I Stopped My RLS-No Meds

I could not stop my RLS and have been without sleep that I was exhausted. Walking for so long hoping to tire my legs and just wanted to go to sleep. Nothing worked. I stayed so sleepy and tired during the day and was afraid to drive in fear of falling asleep at the wheel.

I was thinking, "This must be a nerve problem because it just did not make sense for my legs to feel like someone was sitting on my legs all the time and I was trying to move them and could not. Yet I could move my legs just fine. It felt worse in my ankles but caused my whole leg to have very uncomfortable sensation too. It was a form of torture to me.

I started thinking about my TENS unit that I have for Dystonia in my neck and shoulders, and how it stops the nerves to make the sensation bearable.

My TENS unit is at least 15 years old and still works great. It has two leads with each lead having two hooks up for the sticky pads that you attach to your skin. Even though I may not have had it hooked up right, I took one lead to each knee, and put the pads to the side of each knee; placing each adhesive electrode in the dip just below my knee cap.

Then I turned on my TENS unit to the knee button, and first started at 3.0 as my leg got accustomed to the feeling. Then I turned it up to 4.0.

I laid there for a few minutes and was watching TV just hoping that this would stop it. I did not feel the sensations of RLS in my ankles, and was afraid it would over ride the electrical sensations. But just in a few minutes, I did not really notice the electrical sensations and to my surprise, I did not have any RLS sensations at all. As I watched TV, I fell off to sleep, and woke up early this morning feeling great.

I have tried this for two nights now and each night I did this, I did not have the RLS in my legs and it did not destroy my sleep.

I am so thankful that I thought of the TENS unit as I have been in tears dreading night because it meant it would be soon for me to lay down and try to sleep which turned into what felt like a 10 mile walk as I paced to get rid of the pain.

Even though I may not have had the electrodes set up correctly for one spot on your body to sort of criss cross the current it sent, the sensation of the light electrical impulses over rode the RLS.

I wanted to share this with everyone and if you have a TENS unit, give this a try and see if it stops the nerves from destroying a normal night of sleep.

I had taken two different drugs for this problem. One was Gabapentin, which it says take 3 a day. The other was Pramipexole. I had RLS occasionally in the past and the Pramipexole helped. But I am a month out from having a total knee replacement and the RLS hit me so hard each night, it was unbearable.

I looked on Amazon and their best seller is around $38.00 You would want to buy extra electrodes as the sticky pads last for a short time. You want to take a little bit of alcohol and rub it on your skin where you are going to place the electrode, and the oil will be removed from your skin and the sticky pads will last longer for using.

I had to share this as I finally found relief.