Weight on RLS worse?: Has anyone... - Restless Legs Syn...

Restless Legs Syndrome

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Weight on RLS worse?

Rish profile image
Rish
5 Replies

Has anyone noticed if you put weight on does your RLS get worse?

I am on the neupro patch and it works great but with the festive season and eating to much I have put weight on and I have noticed my legs twitching :-( unless its because I am not feeling so good as I have a terrible sore neck which is causing a constant bad head 5 days now with it! I am at the hospital today to get an 24 hr ECG fitted so I may be in for a restless night :-(

Hoping you are all keeping well and all the best for a happy and peaceful new year x Marisa

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Rish profile image
Rish
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5 Replies

Cant say it has happened to me, not sure extra weight makes RLS worse. Are you sure you didnt eat or drink something which may have had an affect on your RLS. If you are not feeling so good, you could be stressing about that, which can for some people make things worse regarding RLS.

Good luck with the ECG hope it doesnt stop you getting some sleep tonight. :)

peterk profile image
peterk

Hello Rish. I think it is more likely related to something that you might have eaten or drank but I would check a few things out. If I drink coffee for example my RLS gets very much worse. I have faciculations with my RLS as a feature with it that was diagnosed. The only analogy that I can give you is that when I am carrying heavy things or have done the weekly shop ( I don't drive) my RLS symptoms are worse so possibly there might be some relationship with carrying weight. I though have never seen anything written about this. A neurologist I saw did accept the carrying aspect. Again I suppose an analogy can be drawn between taking moderate excercise and too much which will vary from person to person. Anything more than moderate or for me over doing it brings on RLS symptoms and I'm normal weight and get plenty of exercise within my tolerance levels. I do hope that your ECG went well and that you got some sleep. I wish you a happy new year and a great one in respect of your health. I don't know anything about the neuro patch but I would check the patient information leaflet. This will have things, actually everything, even if it's not true, about side affects reported. See if head aches or twitching is on there.

I was told by a neurologist that they are only just discovering that dopanine agonist drugs may cause heart disease so in your case to put your mind at rest I would definately check this out with the hospital. However what ever medications we have to take for our RLS they all carry side affects and risks which I suppose we either reject or accept. Not a difficult one for me. I wouldn;t be able to function due to RLS symptoms without my meds.

peterk profile image
peterk

Rish by not true I mean has no relation to taking the medication in question.

nightdancer profile image
nightdancer

yes, it is a hard choice sometimes bewtween meds and side effetcs, and we all have to individually find what is our comfort level. I am all for quality of life and just making it thru the comig day, so I would always go for the goal of no RLS, and worry about side effects later. But, that is me. I do have meds that are for LS that did not ever work, so they are on "naughty" list of meds not to take for ME. We never know, and we just have to educate ourselves, because support and correct information is another goal.

As far as the gaining weight thing, you couldn;t have gained that much in the last 2 weeks to kick in your RLS, and I would suspect that with all the holiday eating, the sugar and caffeine (alcohol, too) is what is bothring your legs, not the weight. I have never succumbed to that theory, and neither do my doctors in the US. Weight will affect sleep apnea, but really no proof at all thgat weight can cause RLS to be worse. Doctors just like to say that, because they all think almost everyone that walks thru their door needs to lose weight. What I ahve experienced over the last 15 years with my groups, is that the average RLSer is actually in pretty good shape, because we are always moving. Ib know way more skinny RLSer's than I do over weight ones. :)

Happy New Year!

I was up 20 pounds from my normal weight and down 10 pounds from my

normal weight. . when I was 10 below my average, I had a lot more energy

and I did better dealing with RLS...but I didn't sleep more...

When I was 20 over my average weight, I dealt with RLS worse... I had the

same amount of sleep but I felt much, much more tired... It was harder

for me to get the same amount of work done without seriously needing

a nap or more breaks..

The holidays caused me to be up a little but I am still close to ideal... I

am feeling it again as far as energy goes. I have some extra pain as well

in my hips, my knee area... I ate extra sugar, my RLS is starting up earlier

at night and lasting 9 hours.

I have a job so I have to get up and be there on time. I'm doing a huge

Slim Fast Diet...now...just to help me deal with the energy loss. I've

been on that diet for 2- 3 hours... haha... maybe it will work after a week?

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