Re: RLS/Questions

December 10, 1998

Hi

Welcome aboard. You are indeed fortunate to be able to sleep through the

sensations of RLS. I guess being an old salt teaches you to sleep

through anything except your watch. It is common not to get symptoms of

RLS when you are behind the wheel rather than a passenger. I feel that

the active effort of driving a car is enough to stop the symptoms from

occurring, with a contribution of the constant movement of your feet.

Try driving in cruise control and see what happens. :-)

The only way to find out whether a doc knows about RLS, unless he/she is

an accepted expert, is to arm yourself with facts about RLS, ask

questions and see whether the answers agree with what you have learned.

The best site for medical information about RLS that I have found on the

web is: http://www.wemove.org> (Some typos, but good information)

The RLS Foundation site is also good and it has many links to other

The question of exercise and RLS frequently arises. The going philosophy

is that moderate exercise is good, but strenuous exercise aggravates

RLS.

The feelings of loss of strength in the legs is not unusual in RLS but

have the neurologist check it out to make sure nothing else is going on.

If you do not have excessive daytime sleepiness or get complaints that

your legs are kicking while you are asleep, you probably do not have

significant periodic leg movements (PLMs) and there is no need to have a

sleep study. A sleep study contributes nothing to the diagnosis or

treatment of RLS.

Any other questions, just ask.

I appreciate the sainthood offer, but the way I understand it, you have

to be dead for 50 years before you can be canonized. If it's my choice,

I'll stay around a little while longer, but thanks.

Happy holidays

Dr. Levin

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