Isolation and RLS

As of late, my RLS has been taking a toll on my daytime activities.

Sleep seems virtually impossible. Between the torture of my legs, the lifespan of my mattress, and the heat of the weather, I am finding myself awake all night and asleep all day.

My husband and I are like ships passing in the night

As my symptoms lessen, the air conditioning starts to penetrate the fog of heat that is lingering throughout the house, and my husband finally foregoes his grasp on the decent bed. I can find relief sprawling, starfish-like, in the middle of the bed, savoring the newly generated blanket of cool air that drapes itself across me whilst my body melts into the mattress.

The next thing I know, I am waking from an 8-hour slumber. My husband and I are like ships that pass in the night, spending a few moments together before he takes charge of the bed again and I assume my pacing of the carpet in the wee small hours.

When everyone you would normally reach out to is asleep

When you are finding your days turned on their head by RLS, the accessibility of the internet and its services can be utterly decimated. Systems inevitably have to update, choosing the a.m. to run their security checks. Implementing new item uploads and data reconfiguration means finding several websites out of service. Even now, I am typing this at 5 AM on a Sunday. I had trouble logging into my account, proving that not even WordPress is exempt from this torture.

All those lucky people out there with normal sleep patterns that you may reach out to for a conversation when times are tough, and you need to distract yourself, are asleep! I mean, how very dare they! Do they not know I am having trouble sleeping and need constant companionship?! They are contemptuous!

The feeling of isolation can be overwhelming

Joking aside, when your usual RLS distraction tactics are out of order, the need to have someone close to you is immense — especially as social media has taken a turn for the worse over the last few years, the feeling of isolation can be overwhelming. When you rely on other people to be there to assist in clearing your boredom, the resources are few and far between.

Luckily, time zones mean there should always be people awake, even if you don’t seem to have access to them. When I am awake at 3 AM, Australia should be at 3 PM, even if there seems to be no way to communicate with them! I really must look into more .au websites!

The difficulty of finding support on social media

Are we becoming more self-absorbed as time progresses? As the world seems to be taking a more ‘and why should I care?!’ approach to life, do we have to take it upon ourselves to reach out to other communities, taking the first step on the road to acceptance?

Over the last 2 years, my world seems to have shrunk smaller and smaller — Facebook friends dropping away (or being removed!), Twitter distintegrating into a septic pool of bitter and twisted individuals, and Instagram seeming to be clique south-central, put aside for the ‘Beautiful People’, or, at the very least, those portraying a beautiful life!

Support those that need help, no matter what their situation.

Do you struggle with feelings of loneliness or isolation in managing your RLS from day to day? Get support from our community by starting or joining a forum discussion!