RLS and COVID Fatigue

We don’t know where my son was exposed to COVID-19, but he went down with the Omicron wave last week. He’s vaccinated and, fortunately, didn’t get any sicker than he does with a cold; but, of course, it meant a week at home, bored, sleepy, cranky, demanding, and all-around unhappy.

No one was surprised when I tested positive that Friday. I didn’t have symptoms yet beyond what could be chalked up to spending a week at home with a sick kid and feeling stressed about the state of the world, but I decided to test because of the known exposure. Sure enough, the pink line was there and I canceled my weekend plans.

My COVID fatigue was made worse by my restless legs

As I sat around feeling kinda sorry for myself on Friday night, I realized I also did feel more fatigued than made sense considering the amount of rest I’d been getting. I was semi-depressed as a state of being but also because of my status as one of the many who have come down with the plague.

Not only that, but my restless legs were having a field day — or they wished they were having a field day, that is, because they were kicking and wiggling like crazy. My hip flexors were crazy tight and my IT band was hot with fascia tension.

I was up all night with RLS, nightmares, and heartburn

I put myself to bed since that usually calms down my restless legs when I’m overtired. I took my magnesium gummies and hoped for the best.

The best was not yet to come. I was up all night, wiggling, tossing, turning, kicking, flopping. I had nightmares and heartburn, too, which didn’t help things.

I woke up as the sun was rising around 7 AM angry with fatigue, still depressed, and so, so tight. My back hurt and my legs were in pain and I had a headache that felt like I was oxygen-deprived. Welcome to COVID-time. I had chills and felt simultaneously queasy and hungry. Even though I wanted to turn over and go back to sleep, I was wide awake.

In the morning, I decided to seize the moment

After coffee and oatmeal, which did help the chills, stomach issues, and headache, I leashed up the dog and we took my restless legs on a walk. I was more out of breath than usual walking up the hill on my street — but I wasn’t coughing and didn’t even have a stuffy nose, the main symptoms my son experienced. This was mild, or the worst hadn’t arrived yet.

I decided to seize the moment and go for a long walk, but because I didn’t want to handle any more hill walking, I stuck to the streets in my neighborhood instead of taking the trail up to the summit. I figured the weather was good enough and I might feel worse later, so I might as well.

My restless legs and COVID fatigue were better after another walk

I got tired and came home, did some chores and cooking, and attempted to take a nap because I did feel so tired. My restless legs declined in no uncertain terms. Frustrated, I took the dog on another walk. It was sunny. I could have sworn this would be our late afternoon pre-dinner walk, but no, it was only 12:30 PM.

An hour later, my restless legs finally stopped their yapping and we came home. The dog asked for dinner, also confused by our timing, and I hoped I’d worn myself out enough to earn a nice night’s sleep later.