Gender bender

[Guest guest]

Several people have asked in private emails, so I will set everyone

straight. I, Nat Dean, am a woman. Read on if you want to know more about

my case of RLS and other problems, or delete HERE.

I am 43, married, no kids, have had RLS most of my life (early on it was

called " growing pains, " and remember many night up with my patient mother,

crying and twitching with painful spasms in my legs, her lovingly drawing a

warm bath just to over my legs), live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, spouse is

from here, so we came back home for him, but I am from California, both

Northern and Southern, and lived in New York City, Arizona, Florida, and

Washington State.

To make this more RLS information than just chat, besides RLS, I have a

brain injury sustained in a car accident in 1984, have chronic pain and

therefore chronic depression. I use an assistance or service dog to get

around, and I am on a lot of meds for all of this plus the RLS, which I have

had most of my life. My nighttime RLS is controlled, once I can fall

asleep, which can take between 20 minutes and 2 hours.

The core drug that does it for night control is Sinemet 10/100 which I have

taken for many, many years without problems, but it is not effective in the

daytime. I sometimes use Ambien if I just can't get the RLS under control

and get to sleep, I take 5-10mg. I also take Baclofen 20mg 3 times a day

for RLS and lingering back pain from the accident,, and during the day take

oxycontin (40mg, 40 mg, 10 mg) 3 times a day and then periodically

(sometimes a lot and sometimes less) Vicoden ES every 4 hours as needs for

breakthrough pain. When I just can't take the pain anymore and I have a

" pain crisis " I take 4mg of Dilaudid... keeps me out of the emergency room

for a shot of Demerol. I have pain in my head, my back, and my tailbone

area/lower, lower back area.

Before I get to sleep, I have to swing my legs, walk, or rub my feet

together. Drives spouse nuts. As soon as I wake up, the rubbing of feet

together, swinging leg, need to walk, starts up all over again, but not as

bad as the nighttime RLS I used to have. (covers all over the place, severe

jerking of legs, having to get up and take hot baths, crying in pain just

trying to get to sleep, pacing, thrashing, only a few hours of sleep a

night, then exhausted during the day).

My doctor, armed with a bunch of stuff I have gotten from you guys and other

sites, is working on something that can be compatible with what I am taking

in all and control the daytime RLS, I would LOVE to be free of it. It is

humiliating in public and uncomfortable to me. We are considering a low

dose of mirapex but he is doing more research about it and the drug

compatabilty issue. He is the doctor who finally gave me a diagnosis of RLS

about 13 years ago. That is my basic story. I don't have a local support

group here, but before I moved here I went to the Sarasota, Florida one that

has a Web page with Thelma Brandt. It is listed under Support Groups in the

RLS Foundation Web Page under Florida. It was good, we had a lot of medical

guest speakers and field trips to sleep labs in the area.

I appreciate this group and have learned a lot more about new things to try,

and about a lot of helpful sites. I thank Jodi beyond words. It is hard

not to have a local support group, this helps a lot... except when people

are fighting among themselves. Would rather they keep that stuff private,

or try to. If it is just some misunderstanding. Say OK, and get on with it.

Thanks for letting me in, I am a relatively new member, and appreciate you

folks a great deal.

Yours, Ms. Nat Dean

P.S. Sorry I went on for so long, but here I am, the big picture.

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