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Leg jerks and RLS


Posted by GRF on September 24, 1997 at 22:28:49:

I have had "busy" legs for as long as I can remember,
but it was never more than that. Over the past two
years though, I have developed (and it's getting worse)
some strangeness that I have come to know (through
Internet research) as RLS and PLMS. The symptoms I
have experienced have caused me relationship problems,
discomfort and embarrassment.

It started out as simple discomfort in the legs (while
I was awake) which caused me to cognitively keep my
legs moving in some type of motion. My wife then
started making comments about how restless I was when
I was asleep. It stayed this way for about a half
year. Then things got worse.

Every evening when I started to relax I found my legs
twitching, this was not uncomfortable but it was
embarrassing (my family felt I was doing it purposely).
It was not long thereafter that my wife started
accusing me of having sexually based dreams in which
I was acting out the "act" while I was asleep. When
my wife would wake me, I had no memory of dreams nor
did I have an erection.

Today, my twitching has turned into "jerking", and it
happens any time at any place where I find myself
relaxing/shutting down. The jerks are powerful enough
that they will knock my Pomeranian off of my lap. I've
also had the jerks while driving and standing. My
restlessness in bed has been better controlled through
regulation of caffeine and sleeping on my back, but
it's still a problem (the caffeine levels don't seem
to affect the jerking much).

My concern primarily relates to the jerking, because
it seems to be getting worse. What do we know about
the process that brings on the jerking. Is it related
to brain activity? How is it related to the
restlessness that I'm experiencing in my legs and the
body movements I experience while I'm asleep?

I would appreciate any help.


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