Legs and Lungs: Are My Asthma and RLS Connected?

I was in to see my general practitioner (GP) last week, and he said something that inspired today’s article.

He’s a new guy I just started seeing because I moved far away from my regular physician's office. I was just there to get a prescription for inhalers, so this was supposed to be a simple and very quick visit.

However, that wasn't the case; he sat there looking at my file on his computer for what seemed like ages. I could make out his lips moving beneath his face mask.

He's a soliloquist, just like me, I thought. 

I found my new doctor fascinating

His glasses were perched on the tip of his nose, fogging up badly because his mask was too tight, looking like they were about to hit the floor at any moment and shatter into a million small pieces. They never did.

He looked like he had seen quite a lot and each beauty line on the part of his face that wasn’t covered by a mask told stories of adventures and experience. I smiled to myself. The writer in me found him quite fascinating.

Oh, the stories he could tell!

I would love to sit by a fireplace and listen to him regale me with tales of places he’d been and things he’d done. I had a feeling it would be quite the story.

At this point, we were both lost in our individual thoughts. I didn't notice when he finally tore his gaze away from his computer and suddenly cleared his voice, causing me to look up abruptly. He finally removed his glasses and cleaned the fog.

Then he asked about my RLS

“Ms. Emelogu,” he said with a smile. “I know you came in to get a prescription for your inhalers, but whenever I get new patients, I like to look at their medical history.”

He paused as if he was expecting some sort of reply from me. I just nodded and managed a “Hmmm” to encourage him to keep talking.

"I see that asides from asthma, you also have restless legs syndrome (RLS)?”

That sounded like a question, so I replied, “Yes, sir, I do have RLS.”

My curiosity was piqued

“Interesting, very interesting.”

We got talking in-depth, and I revealed to him that I was born with asthma, and it was hereditary from my dad’s side of the family and that my RLS also surfaced very early in childhood.

Then he told me something very interesting that also piqued my interest.

Is there an asthma connection?

“Some patients I’ve met with RLS, my own wife inclusive, were also born with asthma. I wonder if there’s a relationship between infant asthma and early-onset RLS.”

He smiled at me again and proceeded to write the prescription for inhalers, but at this point, I was deep in thoughts. A few people I’ve met that have RLS also had asthma as babies. Could there be a correlation? I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Continuing my research

Once I got home, I started reading and researching and realized this was a thing! How have I never made this connection, ever? The 2 things that have plagued me all my life, and in the case of asthma, almost killed me a time or two – of course, it is totally possible they are related!

Back to see the doctor

I made an appointment the next day to see my new GP again to discuss this further. He said he’d been noticing it for quite a while now. Of course, there are loads of people with RLS who do not have asthma, but because RLS is a very complicated illness with no known cause, it may be caused by different things for different people, and in my case, the causative factor might have been my asthma.

A new approach to my asthma treatment

For the longest time, I had opted not to actively treat my asthma with pills but to use inhalers if and when needed. My GP said he had seen some improvement with RLS in asthmatic patients when treated with pills as opposed to inhalers and asked if I’d be willing to give it a whirl.

Of course, I said yes. My RLS has been getting increasingly worse and I’m willing to try any legitimate treatment that might help without affecting my health in some other way.

Two birds, one stone?

So if I can kill asthma and RLS with one stone, why not? We’ll see how that goes. If it works, I’d be over the moon. If it doesn’t (yes, I try to let myself down easy), it might be worth it for someone else, which is why we write about our experiences. Till my next adventure.