My 12 year old son has RLS

My poor son suffers with RLS. He is 12 now but has had it since he was around 5 years old. My husband also has RSL and has been dealing with this since he was a child too. My question is does anyone know of anything I can do to help my son through this. He seems to get it worse in the daytime and finds sitting still at school irritating. The school has been told about the condition but I don't think they properly understand how frustrating this can be for him. It helps when I squeeze and rub my husband's legs but this doesn't work for my son. He is very active, running, biking and playing in a football team and he does say it helps to keep moving. I just want to make this better for them both but I really do worry about my son having to cope with this. Any tips you have will help 😊 thanks.

17 Replies

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DC22

a year ago

Hi sorry to hear about your son. I urge you to speak to your doc before trying anything I suggest here. As he is you I would consider natural remidies first such as a diet high in foods containing potassium such as bananas sweet potato baked potatoe with skin mushrooms avocados etc also try and monitor omega 6 omega 3 ratio too much 6 causes inflammation you can Google foods to find out content. Big triggers for a lot of people are caffeine chocolate and icecream. Eggs are very high I'm omega 6 as is porridge oats. It is an absolute minefield though as what works for one person may not for 100 others. Also try putting a bar of soap underneath bottom sheet of bed any soap will do but must be new and replaced approx monthly. I sometimes put a bit of soap in my socks!! An iron deficiency is also a big cause of rls. Try iron rich foods too. Food does play a big factor for a lot of sufferers (not all) the more natural foods he can eat the better. I know very boring and expensive too. Well food for thought anyway and hope you are able to find a remedy for him. X

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Madlegs1

a year ago

Daytime rls is unusual- and I suspect triggers are playing a major part for your son.

I know , when I was young , things like fizzy drinks , colouring in sweets and medicines , sugar and sweeteners , raising agents - especially biscuits , pork in all its manifestations - rashers , sausages (msg) , ham and even chops.

So , I would keep a diary for both of them for at least 3 weeks to see if you notice any correlations.

Various medicines cause rls - especially antihistamines and antidepressants.

Hope this gives you a starting point.

There are many weird and wonderful solutions out there - some work and others are fantasy- you have to figure out that for yourself- everyone is different with regards to rls.

Magnesium oil ( half water half epsom salts mix) rubbed on legs works for some.

Cheers. Let us know how you ( they) get on.

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raffs

in reply to Madlegs1

a year ago

+1 on Madlegs1 and I'd add that you speak with his teachers again and go armed!

If they really know of his problem they will be more accepting of the fidgeting but it could be possible they think you are an over-reactive or protective mother explaining away his bad behaviour. It is important that they understand that not only is the restlessness a distraction but that the fatigue from poor sleep may hamper his attention and they may need to keep a better eye that he is taking on board what he needs to.

If you have some printed literature, maybe with the address of us here, there could be a chance of an interested teacher reading it and disseminating it among their colleagues. If that is still not getting through maybe a religious minister can help intervene.

I found school really tough and got more than my fair share of beatings for fidgeting and not paying attention My heart goes out to you all it is a dreadful condition, (although there have been great strides in treatment made this past number of years and fingers crossed it continues). One of my boys seems to have it but I'm not fully convinced, (don't want to be), an appointment in a few weeks might shed some light.

1 like

Dizashkyalay

in reply to raffs

a year ago

Thanks for your reply. I only went into my son's school on Friday as there was an incident where he was put into isolation and told not to move. They kept him there for several hours until they found out they actually had mistaken my son for someone else. As you can imagine my son was distressed have to sit in one place for hours and the worst thing was the teacher that put him there also knows about his RLS. My husband and I were furious and needless to say the school were very apologetic. We have now made sure that they know how bad RLS is by making sure all teachers that teach my son read the information we have given them. My son has never had beatings for his RLS and if anyone ever did try he can definitely look after himself 😀. What I love about my son is he never uses RLS as an excuse and the majority of people don't even know he has it. Please let me know how you get on with your son, I'm interested to know what advice you get given, also how old is he?