The Telltale Signs After a Night of RLS

I want to talk to you about the issues that we feel when we have woken after finally sleeping with restless legs syndrome (RLS). For me, the most overwhelming feeling is that my legs ache.

When I was young and fit, I ran a 5K fun run to raise money for the special care baby unit that looked after me when I was born. Remembering the aching legs I suffered with after that day is comparable with the way my legs ache after a bad night with RLS.

RLS medications don't always calm my legs

That is the thing they fail to tell you when you are prescribed medication to help relieve your symptoms. It doesn't always work. Occasionally, when a really bad night creeps up on you, the tablets may not work to their full capacity.

Their ability to make you sleep still takes effect, but the ingredients that stop your legs from jumping around the bed, do not.

Achey legs from a night of movement

Who remembers Michael Flatley? The man behind the Riverdance craze. The guy whose legs seem to flail around all on their own without any help from his body? That is me!

Poor Belle, who shares the bed with me, ends up on her pillow up by my head because she has had enough of being shoved from pillar to post by my legs. It is those days that my legs hurt.

Feeling like I sprinted all night long

My calves and quadriceps feel like I have had a session down the gym! (Not that I actually know what that feels like! I have never set foot inside a gym! As you can tell by my physique!). My ankles, in which I suffer Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), are tense, sensitive to any amount of flexing, placing my feet flat on the floor causes me physical pain.

Once I have sat on the edge of the bed for 10 minutes or so, the comprehension comes to mind that I was, in fact, in bed asleep for the last 4 hours.

The reason my legs hurt is because I have been practically sprinting around in my sleep, obviously trying to make progress in my training for next year's 10K run!

What causes my RLS to act up?

It is not until I think about it that I can actually pinpoint the times when my RLS gets increasingly more agitated, usually when I am anxious about something. Being of an extremely anxious nature generally, I find myself in a state of panic 24/7. The reason could be from microscopic to humungous in size.

RLS, insomnia, and anxiety

You may know someone such as myself. Forever asking if you are okay, as we constantly worry that something is going to go wrong, even though there is no proof that is the case. Quite often my RLS disrupts my sleep to the point of insomnia, which then exacerbates my anxiety and depression.

I always wish I could put all my symptoms onto my husband for 24 hours. Just so he could feel what I do. So that instead of saying he understands and actually has no real idea, he could physically feel the pain and distress. This is in no way meant in malice, just a practical wish.

How do you feel after a night of RLS? Do you also have periodic limb movement disorder? Share with us in the comments below.