Loneliness and Those Who Can't Understand

It’s 22:57, I have been in bed for 57 minutes, for all of those 57 minutes I have felt uncomfortable and creepy.

Guess what? It’s a restless legs syndrome (RLS) night again.

Laying in bed with the dog snoring her head off in an "easy come, easy go" manner, she is all stretched out. Luckily, she doesn’t know how much I envy her! Belle doesn’t suffer from anything other than "Where’s my food?" and "When can I sleep?"

RLS is something she knows nothing about. Lucky girl.

New bed, same problem

Then there’s my husband. I may have mentioned him a few times so far. He of the new bed! It’s not like a new bed would solve my issues though. RLS doesn’t really matter if you're lying down or standing up. It’s not something you can argue with, barter with, or sell your soul to for a bit of peace once in a while. I’d happily sell my soul right now for a decent night's sleep. I’ve forgotten what unbroken sleep feels like.

Oh, to sleep like a child again!

Remember when you were a child? You’d cry and complain when your parents put you to bed, but 12 hours later you’d wake up, full of the joys of spring, totally refreshed!

These days I just drag my butt out of bed with the same enthusiasm I dragged it into bed 12 hours earlier!

Lonely nights

Do you have a partner who understands your plight? I don’t. They don’t understand the loneliness of 3 a.m. Nobody else is awake. You're pacing the house trying to be quiet so as to wake anyone.

You use your mobile phone to communicate with the world outside your 4 walls. You make acquaintances and have a laugh. Then you use your phone a little too much for your partner's liking. He complains about you always being on your phone! The thing is, your world is now inside that phone.

Connected through technology

When the internet started making a huge dent in our lives, I was struggling with loneliness then. Chat rooms filled the hole in my life, leading to a few rash, family-destroying decisions.

Once RLS raised its ugly head, technology had been compacted into mobile phones, able to be taken anywhere. This meant we could keep in contact with our friends 24/7, which helps when you do not have someone at home that understands your symptoms. You can find others that can sympathise without thinking you are over exaggerating or faking symptoms.

How to support a partner who has RLS

Try and keep control of the green-eyed monster when your other half is discussing weird sensations online with someone you don't know. They are simply trying to make sense of a condition that may be new to them or thrashing out a condition they have suffered from for years.

Or better still, read some blog posts. Speak to others who have the same condition. Buy a book. Educate yourself so your partner doesn't have to find solace from someone else.

If we all cared enough to find out about each other's conditions, then there wouldn't be people out there in awful states of mental health, in my honest opinion.

Do people in your life understand RLS? Where do you find support? Has technology helped you find greater connection? Share with us in the comments below.