The Pains of Restless Leg Syndrome

Have you ever felt so tired that you just drop to the bed and fall asleep immediately only to wake up in a short time because of a certain irritation occurring deep within your leg and thereby rendering you sleepless for the rest of the night? Ever felt the need to tightly contract your leg or stretch your calf muscle in the middle of a sleep to get some relief? Or simply get up from the bed and start pacing across the room to reduce the irritation in the leg?

If you have, then, my friend, there is a good chance you are suffering from Wittmack-Ekbom Syndrome or more commonly known as The Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). It is not a fatal disease but once you got it, it simply stays with you for a long time in your life.



Being a patient of RLS myself, from ever since I can remember, I found out some good ways to keep it at bay. It begun since I was a child and I remember frantically rocking my legs inside the bed covers before I could fall asleep, sometimes even shaking my legs when sitting in the classes to stop my irritation. I never actually took this thing seriously until much later in my adulthood, when I started looking into the matter and trying to find out what's wrong with me. Following are a few things that might help people suffering from similar things.

Cause: 

RLS has been looked upon by many doctors and researchers, but unfortunately no exact cause has been found for it yet. It is believed to be genetic and generally seemed to be found in patients suffering from iron deficiency. Why this is so is still unknown. A more concrete but unproven reason for RLS patients is suggested to be due to a certain imbalance in the way the brain uses the neurotransmitter called Dopamine, which is responsible for a lot of functions in the brain as well as in the body. It is casually also called the Happy Hormone as its secretion produces happiness in the brain and also has the ablity to regulate muscle movement. Altered or decreased levels of Dopamine may result in some major nervous diseases, namely Parkinson's disease, Schizophrenia etc. But, as I said before, its still unproven if Dopamine actually causes RLS.

A recent study (source: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org), however says that, patients suffering from RLS have abnormally high amounts of Glutamate in the Thalamus portion of their brain. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter which is responsible for alertness and arousal. This chemical is said to be the one which causes the sleeplessness in the patients. Researchers blame this for now, but studies are still inconclusive. To find the cause of RLS is at the moment "Work in Progress".

Cure:

As sad as it is, there exists no cure for this disease. There may be some drugs for extreme cases of RLS, which balances the imbalance in Dopamine, but for mild to medium cases, there exists no cure (assuming you are not willing to take serious nerve drugs yet). It is generally advised to have an iron rich diet, but honestly, that never really had any effect on me.

So, is everything lost? The answer is No.


Methods to keep RLS at bay:
After being irritated with RLS for so long, I did some research of my own and came up with a few solutions which might help patients get through the night.

Applying Muscle Bandages-

Massage generally helps, which suggests that applying pressure on the calf muscles alleviates the pain. Muscle bandages or crepe bandages work like a charm to this theory. 

As the pressure gradually sets in, you will feel the pain going down. So, wearing them to sleep at night may actually help get a goodnight sleep. However, one must not tie the crepe bandage too tight that it hinders the proper flow of blood through the legs. Same is the case for the muscle bandages. Too tight bandages may result in lower blood flow through the legs. Both of these products can generally be found in a drug store.

Small Exercises-

As good as the previous method is, I found its usefulness decreasing on overuse of these bandages. Maybe the leg actually adopts to this pressure and gradually renders these bandages useless. So, they can not really be used for a long time. However, a little exercise can go a long way. 

Now, there are plenty leg exercises available in the internet, but not all helps. One of the important muscles that play a role in these pains is the Hamstring Muscle. What's a Hamstring Muscle you ask? Keep your leg straight and lift it forward. Depending on how flexible you are, you will be able to lift your leg upto a certain height with ease. On lifting it further you'll find a pull at the back of your thighs and knees. This is the hamstring muscle. And I found that doing regular stretching exercises for this muscle gives a long term relief from RLS. 

But, if you are looking for immediate relief, I have just the thing for you. Of all the exercises in the internet, I found the following two calf muscle exercises to be the most useful. Before I show you how to do them, let me tell you very briefly about the calf muscle. 

The calf muscle essentially consists of two types of muscle - The Gastrocnemius and The Soleus. I found that the deep seeded irritation occurs from these two muscle and putting these two muscles on tension helps alleviate the pain. I have with me two exercises which work specifically on these two muscles. They are as follows -

The Gastrocnemius Stretch: Place your body in the exact position as shown in the picture. Now, without lifting your soul up, for both the feet, slowly bend your knee of the forward leg. Do this till you feel a strectch in your backward leg. Hold it in this position for 5 sec and then do the same for the other leg. Repeat this process a few times till you feel better.

The Soleus Stretch: Again, position yourself in the exact way as shown in the image. Keep the distance between the two feet a little lesser than the previous exercise. Now, gradually go into a half squat position without lifting the souls of the legs. Stay for 5 seconds and then do the same for the previous leg. Repeat his process till you become tired or till the pain reduces.

If the description was too much, the video here can help you understand these better.

Stretching Your Calf Muscles

I hope this helps some of you out there with their pains. However, if you feel the pain is too extreme, I suggest you pay a visit to the doctor, because it might so happen that RLS is only a side problem to a much bigger problem.