PLEASE READ: Please become an RLS-UK member. We desperately need more members.

[Daragh]

Hello all,

On 12th May I wrote a blog entry highlighting that we had reached 150 members on this forum. Three weeks later and today we have 222 members on the forum. This is wonderful news as it means we are reaching more people and you are all hopefully finding support through the various discussions on this forum.

Sadly we have only had five new members to our charity over the past few weeks. In fact, our membership is falling. All of the trustees of RLS-UK are volunteers and we rely on membership fees (£10 per person per year) and donations to keep going. Not one penny of the membership fees is paid to us. It is all invested in the charity. But membership is much more important for another reason - it gives us leverage when dealing with the media, pharmaceutical companies etc. We are still a small charity and the more we grow and the more members we have, the more seriously we will be taken.

Please, if you have not already done so, visit our membership page on rls-uk.org where you can print off a membership form and gift aid form. There is strength in numbers so please help if you can. If you intend to join the charity as a member, or have already done so, please indicate this below so others may be motivated to do the same.

Thank you all for your support.

[Hidden]

hi Daragh my sons going to join ok,

jean

[Daragh]

That's great Jean. Thank you!

[Kaarina Administrator]

I believe it is important to be a member to support this organisation and consider the £10 I have paid is money very well spent.

I also asked and have been sent RLS posters to distribute locally which I have done with the greatest of pleasure.

Every little bit helps. It does not take long to distribute posters or write a cheque to help support a charity that is there for us.

Kaarina

[Daragh]

Thank you Kaarina. It is very heartening to know there are people who want us to continue our work and appreciate the costs and huge amount of effort which go with this.

As you received a number of laminated (for durability) posters via the post (which cost about £3.00 in total, I'm sure you will understand only too well that we have operational costs and we do our best to put your membership fee to good use! Incidentally, we sent six such posters to over fifty councils this year... Thank you again for putting them up in your local area!!

[Hidden]

last year my doctors put up posters for me, but this year they wont do this,apparently," not many people have RLS", i told them about all the websites !!!

jean

[Daragh]

Jean, this is exactly the reason we need all of your help! Doctors, if they are even familiar with the condition, often just don't believe that RLS is as common as it is. Our goal as a charity is to change this and raise awareness.

I am aware of a national campaign which will be starting in the next few weeks and I hope that we will be able to tap into the new awareness of the condtiion.

I want us to be as strong in numbers as possible when this campaign starts.

[beardedtwitch]

Joined this year and £10 is a bargin for all of the information given.

[Daragh]

Thank you. Your support is very much appreciated.

[Hidden]

i am deffinatly joining anyhting to try and help to wards this absoultuy debilatating condition. its affected me for nearly 15years and i have suffered in silence for far to long as are i am sure many others its not fairand im so glad i have foundthis organization.

[ginannie]

Hi - I've just printed the forms for joining, and will do so shortly. I was triggered to do so by a particularly bad night's sleep last night - normally, if desperate with RLS (and arms too, often!) at night, I watch TV until I drop off out of sheer exhaustion, and usually when I wake up again the RLS has stopped. What worried me was that when I awoke at 4.00am, havinf slept for about an hour, I still had it! This is new, and I do seem to be getting more and more 'attacks' as I get older. Typically, this is in bed at night, or in an aeroplane, or cinema or theatre seat - I gather this is pretty typical of most peoples' experience! I think it may have something to do with my diabetes type ll, as well - anything high-ish in carbs (including wine etc) taken during the evening will make it worse. Does anyone think, too, that as you begin to fear this disturbance every night (and before every plane journey), it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy, and we make it worse by autosuggestion? I'd welcome comments from any fellow-sufferers, as it is a crashing nuisance in my life, alongside one or two other health problems I won't bore you with!

[justcrazer]

i must become a member

[Cameronb]

Hi, I don't know how helpful this will be but in my opinion it's better to be informed.In the past I've had pm from people who feel they're not been heard as their is a group of members who monopolize the conversation and information ( don't get me wrong, invariably valuable information)!

I've definitely had more than a couple of messages where it is indicated that they feel it's pointless speaking up or attempting to join the conversation with the more experienced members.

Just thought it might be worth being aware of xx

[Shad0w2]

Thank you for all you do, I only heard about this forum through RLS UK. I believe my membership is due for renewal next month, I currently pay by Credit Card but intend to set up a Direct Debit. I recommend everyone to do the same, it is worth every penny.

[Kaarina Administrator in reply to Shad0w2]

Thank you so much for posting on this old thread. It is most appreciated. Yes, membership is due for renewal in August each year.

Although posted 12 years ago we desperately need new members to enable us to continue our work and to raise awareness of RLS. We are slowly making inroads and we continue to keep plodding on.