Heat?

[Whippetmama]

Someone mentioned heat as a possible trigger which got me thinking - has anyone found that their RLS worsens during the summer heat? Or during a heat wave?

[Smiffyliz]

I find a hot water bottle actually helps

[Hidden]

At night i have to have my legs and feet cool, cant have them hot, and the summer of course can be worse. I used a free standing fan blowing all night on my legs and feet, covers are off them too. Day time isnt so bad, its just at night.

[wandaleach]

No it acually feels better to me when i go outside snd its watm. I get the chills when an episode is coming on.

[Hidden]

I’ve noticed a positive correlation between leg cramps and summertime.

[Whippetmama]

Increased leg cramping in the summer could be because of a loss of electrolytes due to increased sweating. Try a glass of Pedialyte to see if that helps.

[Katerina22]

My rls is worse when its hot outside.

[NoMoRLS in reply to Katerina22]

Me too

[leatrix]

Heat definitely worsens my RLS. At night my poor hubby feels he’s sleeping in the arctic circle because I have a cold fan positioned to oscillate over my legs, come rain come shine! My top half hogs the duvet to keep the rest of me warm though; odd set up but works a treat for me! 😂

[Whippetmama in reply to leatrix]

This made me laugh out loud. My poor husband sleeps the traditional way - his head at the head of the bed. Because our A/C blows toward the center of the room, I sleep with my head at the foot of the bed so it blows directly on my upper body.

[leatrix in reply to Whippetmama]

The things our poor hubby’s go through, although saying that, his snoring!! 💤 😬😂

[Whippetmama in reply to leatrix]

Hahahah!

[Madlegs1]

My legs prefer a nice ice cold wall to snuggy up against.

[Whippetmama]

At least I am off that horrible levodopa/carbidopa that, when it started to kick in, made me pour with sweat all over my body with rivulets running down my face.

[LotteM]

Yes, definitely. When the weather and gets too summerly warm, and especially when the heat remains during the night, my rls is worse.

Whippetmama, do you know whether ‘hot flushes’ is a (known) side effect of dopamine agonists? I seem to have a few still fairly weak ones since I restarted ropinirole 😥. Nothing I can’t handle, although they tend to wake me up at night.

[LoisTonya]

No, temperature doesn’t change things for me

[LoisTonya]

This just shows how everyones experience of rls differs

[NoMoRLS in reply to LoisTonya]

Indeed

[Coraliej]

Ifound a hot epsom salt bath for at least 20 mins a great relief for a few hours. And Vicks Vspourrub at other times was helpful too.

[NoMoRLS in reply to Coraliej]

I like Epsom bath too. Amazon has a nice magnesium soak to add to it. Really helps to ease the anxiety of "Am I going to sleep tonight?"

[Memmy in reply to Coraliej]

Hi, where do you use the Vicks, on your legs?

[Eryl]

Could you be drinking more soft drinks (sodas, juices etc.)? If so it's likely to be the extra sugar that's making rls worse in hot weather.

[Whippetmama in reply to Eryl]

Never drink the stuff. I am a water drinker.

[NoMoRLS]

I don't do well in heat and yes it makes it worse for me.

[BoldMove]

Yes, it's a known fact and has been written about on the RLS foundation site.

[Whippetmama in reply to BoldMove]

Thank you BoldMove. I would like to read more but come up empty on a search. Can you provide a link? Or search term?

[BoldMove in reply to Whippetmama]

rls.org/about-us/contact-us They don't have good archives, I did not find it, but there may be something in the lifestyle section. Or, I may have come across it by reading something through one of their partners in helpful links on page: rls.org/understanding-rls/h... It's been a couple of years.

[Roblau]

I cannot have my legs covered anytime of the year my feet and legs always have to be outside the blanket my spouse tells me my legs are hot so I believe there's definitely a connection

[moonhunt18]

Interesting to read everyone’s experience.

I for one must take piping hot baths when my RLS gets going. I mean such hot water my legs are lobster red and my initial reaction when i sit in the water is “o o o o o o..yikes!..,,ahhhh” then I do leg stretches in the water.

Also must keep warm socks or slippers on all day/eve and sometimes in bed no matter what the weather or RLS worsens.

[M_argi in reply to moonhunt18]

I found this too, soaking legs in hot water eased the rls so much and for me I couldn't stand cold on my legs ,as the heat of a summer day disappears my rls would show up . So always having a ho water bottle and legs covered helps a lot. Winter is hard to live with .

[moonhunt18]

It’s funny. I’ve never noticed f summer is better. I will pay attention this time around.

I have found that I can pretty much never be barefoot. That makes it worse... esp in cold. And god forbid my daughter or hubby put cold feet on my legs! It’s PAINFULL and sets RLS in overdrive immediately.