Lucy Hoekstra

Lucy was previously a health leader on RestlessLegsSyndrome.Sleep-Disorders.net.

My name is Lucy Hoekstra and I’m from the Netherlands. My passport says I’m 33 years old, but most of the time I feel like I’m 23, Sometimes, however, my body makes me feel like I’m 93. I have Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), this is a neurological, sleep disorder. This means sometimes I sleep very poorly and I wake up tired and with a very sore body.

The first symptoms started when I was a teenager, but at that time I didn’t know what it was. After a terrible experience during a study trip I went to our family doctor. He told me that is was probably stress and that I need to relax more. After that visit it took another 10 years to finally get the right diagnose and treatment, this was in 2016. After the diagnosis I found out that there is not a lot of information about RLS and not a lot of people, not even doctors, know what RLS means. So I try to tell the world what RLS is and how it affects your daily life. In 2019 I did a 574km walking trip to raise awareness for RLS. It was a good way combine one of my hobbies, walking and telling the world about RLS. Luckily I had help from different patient organizations throughout Europa and two European organization for RLS and neurological disorders in general. I still work with them to reach our goal for RLS. We are already thinking about some new ‘projects’. You can follow this on Instagram via: Move4RLS.

At this moment I’m between jobs, but that doesn’t mean that I’m sitting at home. I do a lot of volunteer work for the Red Cross and I try to stay fit by running, swimming and walking. If I still have some time left I read a book and cuddle my cats.

Click here to read all of Lucy's articles on RestlessLegsSyndrome.Sleep-Disorders.net