Restless Leg Syndrome
Restless Leg Syndrome affects up to 8% of Americans, causing suffering individuals to experience an overwhelming urge to move or kick the legs during periods of inactivity, mostly during sleep. These midnight movements are usually caused by unpleasant sensations in the limbs. These sensations can be characterized as a creeping, crawling, tingling, pulling, or tightening of the muscles, and are usually quite painful. It is quite common for these sensations to become more intense as the evening wares on, sometimes causing a person to involuntarily jerk or kick his/her arms and legs during sleep.
These pains that occur in the calf, lower leg area, ankle, upper thigh, and arms, usually subside with movement, which really only brings relief for a short time. Walking, rubbing, squeezing or massaging the legs, stomping the feet, doing knee bends, and applying hot compresses or deep-penetration muscular ointments are only short-term solutions for restless leg syndrome, which is a serious sleep disorder. RLS symptoms get worse with a decline in activity, and may lead to PLMS. PLMS is a related sleep disorder that stands for periodic limb movements in sleep. Sufferers of PLMS unknowingly experience jerks or bends in their legs every 10 to 60 seconds, sometimes taking place a hundred times a night. These sporadic movements can wake up a person, but most often result in disturbed sleep for both the sufferer and his/her bed partner.
Resulting in an incapacitating form of Insomnia, Restless Leg Syndrome is a chronic disorder than can even occur during the daytime. Unable to sit still, a person suffering from either of these sleep disorders is unable to properly function while at work or in a vehicle of transportation such as a car or airplane. Their personal life and daily activities will be enormously affected and if left untreated, will often lead to complete exhaustion, fatigue, inability to focus and memory loss.
RLS and PLMS are typically ididopathic or familial disorders, diagnosed through medical history and polysomnographic monitoring. Sometimes, restless leg syndrome and PLMS are secondary disorders caused by other medical illnesses, like anemia, lyme disease, and polio. Other cases may be less severe and simply aggravated by caffeine intake, fatigue, menstruation, menopause, and pregnancy. Treatment for RLS and PLMS vary, and parameters for such treatment have been defined recently by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. http://www.aasmnet.org/
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