Work and RLS.

[Jaynielynne]

I drink coffee to keep myself awake at work. I start work at 430 am.

As of late, I am taking Bayer Coated Aspirin by habit then because

by 10 am, I have a splitting headache because I stop with caffeine at

6 am. I don't get much sleep. My legs won't lay still and I am trying to

get comfortable at night. The cool temperature room doesn't help. I

toss and turn with pillows and blankets on the floor until 3 am when my

alarm clock goes off. I take a 20 minute nap at 2 pm. Usually I go right

to sleep and stay sleeping until my alarm goes off. I hit the snooze for

5 more minutes. Anyone out there who knows how this goes to work and

be awake all night long with rls? By the way, I have been throwing up

little amounts in my mouth right after I eat. My doctor said that it's because

I am refusing treatment for rls and I am upsetting my digestive track from

not sleeping. I hardly eat much. Of course I brush my teeth at work after.

[Annieapple]

Jaynielynne I feel for you working these awful hours. Caffeine however is the worse thing ever for RLS. The aspirin in spite of being coated will affect your stomach. Please kick the caffeine habit & the aspirin to give yourself & the RLS a chance. Fuel your body with soothing foods like oats & bananas etc. This will help the headaches too. Drink lots & lots of water. I am not sure why you don't want treatment as there is much available to help you. I would be interested to hear your point of view on that. I too tried the drug free way & suffered needlessly for years!! Wow you have difficult hours to work so go easy on yourself & your body.

[Jaynielynne in reply to Annieapple]

My sister took pramipexole and it worked great for her. She started

with augmentation. My doctor said that all of the current treatments

will have that happen. (augmentation) She quit with the pills and she

was not an easy person to get along with during that time. I can't

have any narcotics of any kind. My work requires that I am alert

and that I am drug free. The other treatments means that my job

is done even if they are prescribed. You can't get fired for being sick

but they can find any reason to fire me. That's how they handle it.

[Annieapple]

Your work sounds very stressful. I feel for you.

[thedragon]

I also am avoiding the dopamine drugs for as long as I can. Are you allowed to take prescription co codamol. I take 2 at bedtime and it stops the rls and helps me sleep most of the time. Luckily my work starts in the evening. I can't imagine having to start at the time you do. Can you change your hours. I too drink too much caffeine, but I swear it makes no difference to my rls. It s just as bad if I don't. But I sympathize as it's really hard to stop. I do recommend what annie said about eating and please do try to stop the aspirin....not good for tummies. X x

[Jaynielynne in reply to thedragon]

My headaches are like Migraine headaches. I vomit with them and the lights really bother me. I have seen a doctor, a neurologist and have been told that they can not help me if I refuse to take medicine. I went into my work and talked with management and they said no exceptions on the drugs. I can take pramipexole. I've been reading how many people have augmentation on this stie and the rlshelp.org about it, seems like many have a hard time with augmentation and getting off of it. Acetaminophen makes me sick too. So

what works better than that?

[Hidden]

I dont know what work you do that you have to be drug free. But as it is you are sleep deprived, and using coffee to keep awake, coffee could be making your RLS worse, and the only way to find that out it to reduce your intake and see if i helps with your symptoms, being sleep deprived, is hardly you being alert for your job. Sleep deprivation can cause other health issues. I guess it depends on how long you can go without using any RLS meds. People usually have to give in and for their own sanity use some type of RLS medication You can try all the non med treatments to see if that helps. But as i have said most people have to resort to a medication in the end. Do your employers know that you suffer with RLS...??

[Jaynielynne in reply to Hidden]

I'm a woman working in a feild that is male dominate so they would love

for me to quit. They suggested that I would take a leave of absence so I could decide what I want to do. They reminded me that a positive drug test means immediate termination. I get them often and so do all of the other people working in this type of work. I checked with the USA department of labor and they agreed that this job falls into a category that will fire employees if they

can't pass an eye exam or are on medications that alter the brain. I get

a nap in at work for 45 mins on my lunch and I also get a nap after work for 20 mins. and then I sleep usually 2-3 hours. It's just not enough Elisse. I really need to make a decision to pass up so much money or do this job.

[cloudwalker84]

I don't work the crazy hours that you do, but I do find that the RLS interrupts my work tremendously, so I know how you feel there. I do agree with the comment that you probably want to cut down or avoid coffee altogether. That's the pot calling the kettle black, though, because I still drink some coffee in the mornings. It's hard not to when you don't get much sleep and feel like a zombie in the morning. I'm trying to wean myself off of it as it definitely exacerbates the symptoms. As far as medications go, if you don't want to try the dopamine meds, I've read that a lot of people have had tremendous success with Lyrica. If the gabapentin doesn't work for me I'm going to ask my neuro to switch me to that.