Re: RLS-Trauma induced Jane/Connie

February 7, 1999

You said:

First of all, I don't know how a determination is made that one's RLS

is " genetic " ... I mean have they identified a specific gene for RLS?

Is RLS assumed to be genetic if it develops in childhood or in the

absence of trauma??

Good question, Jane.....

I don't think there is any way you can say whether a person has genetic or

trauma induced RLS in most cases. As far as I know, the only evidence from

research so far is extraordinary excitability of the spinal cord.

If a person has never had rls........has an injury to his back.........then

begins having it..........that is pretty well defined. I don't feel that

having rls in childhood means as much here as whether or not other people in

your family have had it......although quite often genetic rls does begin in

childhood. There are several people in our group who have children who are

suffering with this affliction. By the same token, there are some who had it

in childhood, but no one else in their family ever had it.

I kind of feel that I fall into both classes. I don't think I had it in

childhood, but now people are saying that if you were one of those children

who couldn't sit still......always jiggled your legs or sat on them......then

you might have had it at that time. I just don't remember being aware of a

particular, definable stress with rls in childhood....but I did all of the

above. I have quite a few aunts with it, my mother, and my son. I also have

trauma to my back and legs from herniated disks, scar tissue, arthritis and

fibromyalgia.

As I examine my past, I realize that I had it at a much younger age than I

thought I did........ I recall sitting in meetings and wondering why all of

the other people didn't have to keep crossing and uncrossing their legs and

moving them about. It did not begin seriously invading my sleep until I was

40........and then it just got progressively worse.

I suppose there may come a day when they do find a gene that defines

RLS.......but I don't think that time has come yet.

Connie, 61, land

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