Both conditions are quite real. At their worst, RLS drives a person into a state of mental instability, because it is so harrowing to not know what's going on or how to stop it. RLS is easily missed, because so few physicians are aware of it, and patients think it a weird complaint. The patient endures it for years and compensates in various ways. The most disabling problem is staying up later and later, so total sleep declines.
Many with RLS use drugs or alcohol to sleep, which often compounds the problem. Many physicians have prescribed sedatives or antidepressants for these patients without ever "hearing" about the leg movement part of the sleep complaint. Sedatives are fairly weak treatments for RLS in comparison to well-researched treatments. Antidepressants produce or aggravate RLS or PLMD symptoms.
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