A condition I’d never heard of is debilitating, destroys sleep and is far more common than you think
This issue’s Health page is a personal one. Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is something that affected me while recovering from Covid-19 – yes, it got me, though very mildly – and as I hadn’t heard of it I only found out it was a ‘thing’ when a friend recognised the symptoms I described.
I then spoke to a group of three friends – all women – and when I heard that each one of them had experienced it themselves, I realised it must be much more common than I thought.
‘Restless legs syndrome’, or Willis-Ekbom disease, is an unbearable urge to move your legs. Moving them brings relief – but only for a short time, when the urge returns. If you’re lying in bed when it starts, sleep is impossible because every few seconds you need to kick your legs to get relief.
Other symptoms can include unpleasant twitching, crawling or creeping sensations in the legs – I didn’t get that, luckily, but my friends have.
Occasionally the arms can be affected and the symptoms can vary from mild to severe, in which case it can be extremely distressing.
Causes
The NHS says there is no obvious cause of the syndrome, but I did notice that I only got mine when I wasn’t able to exercise for a few days because of being laid up with Covid. As soon as I was back on my feet, thankfully the symptoms disappeared.
But lack of exercise is certainly not the only cause – in fact doctors are still not sure what the causes are. The condition does seem to affect twice as many women as men, for some reason.
There is evidence to suggest RLS is related to a problem with a part of the brain that’s called the basal ganglia, according to the NHS.
This uses the chemical dopamine to act as a messenger between the brain and the nervous system, and helps control muscle activity and movement.
Dopamine levels usually fall towards the end of the day, which could be why the symptoms are often much worse at night. I didn’t get any symptoms during the day.
Medics seem to agree that iron deficiency could be a contributing factor, or long-term health conditions such as kidney disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis or an underactive thyroid gland. Some pregnant women suffer with RLS.
They also agree that there are a number of triggers that don’t necessarily cause RLS, but could make it worse – such as medications including anti-depressants, antipsychotics, calcium channel blockers (used to treat high blood pressure) and some antihistamines.
Treatment
Reducing the symptoms will of course depend on what’s causing them. For instance, if it is iron deficiency, supplements will solve it quickly. A blood test could also pick up other underlying health conditions that could have caused it.
Exercise is one recommendation the NHS makes to alleviate symptoms, and it seemed to work with me as I’m normally fairly active and I only suffered this when I was inactive.
I’m a firm believer in tried and tested remedies (safe ones, of course!) and one of the women I chatted to swears by Indian tonic water (I can’t see anything wrong with adding a gin to it either. Medicinal). Another recommended Himalayan salts under the tongue, another swore by magnesium.
The NHS says avoid stimulants such as caffeine and tobacco in the evening and getting into a good sleep routine.
But for more immediate relief, leg massage helped me, plus making sure there was a cool place to put my legs on the bed.
If it gets serious, medication such as dopamine agonists may have to be considered, including drugs called ropinirole and pramipexole. The downsides are they can cause drowsiness.
