Restless Legs

[Guest guest]

Hi there!

SparklH2O@... wrote:

" I am asking because I might be confused here.. is this like when I lay

down my limbs twitch enough to wake me at times or is it something else?

I also get this weird feeling like a rush of nerve impulses down to my

feet on left leg from time to time. When this happens I am woken up and

I try to bend my toes down (most toes are fused so they don't bend) to

stop the sensation, but I know in my head I have to physically get up

and move around some it seems to stop, but as soon as I lay back down it

starts up. "

, I get this too. I call it " restless legs " but its not like the

restless legs that non-fibro people get. A doctor once told me that the

reason my symptoms get worse when I'm trying to sleep is because it is

quiet and I'm are noticing them more - this makes some sense as I am

really good at blocking throughout the day. Sometimes I don't know how

bad I hurt until someone touches me, know what I mean? I don't really

have any good ideas on how to stop it but I sure understand what your

going through - been there often enough myself! Pain and sleep meds

never helped with this at all. Sometimes in frustration I beat on my

thighs with a wooden massage thingie hoping that will make them too

tired to jump around like that. When I have long bouts of insomnia, my

legs are usually why. My legs getting like that and the insomnia are

probably the worse parts of this for me. When I had it really, really

bad, the only thing I could do was stay awake until I was so exhausted

that I had no choice but to sleep no matter what my body said. I do not

recommend that approach! LOL! We need our sleep!

Are you still taking caffeine?? If so, get off it asap. That should

help a little. If you have TENS unit, you could try that too, although

they don't feel very good on bony parts of the body. I usually use some

sort of relaxation tape or self-hypnosis when it is really bad. A

relaxing tea before sleep might help a little. And a massage is always

helpful if you can get one! I used to have a friend who would gently

rub on my back, you know - the way that makes your skin tingle and gives

you goose bumps. That would distract me just enough so I could fall

asleep. She once did that for hours on end because it had been so long

since I had gotten more than an hour or two of sleep at a time. Now

that's a good friend!!

Are you still trying to over do it?? I haven't had much restless legs

for a while but I gave up on trying to work after my daughter was born

two years ago. I figured if I only had 4 or 5 good hours a day, I would

spend them on her and not some stupid employer with no sympathy for my

condition. The best thing someone with Fibro can do for themselves is

learn how to say NO!! If you don't feel like doing something or going

somewhere, DON'T GO!! This is hard to do, especially if your an active

person like I was but I am much more in control of this stupid dis-ease

now then I was when I was still trying to work and act like I wasn't

sick. I was diagnosed almost 10 years ago and have only begun to

understand what helps and what doesn't in the last few years. I limit

my activities ALOT and people don't understand and call me lazy or

worse, but I feel alot better.

Here is the link for the hypnosis tapes I use. Check them out - they

aren't' expensive, they have a tape for just everything and I swear by

them. Start with Relieve Stress and Anxiety to learn the method and

then you will be able to do it anywhere, anytime. I started using them

years ago when I wanted to get off the constant dose of Flexeril that

they had me on. http://www.thepotentialsunlimited.com/

Well I hope this helps a little.

Blessings to all!

Femme