I enjoyed the Seven Things meme so much that I’ve decided to continue sharing my oddities with all of you.

I have Restless Leg Syndrome.  It’s not a formal diagnosis, mainly because there is no true diagnosis of RLS, but trust me that it’s very real, it’s very uncomfortable, and sometimes painful.

What are the symptoms?  For me it’s basically an uncontrollable urge to move, shake, or bounce my legs.  Even as I type this, my leg right leg is bouncing around more than Michael J. Fox on a trampoline.  Many other sufferers describe what they feel as a  “creepy crawly” feeling, like bugs crawling around under their skin; I have never felt that (thank god).  Most often I just notice my leg(s) bouncing uncontrollably at random times.  Frequently, while in meetings at work, someone will question why the table is shaking, and it’s usually because my leg is bouncing on one of the table legs.  It’s often awkward at restaurants when everyone notices ripples on the surface of their drinks.  My RLS starts whenever it wants, and most times I don’t notice the shaking until someone points it out.  Once I’ve noticed the shaking, I can consciously stop it, but I have to concentrate on only that action; once my thoughts transfer back to whatever I was doing, the shaking starts anew.

The other major symptom is a painful tightness in areas of my legs, most commonly in the area surrounding my ankles, but also in my calves and thighs.  This occurs mostly in the evenings and at night.  I don’t know how exactly to explain this pain.  Often, around my achilles and down the outer edge of my chins to the top of my feet, it feels like there is some sort of physical pressure that won’t go away.  Shaking and moving my legs helps to temporarily disperse the pressure, but it returns as soon as I stop shaking.  Sometimes I can do stretches that provide a bit of relief, but it doesn’t last long.  When the pain is in my thighs and calves, I find what works best for me is to gently pound/knead/massage the area that hurts.  It’s not sharp pain - just a constant pressure.  It’s not throbbing; it just shows up, sticks around while I shake and stretch, and then eventually vanishes.

Several nights a week it keeps me from falling asleep.  I’ve tried all sorts of different so-called bedtime remedies: sleeping on my side with a pillow between my legs, sleeping on my back with my legs supported in the air higher than my torso, sleeping on my stomach with my feet pointing down hanging off the end of the bed, or even on my back with my legs, bent at the knee, dangling over the end of the bed.  None of these work very well, mostly because they are so unnatural.  Usually the only thing that works is for me to lay on my back with my legs crossed at the ankles; I then wiggle my feet and rub my ankles together.  I can’t sleep with a lot of covers, as the increased weight only adds to the pressure on my legs and ankles, which only serves to make the symptoms worse.  It goes without saying that I can’t have my covers tucked in anywhere on the bed (this caused annoyances when sharing a bed in past relationships); I used to describe it by saying “my feet need to be free.”

At this point am I very interested in receiving acupuncture.  There have been a few small studies that suggest acupuncture can provide minor relief of symptoms, but nothing is concrete.  One of the major drawbacks to acupuncture is that it can’t be applied while the symptoms are present, both because the shaking would make application impossible, and because the pressure symptom is mostly present near bedtime - when acupuncturists are not available.  Pain relievers are no help, though sleeping aids can be somewhat effective by forcing my body to shut down and fall asleep before the symptoms get out of hand.

The hypochondriac in me worries that there could be a link to Parkinson’s Disease, from which my grandmother suffered for the greater portion of her eldest years before passing away.  However, there has been no direct link between RLS and Parkinson’s, nor has there been any substantial evidence that Parkinson’s is hereditary.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep shaking.  It’s a shame that I hate dancing.