rls & alzheimers

[hairyfairy]

Iv`e read that there`s a link between rls & alzheimers, & other forms of dementia. does this mean that people with rls are more likely to get these illnesses?

[nightdancer]

Where did you read this? It seems to be the theory du jour lately. Sleep deprivation in general can cause some damage to the brain, but RLS itself is not connected to Alzheimer's at all, in the legit studies. Alzheimer's can light up a brain scan, took care of my father when he had Alzheimer's, Dementia, Parkinson's and the severe after affects of a stroke. he was the only family member without RLS. We will just say that a lot more studying has to be done, before any concrete claims could ever be made against RLS and Alzheimer's. Sleep deprivation, maybe. But, so far no on the RLS in general. They are 2 separate things....Where the heck are you reading this stuff? You are scaring yourself way more than you need to.

[Tristar in reply to nightdancer]

What Nightdancer said.

[Hidden in reply to Tristar]

Another vote for nightdancer - I would be more concerned with the effects of sleep deprivation - that has a huge impact on peoples lives and all of us here are at a greater risk of mortality through heart attacks and the like and through accidents.

We get so used to being sleep deprived I think, that that reduced performance and reduced quality of life becomes normal.

We may not be more likely to get these terrible conditions but a few week, months or years without good sleep and it will certainly feel like you have dementia!!

[Windwalker]

This is the first time I've heard that. My mom had 9 sisters who lived from 90 to 106 and I didn't notice any mental difficulty. One is still living and is 91 with serious Parkinson's and she is as sharp as she ever was and is still funny. It may be true but i never heard about it before.

[sparkle701]

not sure hope not

[nimshie29]

Very concerning - nothing could be worse. I had spine pain, had to taper off fentanyl patches which made my RLS X worse. Could not stop waliking because of RLS and could not lie down to relieve pain. Took morphine to get me over the worse or would have done something more permanant.