Restless Leg Syndrome – Knowing more about this Sleep Disorder

Information On Restless Leg Syndrome

Restless Leg syndrome is a type of sleep disorder affecting about 15 percent of population of adults more commonly in men than women. It is seen to occur more in the elderly population. Some systemic conditions like arthritis, diabetes and varicose veins predispose the chances of onset of this syndrome.

Restless Legs Syndrome Symptoms

The characteristic trait of this syndrome as the name suggests is a tendency to move the limbs, especially the lower limbs. These are sometimes accompanied by painful feelings. The sensation felt by people is varied and may range from being itching, pulling or a tingling feeling while some describe it as burning or pricking sensation. There are many who describe it as a crawling feeling.

The characteristic sensations of this syndrome can happen either at some point in the day or at night.

If the sensations are felt during the night it badly affects the sleep. The occurrence of the symptoms will make the person wake up and leave the bed and hinder sleep. Since the sleep gets affected, the person usually feels very sleepy during the day.

The social life of people suffering from this syndrome usually gets affected due to the symptoms seen as well as due to the fatigue they experience constantly. For this reason, you will not see them dining out, at the movies or at a concert or making a long trip. They often get perturbed at the idea of sitting at a work-related meeting. It is quite common to see people suffering from this disorder also experiencing depression.

Restless leg syndrome has been attributed to be caused as a result of disruption of reflex and sensation pathways in the brain and is frequently seen to have a hereditary link associated with it.

There is no one test to give the final diagnosis of restless leg syndrome. Many a times, the physician determines that the person is suffering from this problem based on the symptoms in addition to other factors like family history, physical examination and results from blood lab tests. Neurological examination done routinely is inconclusive for a diagnosis as no abnormalities will be usually detected.

Treatment & Medications

The treatment for this condition is mainly intended to help in bringing the symptoms of this condition under proper control. As anemia is believed to be one of the associated causes for the condition, the people suffering from this condition are frequently prescribed supplements containing iron. Some lifestyle changes like diet regulation, reducing caffeine intake and alcohol abstinence along with relaxation methods have been advised to help these people successfully.

The treatment is done with medication like anticonvulsants, benzodiazepines, dopamine drugs and opioid analgesics. Although these drugs do not help in providing a total cure to the condition they help in keeping the symptoms under check. For this reason, people suffering from this condition often need to take these drugs through out their lives.

Periodic limb movement disorder (PMLD) is one more sleep disorder that is quite similar to restless leg syndrome. The main difference between the two is that PMLD occurs only while the person is sleeping while restless leg syndrome can occur at any point of time. Also, the movements that occur in restless leg syndrome are voluntary while it is involuntary in PMLD. But, the good news is that both the syndromes can be managed by inducing the right treatment procedures