I have suffered for many years from restless legs.  About 6 years ago my primary doctor at the time also put me on Requip.  fter a few years I had to have it changed to Mirapex.  In 2007-2008 I was at the emergency room once a month due to an inability to sleep for three or more days.  I also have chronic pain and arthritis.  My pain doctor put me on dilaudid, small dose and I have not spoent any time in the past year at the emergency room due to this condition.  I hope people keep their primary and pain dr.s advized of what happens with them, they could receive better care from all. 

teero09

11/ 1/09 3:14pm

thank you for your comment,  restless legs is not a topic many people know about, you feel so alone because people dont understand it. they just say go to bed, they dont realize that you cant do that, your legs wont let you.

do you fall down alot too??? sometimes when my fibro and arthritus get bad at the same time i just fall alot. no one knows why. it just seems like im not picking up my feet or something. they just classify me as a high risk faller.

i just keep going though, pick myself up and keep going.  have a great day  and be blessed

itbgct

11/ 2/09 3:05am

My husband helped with the diagnosis of my restless legs.  I just thought it part of fibro and did not realize that I was actually kicking me in my sleep.  He happened to be with my while seeing my sleep specialist.  My doctor acted like my husband had just turned the lights on for me.  This was over 10 years ago.  I took several combinations of Parkinson's medications, and I currently take Mirapex.  There have been times when I had to walk the floors because I could not even sit and unfortunately we were at the home of friends.  I was so embarassed because I could not stay seated. It was then that my doctor advised me to up my dosage and take in day if I continued to have problems like that.  Thank goodness those have stopped. I am on just one tablet per day and it seems to be controlling the restless legs.  I have now started having something like seizures in my sleep where I violently move my arms and legs.  My husband observes and said that it starts from my face and moves down my body. My eyes roll all the way to the side and there are odd expressions on my face and my mouth twitches along with my eyes rolling back and forth. Then the violent movements of my arms and legs begin.  I have even tried pulling out his hair, but I don't seem to be aware of any of this. It is very scary to both of us.  I'm just tired of seeing doctors

and I'm afraid they may not believe my husband.  I've gotten afraid to try to sleep because I don't want this happening to me. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this?  I feel like I am some type of a freak, and I'm too embarassed to tell anyone that I know.

I was diagnosed with RLS during my third sleep study when the sleep specialists saw my legs moving all night.  While I was being treated for RSDS a few years ago my pain mgmt. doc was trying to wean me off of the duragesic patch that I was on for pain.

Whenever the drug was almost completely out of my system I was getting these wierd sensations, tingling in my feet and legs.  I would have to walk the floors to relieve it.  All the time I thought it was withdrawals from the meds and it was RLS.  Finally during a sleep study for my sleep apnea I was diagnosed with RLS and was given Mirapex for it.  I take it at night before I go to bed, but sometimes during the day especially late afternoon when I am sitting relaxing my legs act up so I get up and walk around the house.  I don't think the RSDS, med withdrawal or pain had anything to do with the RLS.  It's just something I developed and didn't know about it until the Duragesic I was on was out of my system and had stopped repressing the symptoms of the RLS.

I realize now that my Dad had this also.  Thinking back on how restless he was and how my Mom and stepmom complained how much he moved at night I'm sure he also had it but back then it wasn't known about.  I have read that it can run in families so now I know where I got it from.  It's one of those annoying diseases that can be controlled with medication.  So if your legs are always moving or you feel like you have to always move them, talk to your doctor there is something that can help you.  I am just glad it isn't painful since I already have Rheumatoid Arthritis.