Restless Leg Syndrome
Sleep centers describe it as a disorder of your nervous system when you get an uncomfortable sensation causing an unpleasant urge to move your legs. It is said that it may occur in late hours of the day like in the evening or night when you are resting and lying down on your couch or when you are asleep. That is why it is often known as sleep disorder as well when people experience this weird feeling when they are in their deep sleep.
RLS is often accompanied by other uncomfortable sensations in your legs as well. For instance, you may feel like pulling or shaking your legs to relieve the uncontrollable sensation or you may feel tingling, creeping or pain in your legs as well. During nighttime, this disorder makes it extremely difficult for you to fall asleep. Sleep clinics claims that it may occur in people with any group of age from children to adults but mostly cases are found in women and older adults. The worst thing is that it generally worsens as you age so it is recommended to consult your specialist as soon as possible to get it controlled.
Causes of Restless Leg Syndrome
The actual cause for this terrible disorder is still unknown but the sleep centers are working hard to reach the root cause sooner. It is said that the main reason could be an imbalance of dopamine which is a chemical in our brains and responsible for controlling muscle movements.
However, studies show that there are some causes that may lead to RLS situation as a result. These causes are,
- Heredity
If RLS runs in family, then it is very much possible that you might be attacked by this disorder as well. That means genes play a major role in transfer of RLS and especially if it occurs at an early age like before you hit 40 shows that this disorder runs in your family. Studies in sleep clinics shows that there are some sites on your chromosomes where genes for RLS may be present.
- Prolonged Diseases
There are certain prolonged diseases that might cause RLS as a side effect in your body or may be the medications for treating the disease are responsible for this. For instance; kidney failure, diabetes, iron deficiency, Parkinson’s disease, peripheral neuropathy and some other diseases may cause the RLS to occur as a side effect.
- Pregnancy
Sometimes the pregnancy hormones may cause the RLS to occur which generally go away within a month after you are done with delivering the baby. Sleep centers shares that the situation might get worse in last trimester especially during nigh time.
- Medications
There are certain medications that deliberately cause RLS symptoms occur in your body and you should consult your specialist to know if you are reacting to those drugs. For instance; antinausea drugs, some antiallergies, antidepressants drugs may result in RLS if you are sensitive to these drugs.
- Spinal Cord Problems
If you ever had an anesthesia to your spinal cord which may result in spinal block, then it is possible to develop RLS in your body.
Symptoms of Restless Leg Syndrome
- The main symptom is obviously an urge to move your legs, however, there are some other related symptoms as well that might alert you to get yourself checked thoroughly.
- Abnormal and unpleasant sensation in your legs and feet while affecting both sides of your body. Sometimes it may affect your arms as well with the same feeling.
- When you experience this weird sensation but you feel a bit relieved after moving your legs then it is a clear sign of having RLS.
- When you are lying down or sitting somewhere for prolonged time like in theater or in a car or plane or it is your bed time and the sensation just began then it is also a symptom of RLS.
- Worsening the uncomfortableness in late hours like in evening or night time.
- You are already having periodic limb movement issue during sleep may also result in RLS.
Conclusively, defining these weird sensations is bit difficult to explain to general physicians so it is better to visit your nearest sleep clinic where such cases are easily understood and treated.
