Writing this in Tears!!!

[BPHood]

I have been suffering from this and the ridicule that comes with it all of my life. I'm 46 now and just finding out what this even is because when I told people it felt like worms or spiders in my legs they all looked at me like I was crazy. When I asked people to punch my legs for me as hard as they can I was looked at as crazy. I'm so happy to come across this forum to see the advice and the amount of other people who suffers with this too, really puts me in tears as I write this. I am about to talk to my doctor Wed to see what he suggests. Thank you all for sharing!!! My grandma used to just say it was poor circulation but now I see it may be linked to my anemia because so many have said iron.

[Joolsg]

Welcome BPHood.

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

The first thing your doctors should do is check your blood results- serum ferritin, serum iron, etc & ferritin should be above 100, iron above 60.

Raising ferritin above 250 ( usually by IV infusion of Injectafer) dramatically improves RLS in 60% of patients so it can be miraculous for many without the need for meds.

If raising ferritin doesn’t help, meds may be necessary but be wary of dopamine agonists like Ropinirole/pramipexole/rotigitone as they lead to augmentation further down the line. Most experts now prescribe alpha2delta ligands like pregabalin or Gabapentin as first line treatment.

Let us know how it goes.

[Hidden]

Gosh, how appalling that people should ridicule you for your symptoms!

I can only assume that they didn't know about RLS.

As Jools writes, it would be good to have the blood tests she identifies. In addition it's best to have a test for hemoglobin too.

If you have anemia this may be too low. If your ferritin is less than 75ng/mL then your RLS could benefit from taking an oral iron supplement. This can help raise your ferritin to 100ng/mL.

However, a recent study shows that for this to happen the low hemoglobin needs to be corrected first.

Here's some info about iron therapy.

sciencedirect.com/science/a...

[dlr222]

take the iron! what has helped me is that, doing the low-oxalate diet, getting a pedal exerciser, (not the most expensive and I use it during the day) and I take hawthorn extract for digestion and grapefruit extract for sleep. use a rub, like theragesic or icy hot and massage into your legs. good luck!

[slim1953]

Restless legs. The feeling can be many different ways. You are mot alone. Do your legs jump or spasm. That is called periodic limb movement disorder. Often comes with restless legs. Good luck. Stephen