Restless legs syndrome is an unpleasant sleep disorder, in which sufferers often feel creeping, crawling, prickling, burning, itching, or tugging sensations in the legs while resting or sitting for extended periods of time. Sometimes the arms may be affected as well. At night, the sensations can be so bothersome that RLS patients feel the need to move the legs and often cannot get to sleep until the discomfort subsides. The RSL Foundation, in Rochester, Minnesota, estimates that 80% of the 12 million Americans with RLS also experience periodic limb movements in sleep (PLMS—see below). RLS patients often suffer from sleep-onset or sleep-maintenance insomnia and extreme daytime drowsiness.
RLS sufferers generally find temporary relief by stretching, rubbing, or massaging their legs. Conventional doctors may prescribe dopaminergic agents (which modulate or increase levels of the brain chemical dopamine), benzodiazepines (nervous system sedatives), opioids (narcotic pain-killers), and anticonvulsant drugs.
Most cases of RLS are diagnosed in people between the ages of 50 and 60, but symptoms of this sleep disorder usually manifest earlier. Some children who experience “growing pains” or are labeled hyperactive because they cannot sit still may actually be suffering from RLS. According to the RLS Foundation, up to 15% of pregnant women, usually in the third trimester, experience RLS, which often disappears after delivery. Some cases of RLS appear to be hereditary. Anemia, diabetes, kidney failure, and rheumatoid arthritis are associated with the onset or provocation of RLS. Doctors usually diagnose RLS by taking a detailed family history and sometimes polysomnograph tests, in which increased number of brain-wave spikes called K-complexes, followed by bursts of alpha brain waves, indicate RLS.
