It begs the question as to whether we should ask people about their BMI or obesity factor. We ask about their medical history but never their weight?
(I fully appreciate the discussion around the relevance of the term BMI, but until an alternative is accepted, it will do for now ,in a very general sense.)
I expect a lively discussion!!🙄😎
Written by
Madlegs1
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I've had to forego the chips. Today turned out to be not a good chip day.
I have read the article though.
Some observations.
Small fibre neuropathy (SFN), which is what this article is about can be considered as an exacerbating factor for primary RLS or as a cause of secondary RLS.
It does show there is a relationship between obesity and SFN and between SFN and RLS therefore it may be a good idea to assess a person's BMI. Note that SFN does not explain ALL cases of RLS.
However, the study doesn't appear to show a DIRECT causal relationship between obesity (High BMI) and SFN. An intermediary factor is diabetes.
Hence as some doctors may currently carry out, anybody suspected of SFN or RLS should be assessed for diabetes as well as BMI (Body Mass Index).
Fascinating trivia #1
BMI is usally calculated by dividing a person's mass in KILOGRAMS divided by their height in METERS squared. I'm not sure show this works in countries that don't use metric units.
E.g. if BMI is calculated by dividing mass in pounds by height in feet squared, my BMI is now roughly 5 (five) which means in the UK I'm not born yet or I'm ashes.
Weight losing tip #1 :
emigrate to a country that uses pounds and feet.,
There may be other explanations why obesity can cause SFN in people who don't have diabetes.I have numb feet but no sign of diabetes.
Incidentally I'm not obese either even in the UK!
This may be explained by Isaac Newtons theory of gravity.
Healthy nerves need s a good supply of oxygen and glucose. These get to all body tissues through tiny blood vessels called capillaries. Capillaries have no muscles!
SFN occurs mainly in the feet. The heavier you weigh the more pressure you put on the bottoms of your feet which might obstruct the capillaries - Ta Dah!" SFN.
Fascinating trivia #2
Although mass and weight are both measured in the same units, e.g. kilograms. They're not the same thing.
All material objects have mass, but whereas its mass may be invariable its weight isn't. This is because the weight of of an object is determined by the sum of all forces acting on it in a gravitational field.
On earth then a mass of 6 kilograms will have a weight of six kilkograms, but only I believe at sea level. This is because the further away you get from the centre of gravity of a mass, the less the gravitational force will be.
Weightlessness (or more correctly microgravity) is experienced once you achieve a height above the earth's surface.
Weight losing tip #2 :
Since the mass of the moon is one sixth of the mass of the earth, go live on the moon. You will weigh only one sixth of what you weigh here.
Fascinating trivia #3
Another force that may act on an object which is spinning is known as "centrifugal force". The weight of an object on the earth's surface, (which is spinning), is a sum of the gravitational force on it, attracting it towards the centre of the earth AND the centrifugal force pushing it in the opposite direction.
The faster the spin, the greater the centrifugal force, the less the weight.
Weight losing tip #3 :
Since the equator of the earth is spinning faster than the north and south poles, the nearer to the equator you live, the less your weight will be.
Fascinating trivia #3
The length of each day on earth is determined by how fast it's spinning. It spins from west to east.
Not every day is 24 hours long, because some days the earth may be spinning faster and some days it may be spinning slower.
It depends on the direction and strength of the wind!
Mountains, like the himalayas act like sails. So the earth spins faster in an easterly wind than in a westerly wind.
Weight losing tip #4 :
Only weigh yourself on days when the wind is blowing eastwards.
The last trivia :
Newton's formulas for the force as created by gravity and his equations that describe motion are still used today and are quite accurate.
However, Einstein's theories challenge Newtons theory of gravity His explanation is not that there is an "attraction" between masses, but that masses create distortions in space time. They "bend" space. Experiments have demonstarted this to be true, which Newton's theory could not predict.
Other objects (with less mass) "fall" into the "gravitational well" a greater mass creates. If an object however is going at any speed however, when it falls into the well, it will spin and the speed at which it spins will create a centrifugal force. It wiltherfore spin out of the well,or will remain spining in the well at a positon where the force exreted by the "slope" of the well is equal to the centrifugal force - An "orbit".
The objects that distort space time the most can (theoretically) bend it so far they create a "wormhole" in space time. A black hole.
The last weight tip :
Keep away from black holes, keep away from the large Hadron Collider.
Since according to my theory, your weight might affect your risk of SFN and hence RLS you have some tips for preventing this.
The further you're out of this world, the less your risk of RLS.
PS as far as I'm aware, none of my fascinating trivia are untrue.
At least now you know that in countries that don't use metric that your BMI is not roughly 5 (five) which means in the UK you're not born yet or you're ashes.
I believe based on both observations and nerve conduction tests that I have both so the question could be reshaped. The small fibre specialist I saw fairly recently concluded I definitely was a severe RLS sufferer but was less sure about SFN. I await a punch biopsy. I might comment more when I have read the attachment.
Thank you for the link to this very interesting subject. I have hot feet syndrome which is driving me crazy. I treat it myself with cold water, ice packs etc. For the past couple of days one toe on my right foot feels like it's been stung by stinging nettles. It's very uncomfortable. I also suffer with neuropathic nerve pain, a pain that affects every inch of skin on my body inside my eye lids, mouth, up my nose, genitals and even inside my anus. It is an agonising pain but is controlled extremely well with Gabapentin. Unfortunately I am now obese due to the Gabapentin. God know what I will do if the Gabapentin begins to fail.....end it all I expect!
🤣 Kirsty Anderson would love this. She spent the 2018 AGM talking about obesity but as everyone in the room ( except one or two) was slim, it didn't go down very well.
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