Is this RLS?

[SMxxx]

Hi all new here just a couple of questions. My GP diagnosed I have restless leg syndrome and prescribed medication. At first I could see where she was coming from. I have restless legs but mainly a lot of pain. I have had blood tests etc and all clear except under active thyroid. I’m very overweight so thought that the leg pain was just being overweight even though I know lots of overweight people who don’t have the same amount of pain and the GP agreed this didn’t seem right. The change came when I started doing couch to 5k and realised I could do that (although slowly) and not get any extra pain in fact legs prob hurt less. So I guess my question is - is this restless legs or do I need to go back again and get her to think again? I did a yoga/Thai-chi class yesterday and that killed my legs worse than running! This is driving me mad!!

[Madlegs1]

What factors decided the Dr that you have rls?

[SMxxx in reply to Madlegs1]

The leg pain and I do have restless legs.

[Hidden in reply to SMxxx]

This is the criteria for RLS, you must have all of them, This is how your doctor should diagnose if you have RLS or not,. and how you describe your symptoms to your doctor. irlssg.org/diagnostic-crite...

[Hidden]

What madlegs may be alluding to is the 4 cardinal symptoms that confirms a diagnosis of RLS.

The symptoms have been incorporated into a single question which is -

"When you try to relax in the evening or sleep at night, do you ever have unpleasant, restless feelings in your legs which can be relieved by walking or movement?"

NOTE

This is only when you try to relax or try to sleep

This is only in the evening.

The feelings are relieved by moving.

Does this description sound like your symptoms, exactly? If so, then your doctor may be right.

There is no mention of "pain" in the RLS criteria and your main problem seems to be pain and from.your description of the pain, it doesn't sound like RLS.

It is possible that you have RLS, but the pain is due to something else. It's difficult to tell as you don't describe what the pain is like, or when it happens.

For "primary" (idiopathic) RLS there is also a fifth criteria i.e. that the symptoms cannot be explained by anything else.

RLS is associated with underactive thyroid, in this case it is "secondary" RLS.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hi Manerva you are right pain is not mentioned in the RLS criteria. But is now accepted that some people do have pain from their RLS. I have pain with mine, its not pain from anything else going on, its only when my RLS is playing up i have the pain which i describe as a deep ache in my calf, it can be painful and if my RLS gets to the point of raging, the pain gets worse. I agree some people could be having something else going on seperate from the RLS.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hi Elisse, yes I believe it is accepted that some people have pain with their RLS but it's not a "necessary" criteria for a diagnosis like the cardinal symptoms.

I don't recall that anyone has described what the pain associated with RLS is like.

Thank you because you have now described it.

Although I accept that pain may be due to RLS I tend to err on the sceptical side because I think it wiser to exclude other possible causes first, before assuming it's due to RLS. Especially when someone.offers no description of what their pain experience is like.

I struggle with people's statements about their experience of pain because it seems people tend to assume that you know what they mean when they just write, "I have pain".

Pain isn't a single thing it's a lot of different and variable sensations.

As an illustration, I was talking to someone today who has an incurable blood cancer. She takes chemotherapy medicine every day. I haven't seen her for a while because she says she's been "ill".

Her doctor said her symptoms were due to either her cancer or a consequence of her chemo.

(The logic - you've got cancer, you're taking chemo, so your "illness" is due to that. similarly, you've got RLS, your pain must be due to that).

She then told me she happened to have an appointment with a surgeon. He said her "illness" wasn't due to either her cancer or her chemo but something entirely different, which he prescribed treatment for and she is now better.

Different sensations, which we call pain, indicate different causes depending on their location, quality, intensity, how quickly they appear and what they stimulate us to do.

Thanks for telling me that the pain associated with RLS is a "deep ache". in your "calf".

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Manerva the pain i describe i have with my RLS, might not be how some one else who has pain with their RLS , describe theirs. As we know symptoms vary for people with RLS, and people describe their symptoms differently. Altho on other RLS groups, i have seen one or two people say its like a deep ache they feel. Most have the creepy crawly sensations, which i USED to have , but they disappeared and this pain arrived. Some say its like electric shocks, i dont get them. And to add in case anyone else is reading this, i DO have the urge to move, mostly my right leg , sometimes my left leg, and now and then both blooming legs, then there is the in the back of my shoulder RLS, which is the worse. some might think i dont have RLS at all and i have something else entirely.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Elisse, I guess it's pretty much an individual thing.

I've got so many different pains for different reasons (none of them unbearable!) that some of them may be due to RLS, I just wouldn't know.