Restless legs syndrome (abbreviated as RLS) is a disorder that causes distressing or miserable sensations within the legs by having an irresistible desire to move them. These types of signs and symptoms typically occur in the late afternoon or evening hours and they are usually more severe during the night when relaxing, such as sitting or laying in bed. For this reason it can become not easy to go to sleep or return to sleep soon after waking up. Moving the legs or walking typically eliminates the signs and symptoms but the sensations often recur once the movement stops. This will have a considerable influence on the quality of life and may bring about concentration and work productiveness issues due to the lack of sleep. Around 10% of people have been predicted to probably have got restless legs syndrome. This affects both women and men, however it is more prevalent in females. The main cause of restless legs syndrome is not established yet. Even though this problem is very miserable, most cases of RLS can be treated with non-drug therapies and when required, drugs.
There are some underpinning disorders of restless legs syndrome, for example a deficiency of iron, that can be associated with restless legs syndrome and correcting that iron deficiency with iron supplements might drastically minimize the signs and symptoms. Should there be no underlying condition, then your treatment will initially focus on lifestyle changes and when those aren’t useful different prescription drugs might be tested.
A few of the things that need to be trialled including things similar to soaking in a warmer bath as well as rubbing the legs to relax the muscles. The application of hot and/or cold packs might decrease the limb feelings. Since weariness is likely to increase the the signs of restless legs syndrome, so it’s vital that people do seek to have ample sleep. Commencing modest and frequent physical exercise may also help to ease signs and symptoms of restless legs syndrome. However, overdoing it or performing exercises later in the day may make the symptoms worse. Sometimes decreasing caffeine could help restless legs, so steer clear of caffiene products if possible, including chocolates which has caffeine. There are unique foot wraps that applies pressure about the foot which has been claimed as helping quite a few people. Some report respite from using heavier covers on their bed.
In the event that these actions do not help, then a number of drugs are usually trialled for restless legs syndrome. It may take several trials to find the correct medicine or mixture of medications at different doses to search out what works best for every individual. One group of prescription medication is those that increase dopamine in the brain for example Ropinirole (Requip), rotigotine (Neupro) as well as pramipexole (Mirapex). A different group is the medicines affecting calcium channels including gabapentin (Neurontin, Gralise) and also pregabalin (Lyrica) that are very effective for many people that have restless legs syndrome. Narcotic drugs might minimize mild to serious signs and symptoms, however they may be addictive if used in higher levels. This could include tramadol as well as the codeine prescription drugs. Muscle relaxants and sleep drugs may be tried to help improve sleep in RLS, however they will likely not affect the experience with the symptoms.
Restless legs syndrome generally is a lifelong condition, so managing it requires developing coping tactics that really work for each person. Support communities are quite great for this.
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