Dreading next road trip 9 hour drive.

[nopeno1home]

I used to be able to be the the car more hours than not. Now it's torture, Evil torture. I can't even enjoy a 30-40 minute ride. My family doesn't get it.i love them and they love me but they just don't get it. When I say I need to get out of car and walk for a bit I mean I really have to get up and out of the car and walk a bit. Plus I don't know how long I will need to recoup. I tell them this upfront but I end up having no say when or how often we stop. I love them but if they could experience the pain just once. Now somebody says time for another road trip and I end up with full force panic attacks. I can't go 4-5-6 hours sitting in car. I've been going nuts. Next trip is in month to help my mom, and I'm already in agony.

[Jelbea]

Hi nopeno. I too suffer severe RLS and used to love car trips but now they are hell. Even when you stop from time to time usually for me as soon as I get in the car again it is not long before the RLS is back. One point I would suggest you make to your family is that sitting for a long time in the car is bad for the blood circulation and can cause deep vein thrombosis which is life threatening.

I know this only too well as I went on holiday with my daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren in July. We were less than 3 hours in the car but enough for me to develop DVT and have to attend hospital and be treated since then on blood thinning medication. I found it devastating as I had never had any problem with circulation. This might be a way for you to reinforce the necessity of everyone taking breaks from sitting too long.

[Joolsg]

What meds are you taking, including any OTC meds like anti histamines or cough meds like Benadryl?

[Want2sleep]

I am the same way. I can barely do a 30 minute ride and my family doesn’t understand it. If I sit in the car too long I will have a full blown panic attack. I hate it

[byrnzy4]

If someone else is driving, I find that I can get on my knees facing backwards. Yes this is unsafe, but it is preferable to the agony of extreme RLS. There's no point in getting out to walk as RLS starts up within 5 min. of getting back in the car. I'm short so the facing backwards makes the long muscles in my legs bear weight which is similar to standing, which relieves RLS. I know it is odd, but another thing that helps is no binding clothes, like slacks/pants on my legs. I took to wearing long skirts which would be hiked up. It is almost like my legs having claustrophobia, fear of closed in spaces, to start or make RLS worse.