RLS?

read more here ------->http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-disorders-patient-education/how-do-i-know-if-i-have-rls

http://www.medicinenet.com/restless_leg_syndrome/article.htm#restless_leg_syndrome_facts

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Claimed natural cure here ----> http://restedlegs.com/?gclid=CL6sl-_m47kCFY3m7AodVgIA9g

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This most heinous annoyance plagues me, night after night after night! AND not just in my legs, it frequents my arms, back neck, head, feet, ankles toes, even hands and fingers! A sensation almost worse than pain, because there is little to no comfort and sleep is out of the question no matter how tired I might feel.

The last few nights my RLS has been really bad, and last night I think I actually slept maybe 1 solid hour. (I'm still hoping to fall back to sleep for a while.) I have had so much on my mind too. Not anything important, just so many ideas and "happenings" running through my creative consciousness. I guess my mood has been on a bitt of an "up swing."

Life has been pretty good besides my day to day struggles with health and torment. I still haven't gotten to my full dosage of Cymbalta, but I could swear it's helping me already, as I seem to be more active. The house is even pretty clean. I still have 88 billion projects lined up in my head that I want to get accomplished,... like yesterday. I guess I need to just focus and try to do one at a time and maybe delegate a few to the hubster. HAHA!

Searching for relief.....
Home remedies... this link says put a bar of soap under the sheet? What the heck? But you know I will probably try anything at this point. hehe
http://www.grandmas-wisdom.com/restless-leg-syndrome.html
Yup, I'm totally going to try this one.

My biggest down falls right now are my Coke Zero habit and my Marlboro habit. According to all of these links, RLS is aggravated by caffeine and nicotine. I guess that gives me one more reason to quit those things, as if I needed ONE MORE REASON!

My mom told me that she heard, from my aunt, who probably read some where on the internet, that diet pop/soda causes fibromyalgia. Well to my knowledge, "they" think fibromyalgia is hereditary, and not caused by anything environmental. But if you talk to my mom and my aunt, it's all diet pop's fault. The reason so many people in my generation have it, is because so many parents grew their children up on diet Coke and Pepsi, instead of water. I don't know, maybe there is some truth to that. We may never know for sure.

Cymbalta

I had a nice blog all typed up and my dumbass just lost it, I think because of my stupid connection,... Yup and no matter what I do I can't pull it back up. **KICKS AT&T**

So anyway I started taking Cymbalta. YAY! This is a good thing. I haven't noticed any changes on it yet, but if and when I do, I will keep you posted.

Today is probably the best I've felt all week. I have been having a lot of trouble with joints aching, especially: wrists, hands, fingers, knees, ankles and feet. I haven't felt like doing much of anything but the basics of what I have HAD to do. I feel very guilty, because this puts so much extra strain on my poor husband. He's such a trouper for picking up so much of my slack. I am really lucky to have that one.

• hands, wrists, and fingers pain levels 7
• shoulders, and neck pain levels 5
• head pain levels 6
• thighs, hips and lower back pain levels 4
• knees, ankles and feet pain levels 3

I'm feeling a little anxious, because I have an engagement party to attend tonight, and when I have to be around a lot of people I start getting paranoid about ... well myself usually. I worry about what someone is going to think about me, or say, or worse even, I worry about what I might say! Sometimes I say the DUMBEST stuff. If only we had a rewind button for our lives. I think Adam Sandler was in a movie like that once. hehe

The fibro-aches all week

I've been having a terrible week trying to cope with my aching body. Usually when I have a really bad flare up, I start trying to figure out why. This time, I'm pretty sure it was a combo of things, (which is typical for a major flare), stress, over exertion, not eating healthy enough, the weather went from super super hot and humid to considerably colder and partly cloudy fall like, and I never made it to the pool this week to workout. I'm pretty sure working out in the pool has been really helping a lot and when I don't go I notice!

It's been really hard with only one car to share between me and my husband. Being able to just jump into the car and drive to where ever I want is now a luxury I'm currently living with out. I probably could make more of any effort to line up friends or family to take me to the pool, but I tend to shy away from asking for help. I just hate feeling like a burden.

Yesterday, my pain levels got into the 10's ALL over my body. I even cried before I actually fell asleep. And the falling asleep part of last night was no easy task. The insomnia has plagued me all week as well. I can't ever just lay down and close my eyes and drift off to sleep. It's usually a process. Sometimes this process involves getting back up a few times, stretching again, and/or eating a light snack because my stomach won't stop growling because for some reason it's impossible to sleep on an empty stomach.

I've had to use my heating pad on various joints and especially my hands. I couldn't even stand to type yesterday and I didn't get on the computer hardly if at all. (Which is HUGE! I hardly ever miss a day checking facebook! haha!) Today has been about the same, a bit better though. But my knees and ankles keep swelling and are so sore and continuous dull pain, I will get a sharp stabbing in one of those areas when pressure is applied. OH MY THROBBING FEETS!! **sad face** Pain Level 9

I've felt like a bump on a log all week, because I have had no energy to do anything. I have been completely useless this whole week. The best I've done is blog, and do my own nails, toes too, and that's not exactly pleasantly performed.

Tomorrow,... which i guess is now today,... I have a doctor's appt., and then the rehearsal for a wedding I will be in on Saturday, so much for getting anything done tomorrow...er today either. I will be lucky to survive my weekend at this rate.

Also Wednesday night I would like to make a note of the burning stomach pains I was having. I'm not sure what that was all about,... but I didn't eat anything acidic. Stress?

• hips, butt, lower back pain levels 7
• upper back, shoulders, neck pain levels 4
• arms, elbows, wrists, hands, fingers pain levels 8
• legs, knees, ankles 5

I ate pretty well today, and the weather is currently partly cloudy, and 52 with a high of only 71 today which is considerably colder than what it has been.
Ok yeah, I'm super dooper tired, hopefully this is my "*sleep window" opening.

*Sleep Window - The few moments that will hit at only certain times of the day, and it would be super dooper easy to fall asleep with little to no effort.
examples: right after lunch, right after eating a huge TURKEY dinner, in the middle of the day or toward the end when you get the yawns, very late at night after a really long movie etc.

The Princess and the Pea

No sleep for me.

No comfortable spot anywhere.

It's not easy to fall asleep with chronic pain. Once you are there you also may have trouble waking up too, but my biggest problem is the "finding the sleep place". I often say that phrase to my family and close friends. Finding the sleep place for me is that wonderful spot where my body is happy enough to relax and will drift off into dream land with little to no effort. One might think that would be an easy task, although the sleep place never seems to be in the same place two nights in a row, so finding it requires a long series of previous successful attempts and maybe some creative new ones.

Miserable minute after minute wasted laying in the dark, constantly moving to new positions, turning myself from end to end of the bed, trying desperately to find comfort. I constantly dread the clock, as the minutes turn to hours. Every sound that happens or car that drives by the house, just anything,  even the cats walking through the house are irritating and keeping me up!

The sheets have to be super soft. My pillow must be just right and as soft and fluffed as I can possibly get it.                                                                            

Sleeping with chronic pain seems to be challanging... time for helpful linkage:

√ http://saveyourself.ca/articles/insomnia-until-it-hurts.php

Acupunture... I'm not sure I'd be able to try that, but it's an interesting read.

√ http://albanacupuncture.com/acupuncture-treatment-insomnia/

Chronic Pain and Insomnia: Breaking the Cycle

http://centerforspinaldisorders.com/spine-surgery/health-wellness/sleep/chronic-pain-and-insomnia-breaking-the-cycle/

http://www.go-relief.com/insomnia/

http://www.yogaoutlet.com/guides/yoga-for-low-back-pain

http://primarypsychiatry.com/development-and-treatment-of-insomnia/

• Hands, fingers, wrist, entire arms, shoulders, neck, and upper back have been terribly painful all day like 6-9 (no tears but almost, if I hadn't been able to calm it down several times with rest, heat and meds)
• lower back throbbing and aching all day and down my right leg pain level 7
• knees, ankles and feet pain levels 8
• hip and butt are very sore pain levels 7-9 through out the day

where has the summer gone?

I'm not sure why time has been flying by so fast, but it sure seems like its been a short summer! Maybe it's because I spent a lot of my time this year trying that "guaifenesin protocol". That was complete misery every single day for a month straight and then my family doctor advised me to stop. My husband also advised me to stop, because he said it was taking our entire summer away from us. I was not seeing any good results, just completely torturing myself.

I can't tell you for sure if the drug guaifenesin actually works or not, but I can tell you I experienced a lot of "reversal pain". They explained in the book, "What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Fibromyalgia" that this "reversal pain" is a sign that guaifenesin is doing it's job. I may revisit the guaifenesin protocol later on in the winter months, when I have more time to do nothing.

http://www.fibromyalgiatreatment.com/GuaiProtocol.htm
http://fibromyalgiatreatment.com/books&vids.htm

My doctor has already discouraged me from using guaifenesin, and I've also found several links on the net saying that the "guaifenesin protocol" was a bogus treatment, I can't help but want to research it further. http://www.fmnetnews.com/coping-resources/consumer-alerts/product-6 If there is even the slightest chance that this treatment works, I owe it to myself and to everyone that loves me to try and "cure" myself.

 Grand Ledge, Michigan Island Park - Photo by Me

 The back yard - Photo by Me

 My orange and yellow roses - Photo by Me

 My pink roses - Photo by Me

Bayshore Resort in Traverse City, Michigan - Photo by Me

This has been a very busy weekend, as the last official weekend of the summer usually is busy and never long enough. I am left extremely sore and wishing the pool was open tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure it's closed for the holiday.

• Neck, shoulder, arms and hands pain levels 7 and rising
• lower back, butt and hips pain levels 6 and rising
• legs and feet pain levels 5
• VERY fatigued and irritable,....poor hubby
• all over achey body, deep muscle pain and fibro achey from head to toe... it hurts to wear clothes and grow hair. 

I ate terrible all weekend, but today was much better and I will try to stick to the plan this week. I would really like to shed some excess. I seem to have a never ending hunger and terrible sweet tooth. The issues i was having last week with my bladder are much better now though.
(**knocks on wood**)