I have a very uncomfortable problem that thankfully does NOT happen every night.. my legs will get a uncontrollable need to stretch.. during movement it gives temporary relief. This God awful feeling has now affected my arms sometimes.. have yet to find a doctor that takes RLS seriously and doesn't just try pushing pain medications.. I have had EMG testing done on my legs with zero results showing anything wrong.. i take sleeping pill called ambien, which worked like nothing other.. lately my DEEP arm pain awakens me leaving Me wide awake .. i just want to sleep normally again .. iam 32 and cant imagine another 30 years (god willing) of this nightmare phantom pain and urge.. this annoying and life changing pain forever looms in shadow
Strong urge to stretch legs during ni... - Fibromyalgia Acti...
Strong urge to stretch legs during night while trying to rest...
I feel your frustration as I get this as well. I normally get up and have a warm drink and a couple of co codamol. That seems the only medication that works for my legs, I usually have tramadol for pain but it doesn't seem to have any affect when I have restless legs.
I do think getting up and moving about helps as well.
Tramadol is an evil drug Its the one nearest to Heroin.
I thought I was going through the change I was soaking my clothes wet through sweating several times a day.
After advise from others who had been on it I stopped taking them and all my symptoms disappeared.
I never was suffering a bad menopause.
I used to get this in phases. If its the same thing... have no choice but to stretch effected areas, hard to explain, horrible and only during the night. Worse in my hands.
I watched a TV programme of a lady with this ages ago but sadly can't remember what they finally diagnosed (it wasn't a common ailment).
X
Hi justice11
I am so sorry to read that you are suffering in this way and I genuinely hope that you can find some resolution and relief to this issue. I have pasted you a link to the NHS Choices cache on RLS Treatments, so I hope that there is something useful for you on there:
NHS Choices - Restless Leg Syndrome Treatments
nhs.uk/Conditions/Restless-...
I want to wish you all the best of luck and I sincerely hope that you can find the answers that you so desperately desire and deserve.
All my hopes and dreams for you
Ken
Hi justice 11,
Sorry to hear ur struggling with this.
Have u tried a muscle relaxant medicine?
And also stretching muscles gently before going to bed (with heat applied to help make easier to stretch, such as microwaveable wheat bag applied to warm muscles before stretching)?
The medicine and the stretches in combo may work best.
Hope you feel better soon anyway.
Take care,
Starbys 
I have the same feeling in my back, i feel like i need to stretch it, during the night i keep having to curl up into the feotal position then straighten and stretch my back its like rls but in my back, does anyone else have this? X
Hi I have had this many off nights, in my legs arms and hands. It's awful worst feeling ever. Believe it or not I got a pair of gloves from the hosp and this seems to help my hands the right gloves keeps the heat in them and the blood flowing. As 4 my legs no answers could chop them off until the morn just to I get a decent nights sleep. Ever tried taking sleeping calms? Worth a try.. Worst feeling ever my rhemo doc really helped me with this put me on amtripyline this helps with sleeping and the restless parts of my body.
Hope u get ease soon.
Ruth x
Me too I've had this for yrs, I can't lay in bed when I have it and have to walk about in bedroom for hrs. It dives me crazy and sometimes I can't bear it and sit crying. My GP gave me quinine sulphate 300mg which helped for a long while but then it has come creeping back. God help us all
I completely understand your pain. I am 13 years old and have been struggling with the same conditions since the age of eight. Most nights it's completely impossible to sleep. I only find pain relief medications to work, but not completely. I wish you luck trying to find a cure.
hey everyone! thank god I found people talking about this online, because I thought no one understood me! It used to be only in my legs and now it moved to my arms and hands in a more severe way :') im really not comfortable and I cant sleep at night! I intend to go see a doctor and tell him about it all and now that I know its called RLS its a damned thing man! plus its not at night only, my arms hurt during the day.
I heard that it has something to do with iron storage and my iron keep decreasing so I take an iron pill everyday. I thought this may help you, check your iron storage.
Just wondering if anyone found relief for this? I have suffered with this on and off since I was a kid. I used to describe it like my skin was too tight and I had to stretch. I felt almost claustrophobic in my own body. The urge to stretch drives me crazy! It was almost always in my legs and ankles and now has impacted my arms and wrists. I have noticed some relief however when I take a multivitamin regularly. I do have an iron deficiency that I have to keep in check so I started taking regular vitamins. I went off them recently for no other reason but laziness and these symptoms have come flooding back! I don't know if this is an iron deficiency related issue or something else, but would love to hear if regular vitamins work for anyone else? I don't want to go on meds.
Hi. I kept a food diary and noted every time I had this "episodes". I noticed my constant urges to stretch my mucles were on nights that i had a meal with white rice. I changed my diet accordingly and for the last 6 months I have gone without white rice. It has helped me tremendously. I know everyone is different. It might work for you. However if it doesn't, I hope you find a remedy.
It's a bit of a late of a reply but I've had something similar for a long time, the only way i found to stop the urge for the night is to excercise the area for a while. Since i usually get it in my arms i just do a few sets of press ups and I'm fine for the night. Hope this helps
I also have I think the same my legs sometimes it happens and I can walk when I get up but lately how it goes is I get work up by a severe pain in the back of my leg and knee It only hurts a minute but it's the worse pain then comes the fact that when I get up my legs hurt so bad just as I am replying to your post I am unable to walk at all or it hurts and i have to some how get a ibuprofen to get it not as painful so can get it moving again also it happens when it wants Its not all the time but it's sometimes 1 or 2 times a month or 1 every so months I just know when it does it is the most painful time
I have had this for the past 15 or so years. Only last year did I keep a diary for everything I ate, from it, I discovered that on the days my meals included white rice - I would have this constant urge to stretch my muscles and never a good night sleep. I still get it on certain nights (slight muscle pain) but never as bad as when I've had white rice.
I hope to find reason for this, but for now I steer clear of this dish.
This is the most awful feeling! You try to stretch it out as you say, and I try stretching my arms and fingers too, but the relief is only temporary isn't it? I find a warm drink and a couple of your painkillers usually does the trick. Hope you feel better soon xx
Has anyone figgered out why we do what we do? Is there a cure? I usually have this during spring and summer. Like it is starting again right now... I have had it for a week and I'm already losing it 😣
Hi
I too suffer with this and it drives me crazy it’s like my legs want to run a marathon I stretch them and bend them but then the next day am in agony with my knees I have been on a low dose of clonazepam for years which is supposed to help I did try lowering my Amytryptiline by 25 mg a few weeks ago but went back up as the restless legs seemed even worse. I have been told quinine should help so bought some flavoured tonic water as I don’t like plain one haven’t tried yet.
Hi justice11, have you found a solution after all those years? I think I have the same problem as you. It all started after a surgery 6 months ago. I’m exhausted because it wakes me up almost every night.
I’ve had this on and off for a couple years now, and it goes in phases of weeks at a time where it happened every night (to varying degrees).
It’s usually worse after days I’ve done a lot of exercise, and during weeks of heightened stress.
Symptoms are:
*go to sleep just fine around 11:00 PM.
*at 5:00 AM while involuntarily stretching my legs I drift in and out of sleep while shifting from sleeping on my stomach to my back to my side.
*eventually I wake up fully and am super warm. (But not sweaty)
*i walk around a bit and after 45 min or an hour I feel better, get really cold (almost shivering), and get under the covers and fall back asleep like a rock.
I’ve found these things help, but don’t always solve it:
*Walking around
*child’s pose (from yoga) for 3-4 min til my legs start to tingle a bit (only helps after the pose, not during...but works really well usually!)
*eating a bit of yogurt
*moving to the couch to sleep
*decreasing stress levels (<~ takes a few days, not just one day of rest)
Hoping my experience will help others..
I had this when I took 2 tylanol (those blue painkiller things). This was my first time taking tylanol and I had the incredible urge to stretch my legs that kept me awake for hours. I took it again the second night, same thing.
Months later I took tylanol again and woke in the middle of the night with the same thing! Not touching that again.
Now a year later, I started the Keto diet just over 2 weeks ago and have had this urge to stretch my legs/arms 3 times in a week. Possibly due to my lack of minerals including magnesium and dehydration on this diet. Who knows?
Ouch the pain
Trip led to A&E
Been trying to get back to sleep for over 2 hours thanks night mare
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