[QUOTE=Liberal]
Bracing myself against the usual half-dozen suspects who will descend to torture me, I’d like to point out the irony from my perspective of banning a person who makes light of restless leg syndrom while tolerating people who make light of progressive emphysema (which I have). Like here, for example. Not only am I not dying fast enough to suit some people, but I was suspended a couple of years ago for the mere mention of it in passing simply because in the minds of various idiots I couldn’t possibly have been doing anything other than fishing for sympathy. I mean Jesus.
[/QUOTE]
Is that what the fuck that was all about?
I don’t know what the hell is up with Sapo. I’m not going to say much except I already thought his behavior was appalling in that thread, and this makes it only worse.
But my point was, we don’t ban valid members for making insults, we ban guests for ONLY making insults (or predominantly anyway).
To hijack the thread back to something resembling the OP, does anyone else get a big laugh from the new RLS drug they’re advertising?
“Some users may experience uncontrollable urges to gamble or engage in risky sexual behavior. If you experience this while using Whatsitsname, call your doctor immediately.”
Seems like something where the cure is worse than the actual disease, although those who have RLS may differ in that opinion. But seriously, gambling or sex addiction as a side effect? It’s hard for me to wrap my head around.
[QUOTE=Drain Bead]
To hijack the thread back to something resembling the OP, does anyone else get a big laugh from the new RLS drug they’re advertising?
“Some users may experience uncontrollable urges to gamble or engage in risky sexual behavior. If you experience this while using Whatsitsname, call your doctor immediately.”
Seems like something where the cure is worse than the actual disease, although those who have RLS may differ in that opinion. But seriously, gambling or sex addiction as a side effect? It’s hard for me to wrap my head around.
[/QUOTE]
Oh, so THAT was the medication that supposedly had those as a side affect. Da’hell?
But it’s nearly as funny as the Ambien ads for insomnia, that mention drowsiness as a side affect.
[QUOTE=Drain Bead]
To hijack the thread back to something resembling the OP, does anyone else get a big laugh from the new RLS drug they’re advertising?
“Some users may experience uncontrollable urges to gamble or engage in risky sexual behavior. If you experience this while using Whatsitsname, call your doctor immediately.”
Seems like something where the cure is worse than the actual disease, although those who have RLS may differ in that opinion. But seriously, gambling or sex addiction as a side effect? It’s hard for me to wrap my head around.
[/QUOTE]
WHOA!!! That is really awesome. Nothing is stranger than the truth.
I lived with the damned RLS for 28 years before I knew it wasn’t just the way everyone was. I never could understand how people could fall asleep while lying still.
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Clonazepam is one of my anxiety medications. I agree that there are a lot of negatives associated with it, not the least of which are its history of high addiction rates and the body’s tendency to build a tolerance to it. But as a part of an overall treatment, it can be a great help. As a sedative, it works fast, and I take it only when I encounter one of my anxiety triggers. I mention my experience with it because it might be intended to be used the same way with RLS; that is, only with flare-ups. If it isn’t abused, maybe it can be effective.
[/QUOTE]
It worked well for my RLS, but mine was not a severe case. I say “was” because it’s subsided greatly recently, perhaps because I’ve eliminated artificial sweeteners totally from my diet and greatly cut back on refined sugars. Or perhaps that’s totally irrelevant. Anyway, talking half of a 5 mg pill at bedtime when I could feel it starting up worked well for me. Since that wasn’t every night I built no tolerance for it.
About the only time I get it now is occasionally when I’m in the recliner. Annoying, yes, but getting up and walking about usually stops it.
I sympathize greatly with all of you who have bad cases; even a relatively mild case can drive one bonkers.
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Clonazepam is one of my anxiety medications. I agree that there are a lot of negatives associated with it, not the least of which are its history of high addiction rates and the body’s tendency to build a tolerance to it. But as a part of an overall treatment, it can be a great help. As a sedative, it works fast, and I take it only when I encounter one of my anxiety triggers. I mention my experience with it because it might be intended to be used the same way with RLS; that is, only with flare-ups. If it isn’t abused, maybe it can be effective.
[/QUOTE]
Could be. The way they were talking about me using it - regularly, every night (given that my RLS was getting bad enough that I had symptoms every day), tolerance / dependence / leftover wooziness was a real concern. I’ve got a real horror of dependence issues and, given that I’d heard of better choices, it seemed wildly wrong for my situation. I’ve used other meds in that class for one-off things such as dental work and pre-operative nerves with no problems and they worked lalalalalalalovely (zoned me out GOOD) for those.
[QUOTE=Typo Knig]
Could be. The way they were talking about me using it - regularly, every night (given that my RLS was getting bad enough that I had symptoms every day), tolerance / dependence / leftover wooziness was a real concern. I’ve got a real horror of dependence issues and, given that I’d heard of better choices, it seemed wildly wrong for my situation. I’ve used other meds in that class for one-off things such as dental work and pre-operative nerves with no problems and they worked lalalalalalalovely (zoned me out GOOD) for those.
[/QUOTE]
Anyone got a wet noodle handy?
The above, if you haven’t guessed, was posted by me (Mama Zappa), not Typo Knig. :smack: He does indeed suffer from RLS but only in that the poor fellow wound up having to massage my legs for me nearly every night for years.
We all have our burdens to bear. Myself, I haven’t abandoned hope that science will one day find a cure for my Third Leg Syndrome. Please keep me in your prayers.
The side effects of some of the RLS drugs may be worse than the disease, but since my sister takes Mirapex for Parkinson’s and is unable to even begin to function without it, the side effects are just something you deal with. Fortunately, the reduction of inhibition control (which is what that ad really talks about) doesn’t happen too often.
When I was having somewhat more severe RLS, it was long enough ago that the newer medications like Mirapex or Requip weren’t available yet, but Cinemet was mentioned as a possible medication for it. Having watched my father deal with Cinemet for his Parkinson’s, I decided if that was the only option for RLS, I’d rather stay awake all night! Cinemet is a truly awful medication – yes, it’s incredibly effective for Parkinson’s, but you can only take it for about 10 years before the buildup of tolerance causes the dosage necessary to have any effect on Parkinson’s to be poisonous. Which is why so many advanced Parkinson’s patients virtually freeze up; they’ve outlived their medication’s effectiveness.
So I’m glad that they’ve found more effective meds for Parkinson’s AND for RLS!
One of the side effects listed for Mirapex is vivid dreaming, and that is the only side effect I have noticed from it. I have had some really strange dreams, such as dreaming I am in my backyard feeding one of our hockey players to a plant.
Several years ago I accidently stopped taking Paxil. I had similar symptoms to RLS but from what I understand, my symptoms were not as severe as true RLS. Anyone who suffers from this dorky-named syndrome has my sympathy. The leg ticks and jerks were enough to keep my neighbors awake, let alone my poor hub sleeping in the same bed. I can’t even imagine the suffering of true RLS.
About the only time I get it now is occasionally when I’m in the recliner. Annoying, yes, but getting up and walking about usually stops it.
[/QUOTE]
I got a terrible attack on a flight back from New york a few weeks ago. The person sitting next to me must have thought I was nuts, I was doing a slow writhe for hours.
The way I’ve always described it is as a tickle sensation deep inside the muscle, and the only reason I move (writhe, kick, thrash) is to “scratch” the tickle.
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Lib, please, just for once, take your hijack to a new thread. Please.
[/QUOTE]
Inasmuch as that was your second unsolicited comment on the matter, please, just for once, shut the fuck up.
If you don’t mind my asking, are you also diabetic (type 2)? If so, have you eliminated sweets altogether, or just things like corn syrup and white granular sugar? My wife and I were wondering whether the newer organic brown cane sugar would be less of a problem for us.
I talked to my GP about the possibility of trying a nonbenzodiazepine in the event that I developed problems with Clonazepam (which is a benzodiazepine). But since I really don’t have any history of dependencies, he thought we’d be okay. Maybe it would be something you could talk to your doctor about though.
[QUOTE=Stoid]
The way I’ve always described it is as a tickle sensation deep inside the muscle, and the only reason I move (writhe, kick, thrash) is to “scratch” the tickle.
[/QUOTE]
That’s an excellent way of describing it.
It’s a really strange sensation. It’s not pain. It’s almost an annoying absense of pain. Like your annoying older brother wiggling his finger an inch from your face and saying “I’m not touching you!” And there’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t yell “Mooooom! Make him stop!” You just have to lie there and endure it, pretending to try to get to sleep.
[QUOTE=lobstermobster]
I hate to agree with Liberal but I wouldn’t want to live in a world where I can’t joke around about hilarious made up or pointlessly defined illnesses.
[/QUOTE]
I have had this problem for as long as I can remember, and not just at night. During the day I feel the need to move/jiggle my legs.
If you have never experienced it, you can’t know about it, but it still exists. For instance, I do not have Fucking Moron Syndrome, but it is clear that it is *very *real for you and I’m sure it must be difficult to live with. Some people grow out of it when they grow up. For others, they are stuck being assholes all their lives. We can only hope that with time and patience they will find a cure for you.
“Syndrome” just means “collection of signs and symptoms”. We know that there are people who have trouble going to sleep because they can’t keep their legs still, and that those same people tend to have a lot of leg movement during sleep that keeps them the deeper sleep stages. If we want to figure out why it happens and how we can treat it, we have to give it a name so that doctors and researchers can discuss it. I can’t think of a better name than “restless leg syndrome”.
Saying that RLS is “made up” is saying that people don’t have those symptoms, and yet clearly they do. There are a dozen or more people in this thread who have had those symptoms to one degree of severity or another, and who had them long before they had ever seen a commercial or knew what it was called. Are they “making it up”?
I have had these symptoms off and on. It was worst when I was a kid; I couldn’t explain it any better than “my foot hurts”, and the doctor brushed it off as “growing pains”. I would wrap wet washcloths around my feet just to distract me from the sensations. My parents thought I was seeking attention. When I took a sleep medicine elective in med school and heard the term “restless leg syndrome”, I almost cried because it was so great to find out I wasn’t crazy.
There’s no doubt that the commercials have probably exacerbated symptoms in some people and created them anew in others. But IMO, they’ve helped a lot more people understand something that was already happening, and maybe even do something about it.
Elective? (bolding mine). It’s interesting that when you were in med school, this was an elective vs. a core part of some class or another. Might explain why so many docs to this day aren’t as well-informed about sleep issues as folks might wish. I wonder if it’s getting more emphasis in med school lately with all the info about snoring / apnea / RLS etc.
I remember when I first raised the issue of RLS with my primary care doc, I was pleased that she recognized it and knew of using Neurontin to treat it. Even then (2000? 2001?) that wasn’t necessarily the preferred first line of treatment but at least it is a valid option, unlike, say, quinine or SSRI antidepressants (seriously, some folks have been prescribed those, despite the fact that they are known to worsen the symptoms in many/most people!) or benadryl to help sleep (ditto).
[QUOTE=Doctor J quoting lobstermonster (I think)]
I honestly don’t understand this attitude.
[/QUOTE]
To keep the record straight, it was not a part of my attitude. I never hinted, intimated, or said that the syndrome was made up. My (unanswered) question to Giraffe involved selectively banning some people for making light of others’ diseases and misfortunes but not saying squat to other people doing the same thing about at least equally bad diseases and misfortunes. I am confident that RLS is an actual thing, and only unreal in the same sense that the rest of the universe is unreal.
If you don’t mind my asking, are you also diabetic (type 2)? If so, have you eliminated sweets altogether, or just things like corn syrup and white granular sugar? My wife and I were wondering whether the newer organic brown cane sugar would be less of a problem for us.
[/QUOTE]
Not diabetic of either type. I cut way down on the refined sugar (and other carbs) as part of a self-designed diet (smaller portions of healthier food) that since July has taken 30 pounds off (halfway to goal, yay!), and as an effect of the weight loss I’ve seen a number of health improvements. The reduction in RLS, though, started happening more than a year ago, when I got the lorazepam (what my doctor prescribed). Saunders Pharmaceutical Word Book lists “anticonvulsant” as one of the indications for that drug.
I suspect that having better overall health, including getting a lot more of the omega-3 and 6 fatty acids in my diet, has worked together with the (now rarely needed) drug to address the neurological underpinnings of the syndrome in me.