Restless legs syndrome (abbreviated as RLS) is a problem that produces distressing or irritating sensations in the legs through an irresistible need to move them. Most of these symptoms frequently occur in the late afternoon or night hours and they are frequently more severe during the night whenever resting, such as sitting or laying in bed. Because of this it can become challenging to fall asleep or go back to sleep soon after waking up. Moving the legs or walking characteristically reduces the symptoms however the sensations often happen again after the motion stops. This could have a considerable influence on the quality of life and will bring about attentiveness and work efficiency troubles because of the lack of sleep. Nearly 10% of people have been calculated to probably have restless legs syndrome. This impacts both women and men, but it is more prevalent in females. The explanation for restless legs syndrome just isn't established yet. Although this problem could be very unpleasant, most cases of RLS are treatable with non-drug treatment options and if needed, prescription drugs.
There are a few underpinning disorders, such as a deficiency of iron, which are linked to restless legs syndrome and improving that deficiency of iron with iron supplementation could drastically minimize the signs and symptoms. If you have no underlying disorder, then the treatment will to begin with focus on lifestyle changes and when those are not helpful different medications will be tried.
A few of the things which really should be trialled such as things like soaking in a warm bath and rubbing the legs to relax the muscles. Applying hot or cold packs sometimes lessen the limb feelings. As exhaustion tends to aggravate the the signs of restless legs syndrome, so it's important that people do aim to have sufficient sleep. Undertaking modest and regular physical exercise may also be helpful to ease signs and symptoms of restless legs syndrome. Nevertheless, over doing it or exercising later in the day could make the signs and symptoms worse. Sometimes reducing caffeine may also help restless legs, so stay away from caffiene products if possible, which includes dark chocolate that contains caffeine. There are some unique foot wraps which applies force around the foot that has been claimed as helping many people. A number of people report relief from sleeping under heavier blankets on the bed.
When these measures tend not to help, next a few drugs could be tried. It may take several trials to find the right medication or mixture of medications at different doses to seek out the things that work ideal for every individual. One list of prescription medication is those that raise dopamine within the brain for example Ropinirole (Requip), rotigotine (Neupro) and pramipexole (Mirapex). A different group is the medications that affect calcium channels for instance gabapentin (Neurontin, Gralise) as well as pregabalin (Lyrica) that work effectively for some people that have restless legs syndrome. Narcotic prescription drugs will decrease moderate to severe symptoms, however they may be addictive when used in high doses. This can include tramadol and the codeine prescription drugs. Muscle relaxants as well as sleep prescription drugs could be tried to help improve sleep, but they are not going to modify the experience with the symptoms.
Restless legs syndrome generally is a long term condition, so living with it calls for developing coping practices that really work for each person. Support groups have become great for this back up.