Cracking the Sleep Code

Can RLS Symptoms Be Helped By Taking Vitamin Supplements?

  Vitamins aren't just important for overall health they're especially important for our sleep.  A deficiency in folic acid (Vitamin B9) can contribute to problems with sleeping.   Some foods that contain folic acid are...

1. leafy green vegetables

2. orange juice

3. fortified breakfast cereals

4. beans

Folic acid maintains your nervous systems integrity and intestinal tract functions.  It plays a major role in the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, which regulates sleep, appetite and mood.

I wanted to share a story of an experience with folic acid and Restless leg syndrome.  This is just one person but we don't know how many others would benefit from this supplement.  It's important to learn from others in order to look at all angles in order to find relief.  Check with your physician to find out a safe daily dosage for your age.

New "Alternative" Restless Leg Syndrome Cure?

   

Not sure I buy it.  But she's right, what do you have to loose?

*Please see discussion following article

Overview: Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)

by Cynthia Kerns

"RESTLESS LEGS SYNDROME" or "TELEVISION LEG SYNDROME"?

Almost everyone is aware of "Restless Legs Syndrome", a recently discovered "illness", whereby

"creepy-crawly" sensations through the legs, feelings of electrical currents, etc. has plagued many. On one of the commercials recommending a pharmaceutical treatment, it talks about the most prevailing discomfort occurring "at night, while you are relaxing".

I  would like to offer an alternative "diagnosis" to the creepy-crawlies plaguing so many.

Beginning around 2003, as I watched television, legs propped on a coffee table, I would feel currents of discomfort shooting up and down my legs. It would start after 2 hours or more of television viewing, and would continue until I turned the television off.

I jokingly referred to the condition as "Television Legs Syndrome".

There seems to be a highly detrimental frequency being emitted from televisions that affects the extremities, especially. It is not a secret that televisions emit high levels of electromagnetic frequencies, EMF, which can be measured with a "gauss" meter.

When the television was positioned where the screen was in alignment with my legs, whether sitting on a living room couch or sleeping in a room with a television, I noticed a steady, increasing level of pain, discomfort, and inexplicable currents in my lower legs, mainly.

After experiencing this over a number of months, correlating the pain with my television watching, I decided to do an experiment, which continues to present day.

Being aware of the effect of EMF on fibroid tumors (EMF makes tumors grow), I had previously taken steps to protect myself from obvious sources of EMF, mainly computers, and avoided an unnecessary hysterectomy. We are magnetic beings, with the same positive/negative properties as batteries. That is why we respond to electro-shock treatments (to restart hearts) and we conduct electricity through our bodies, which can be measured with instruments such as electro-encephalographs. Unfortunately, most of the frequencies we are exposed to daily are much like "reverse polarity", causing premature aging and illness. Correctly balanced magnets protect us from all damaging frequencies and the process of cellular decay.

Having used the devices mentioned herein for over 8 years, I can personally attest to their efficacy. People believe I am 20 years younger than I am.
Scientists and allopathic physicians would scoff; however, experience is a more accurate record and testimony than any test. Exposure to EMF had incapacitated me; eliminating the exposure stopped the growth of the tumors.

Using the same protection, a pair of magnets as "diodes", I considered the connection between the leg pain and the television, and used it during evening viewing. The pain diminished, but did not disappear. I would notice that after a night's sleep, feet toward the television, I could hardly walk in the morning. Look around. There are an extraordinary number of people dragging their legs, using walkers, limping, struggling to walk.

So I unplugged my television,especially while sleeping; the pain stopped.

The pharmaceutical industry, recognizing this contrived illness, created some drugs for us. One of them is REQUIP. Apparently used for Parkinson's originally, the following is from the REQUIP website:

Early Parkinson's Disease (Without L-dopa): The most commonly observed adverse events (>5%) in the double-blind, placebo-controlled early Parkinson's disease trials associated with the use of REQUIP (n = 157) not seen at an equivalent frequency among the placebo-treated patients (n = 147) were, in order of decreasing incidence: nausea, dizziness, somnolence, headache, vomiting, syncope, fatigue, dyspepsia, viral infection, constipation, pain, increased sweating, asthenia, dependent/leg edema, orthostatic symptoms, abdominal pain, pharyngitis, confusion, hallucinations, urinary tract infections, and abnormal vision.

I am not a medical professional, and intend to make no medical claims. I don't need to be to recognize some pretty serious side effects, from something which is quite possibly, completely preventable.

You should try it for yourself. If you have not yet succumbed to the newly created pharmaceuticals for this newly created syndrome, try my method.

Unplug your television whenever it is not in use, and use a diode on your body when you do. Even if you don't believe a word of this, and you think EMF is fantasy, it is worth a whirl, isn't it?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The author of this article clearly had something wrong with her.  The problem seemed to be linked to electromagnetic fields as she reported the symptoms disappearing after getting rid of the TV.  There could be a number of theories explaining this phenomenon but to say that she definitely had RLS is assuming too much.

She was thinking outside the box which resulted in a cure to her problem.  I think that sharing different ideas and having an open mind is important when trying to find relief.  I don't think it's fair to say her method didn't actually cure her leg problem as it's equally unfair to insinuate that RLS is a made up disorder.  I think it's important to point out that RLS is a real disorder and far from being newly discovered as the author stated.   There is no research to back up that electromagnetic frequencies can cause or don't cause RLS.  If you've been to see your physician and have tried every medication to no avail then sure... unplug all of your appliances. 

If you want to "rule out" your TV as a possible cause of RLS...go ahead. But there should also be a visit to your physician to rule out causes of iron deficiency, vitamin B12/folate deficiency, diabetes and kidney failure.  Mark Buchfuhrer, the director of SomnoMedix Sleep Disorders Center in California, stated that "studies have found more than 60% of people with RLS have a positive family history. Therefore, anyone with a family history of RLS who has leg complaints warrants a closer investigation to determine whether they have RLS." 

Regarding the authors comment on Requip, it's not a secret that most medications may cause side effects.  The side effects are included in the Requip product information inserts as well as on commercials. There are many success stories from RLS sufferers who have been on medications such as Requip.

A recommended website for RLS information and support groups is www.ekbom.org.uk

     

Diagnosing Restless Leg Syndrome

Restless Leg Syndrome is one of the most challenging sleep disorders. It is a common disorder yet so many physicians are unable to diagnose it.  Partly because some patients have difficulty communicating exactly what's going on and also because physicians still have so much to learn about it.  Because of the lack of awareness among the medical profession and the community in general, many of the  RLS sufferers are left untreated. Being sleep deprived for long stretches is maddening in itself; then add the fact that the medical community is still scratching there heads on the diagnosis and the best drug to treat it.  This doesn't mean that physicians are at fault, I think it is just because there is still so much to uncover about this troubling disorder.

The criteria for diagnosing are...

1. An urge to move the legs.  Sometimes with increasingly uncomfortable sensations and sometimes        including arms or other parts of the body

2. The urge to move occurs during times of inactivity

3. The urge to move is relieved or at least gets better by moving  but only as long as the movement           continues.

4. The urge to move occurs or gets worse mainly at evening or at night.

If the legs aren't moved, the feeling to move them will increase.  Some of the uncomfortable sensations that are described as an electrical current feeling, an anxious or itchy feeling and crawling ants all of which come from deep inside their legs. 

Peripheral neuropathy (a disease of the nerves in the limbs) is sometimes mistaken for RLS.  This usually includes a burning feeling described as pin and needles.  If the sensory nerves are affected then there is actual pain in the limbs.   With peripheral neuropathy, the sensations can occur in the same limbs but there is no urge to move the legs.  A small percentage of people who have RLS  have peripheral neuropathy which then takes some serious investigation to differentiate which symptoms belong to which problem. 

The studies done on RLS indicate family history as being a strong component to diagnosing the disorder. Dr. Mark Buchfuhrer who specialized in RLS, says that "RLS is three to six times more likely to occur in first-degree relatives of people with RLS."  He goes on to talk about children of RLS sufferers who are often misdiagnosed with growing pains--- when they may actually have RLS.

I have only experienced restless leg syndrome during my pregnancy which is only a small taste of what a real RLS sufferer has.  During the pregnancy RLS--- you know there is an end in sight.  It's a temporary complication due to iron deficiency which is very common in pregnant women.  I would agree with the typical definition... "an urge to move the legs" only I would say a STRONG  URGE to move the legs.  It felt like I wanted to and (could accomplish) kicking a hole in the wall.  The urge would come in the middle of the night and relief would only come if I did a gazillion lunges with each leg. I would do this exercise until the feeling subsided enough to go back to bed.  I can't imagine having to do this all my life.

Hopefully with the new medications and increased awareness of RLS, there will be an end in sight for all RLS sufferers.