Home monitoring for RLS?

[ANdamemy]

I have sleep apnoea as well as RLS/PLMD.

I was wondering whether there was a way of monitoring RLS events (microawakenings) caused by RLS without going into hospital and having a full overnight sleep study with PSG?

I am able to monitor my apnoea events per hour using my CPAP data card and the OSCAR software but my research has turned up nothing similar for RLS.

Does anyone know of any way of monitoring RLS at home?

[Madlegs1]

I imagine any of these Fitbit type monitors would track nightime events.

However-- RLS is NOT like sleep apnea or plmd.

You simply DO NOT SLEEP if you have RLS. So very easy to track.

How many hours are you lying there, twitching, cursing, thinking of painless ways to die, getting up to stamp around and so on and on and on ?.

Just keep a diary-- it will help with the distraction.

I'm sure some ph.d student will do a thesis on measuring the bags under your eyes to determine what you are seeking?

I won't put my house on it!🥵

Cheers!

[ANdamemy in reply to Madlegs1]

Tbh it is nighttime events - PLMD - that I am interested in. I'll look into Fitbits.

[RLSgirl in reply to Madlegs1]

The thing about fitbit, is that it seems to need a solid 2 hours of sleep to start tracking it as sleep. I rarely get a solid 2 hours in at a time so half the nights my fitbit didn't track any sleep. ....but I guess that would be the point.

[coldfeet7]

I am with you. I have looked and can't find a ready, reasonable cost solution. After a LOT of effort, I can now achieve <1 AHI most nights, BUT I am still tired during the day. So I must be having micro arousals. My two PSGs showed extensive PLMD (80+/hr with 20+/hr resulting in arousal). I have listened to an expert who thinks PLMD probably doesn't cause the arousal. It is just registered when it happens (if I am representing him fairly) and there is something we need to find. Who knows....

For me, there are two things to measure. Measuring the limb movement AND measuring if it caused (or sync'd) with an arousal that disturbs sleep structure. The most important of the two is measuring arousal. Disturbing sleep structure is what can contribute to dementia (later in life) and in more immediate effect, drowsiness that can put you and others around you at risk.

This is the era of powerful miniaturized devices (due to cellphones) that can measure the slightest movement with little hardware cost. Measuring EEG is harder and more subjective. I've read that two different experts can read the PSG's EEG and score arousals differently so there is that complicating factor.

I would LOVE for a company to make some cap/apparatus you could rent to wear for EEG that is analyzed by an AI for consistent scoring at low cost. What a use for AI! I wouldn't need it all the time, just to see if what I doing (diet, meds, etc) is helping with arousals/PLMs.

[ANdamemy in reply to coldfeet7]

Interesting, thankyou.

Twenty arousal per hour is equivalent to moderate apnea I believe so I guess that explains your tiredness. I reckon my stats are quite similar.

I'm going to look into solutions suggested by others but it sounds like you have done extensive research and there is no ideal affordable solution.

[Dgags]

I can't actually monitor the symptoms, but my new Sleep Number bed records when I am tossing and turning ( rotisserie sleeping I call it ), so I can tell how long RLS is bothering me and causing a lack of sleep. It records when I climb into bed, how long it takes to get to sleep, how often I wake up during the night, etc. Again, this is an indirect measurement, but it does give an indication of how bothered my sleep is by RLS.

[Munroist]

I use a phone app called Sleepcycle which listens from your phone on the bedside table and is reasonably good at detecting movement by the rustling. It can distinguish between this and snoring, coughing, birds cooing, and sleep talking. Obviously I know when I'm awake and I make a note of it and Sleepcycle recognises the radio I use to get back to sleep so most of the information is there as well. I think you can use it on trial for a period without paying for a subscription, or maybe you don't get the full functionality, can't recall.

[climber54]

I've used the Fitbit Charge 5 and the ViHealth Wear O2. The fitbit does need 2 hours of sleep to give good data, although it will show sleep interruptions and durations.

The ViHealth is sophisticated giving. O2 saturation and heart rate. It is shown in a horizontal graph and the heart rate will jump up as soon as you're awake. And it will run for as few as just a couple of minutes or all night. It is quite a bit more sensitive to short term sleep interruptions than the fitbit. My only complaint is that the ViHealth is a bit uncomfortable since it requires the light emitter to produce the oxygen saturation.

I think they both run a bit over $100.

Good luck, and may you have a great sleep.

Blessings to all.

[ANdamemy in reply to climber54]

As far as I can see the Vihealth is an app that accompanies other companies' products- e.g. the Wellue O2 ring...not clear from the burn whether this tracks movements in sleep as well as O2 saturation and heart rate. Do you by any chance have a product code for the Vihealth device? Or is the Wellue just as good?

Tx!

[climber54 in reply to ANdamemy]

So, I purchased the Wellue Wear O2 device. It has a flexible band attached to it that you slide onto your finger (I wear mine on my pinky finger), Currently listed at $90. Fully rechargeable. Then simply find the ViHealth app online and download...it's free. With that app on your phone, it will keep track of all of your sleep data.

[climber54 in reply to ANdamemy]

Yes, it also tracks movement.

[Hidden]

Perhaps you could hire an actigraph from a medical supplies hire company if it exists in your area?Or wait for this to come onto the market...

theactigraph.com/wearable-d...