Anyone else found a link with PTSD and RLS? I've had restless legs in the evening and at night for as long as I can remember and am now in my 40s. Luckily I'm a deep sleeper so have learned to live with it mostly, although my poor husband doesn't enjoy getting kicked most nights while I sleep.
I've recently had Hypnotherapy for depression (not related to RLS) which has been amazing. Strangely though the Hypnotherapy brought back a traumatic memory from my childhood which I had suppressed and this had caused PTSD. The oddest thing is since uncovering and dealing with this with the help of Hypnotherapy I don't seem to have suffered RLS since.
I've joined this forum to see if anyone else has found similar. I'm not saying I'm cured and this is early days for me but I am astonished. It does fit in my head that the trauma I suffered could have caused RLS even though I really wasn't aware that was going on. I'm cautiously hopeful that getting rid of the PTSD may have gotten rid of the RLS but having suffered for so long I don't want to get my hopes up.
I've never taken medication for RLS and found diet, etc never made any difference.
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BlueBrummie
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Thank you that's really useful. Lovely to find such a positive community
RLS and PLMD are definitely related. 80% of people with RLS are estimated to also have PLMD.
The causes and medical treatment for them both is more or less the same. Consequently, there's a lot of information around about the treatment of RLS, but little about PLMD.
Part of that is also that sufferers are conscious of RLS, it prevents sleep whereas PLMD mostly occurs when asleep.
Stress can be a big factor in both, so that could well be why you've found improvement.
I found this very interesting and thought provoking.Although I’ve had RLS since I was young i didn’t have medication for it but after suffering a physical attack I developed PTSD and I was very ill. I remember in hospital having to walk the floor some nights. I’d never had it that bad.
I was put on a lot of medication which I presumed had attributed to the worsening of my RLS.
I actually didn't realise I had PTSD although I was aware I had depression. Strangely clearing the depression didn't make any difference that I noticed but when the PTSD presented itself and was dealt with at Hypnotherapy the RLS seems to have eased massively.I never thought it could be linked which was partly why I sought out this group to see if others had had a similar experience.
Yes, the brain is just a whole lot of nerves so it's likely that anything affecting that will also affect the peripheral nervous system. It's highly likely that it's your diet. A diet which is high in carbs will raise your blood sugar and cause inflammation in your whole body, including the nerves, the inflammation causes nerve oversenitivity leading to rls and mental problems.
This is most curious. Is it possible (I'm sure it is) that your mind can influence your physical body - processes, reactions, and functions? Could your trauma and the recall of it influence you to the point of dissociation of some normal functions and "create" the environment for RLS development or a host of additional afflictions? I am recalling that patients with dissociative identity disorder (formerly called multiple personality disorder) can present an identity with Diabetes and a different identity without Diabetes. This is a physical disease obviously controlled, albeit pathologically, with the mind.
A somewhat provocative read is Dr. Joe Dispenza's "You are The Placebo" with the question... "Is it possible to heal by thought alone—without drugs or surgery? The truth is that it happens more often than you might expect."
Rather than one causing the other it's more likely that they both share the same cause. Type 2 diabetes is caused by ingesting too much carbohydrate for the body to be able to control by increasing insulin Nd rls is caused by inflammation caused by the high levels of insulin driving the cells to consume blood sugar in order to keep it within the required limits.
Thanks I'll have a look at that book. I also find it quite curious and I'm going to ask my Hypnotherapist if he's come across this before. The trauma happened when I was 8 and my brain had somehow buried the traumatic part of it. I don't know if the fact that the trauma was also connected to my legs is where RLS came from. It's quite puzzling but since I've dealt with it during hypnotherapy and recalled it, my RLS has dramatically reduced.
I know it's not scientific but does make me wonder if other people could be helped in this way.
The brain is so complex isn't it, it's a shame we don't understand these connections more.
You raise an important question. I've wondered about this for some time and am working various angles of psychotherapy and neurotherapy to see if I can help my RLS by processing some of the trauma I experienced as a child (and re-experienced as an adult). I'm persuaded that there is a connection, but I'm guessing that the solution path varies by individual as much as RLS itself. I'm glad you got such dramatic relief, and I hope that's a harbinger of relief for many more RLS sufferers.
Thanks Doug, it certainly makes you wonder doesn't it. Everything I ever read about RLS just said it was a chemical imbalance of the brain and that was it. What is a chemical imbalance of the brain anyway?I hope you can find some relief. I'd never had any therapy for any trauma, partly because I hadn't realised it was causing the problems it was. This whole experience with hypnotherapy has taught me so much and I'm still processing what it has uncovered.
I really hope things work out for you and glad this might have helped.
Stress is definitely a trigger factor with RLS. However, as you mention you sleep through the symptoms, I agree with Manerva that it does sound more like PLMD rather than RLS, as RLS occurs when you're conscious and it definitely wakes you up. Could be of course that you have both.
Thanks, and it's definitely still vastly improved. lol I'm a very deep sleeper and do get woken up and have extremely restless sleep but am lucky I usually cope with it but not always. Just I'm lucky that I only usually suffer in the evenings and while I sleep.
So it appears there are triggers connected with stress so maybe also PTSD?
The Hypnotherapy seems to have reduced my RLS lots, I'm really hoping it'll stay that way. Thanks to the hypnotherapy I've also managed to come off the Citalopram so that could also be a reason why my RLS is a lot improved.I went to Hypnotherapy for Depression and this also revealed PTSD from another trauma. I never told the hypnotherapist about my RLS because I didn't consider he could do anything for that, it was just something I'd always had as far as I knew.
Thanks for asking, I'm recovering and taking it a day at a time
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