Restless Legs Syndrome/klonopin

[Guest guest]

Hi Barbara,

Thanks for all of the tips. I take elavil and ambien to help my

sleep...before I used them...I would be awake for hours and hours. They have

made such a

difference. I have a question...what causes your feet to burn? My mother

complains of this a lot.

Thanks,

Kay

[Guest guest]

Hello All~

Now here is something that I have been battling and have seen it

linked to Fibro. in a couple of obscure articles. I have both

Restless Legs Syndrome, and Periodic Limb Movement. I also get that

falling sensation and jerk all over the place in the first stage of

sleep. I have a burning sensation in my feet also. I can feel it

coming when it is going to be a really bad night.

I have been using Klonopin. It works great, but has a long half

life. So for those of us who get sluggish, unless you take it early

in the evening you can be sleepy in the morning. It has also helped

with not getting into stage 4 sleep. If you have anxiety issues it is

really helpful for that too.

I have also started taking Neurontin, and Elivil. I don't have too

much to say so far about the Neurontin because I have only been on it

about a week. The Elivil helps with the pain factor and not being

able to sleep. I take 50-100mg of the Elivil each night. Because of

the neck, head, and body pain it allows me to sleep. I have been

told that you can take as much as 200 mg per night, you just have to

titrate your dose up under supervision by physician.

The worst thing about the Klonopin is that after some time it becomes

less effective. If I start getting jumping legs early in the evening,

the sooner that I take it the better. My feet do not burn as much

either. I have also seen a correlation between wearing lumpy socks

and how my legs will be at night. No terry cloth insides, no seams,

and as much cotton as you can get makes a lot of difference. I

definately have the Princess and The Pea syndrome. A tag, or lump in

my clothes can make me crazy. I don't feel like I am wearing

underware filled with insulation any more either.

I have found the other side effects of the Elivil to be great too.

Helps with my emotional issues. I also take Ambien if I know it is

going to be a bad night. With so much chronic pain, sometimes sleep

is truly difficult. My downfall tonight is that we took the girls

out to eat at a nice restaurant, and we came home after ten. That is

why I am up now.

Things to avoid if all possible are antihistimines, especially

Benadryl, or other diphenhydramine products. Ny Quil, and come cough

medications can cause the same problem too. If I have to take some

benadryl for allergies when it can not be avoided I make sure to take

the meds asap. The heat from our waterbed helps too.

Quinine that you can take helps some. For those of us with pretty bad

RLS it is not strong enough. I see a difference on how much time I

spend standing (not walking) and how much worse it can make my feet.

I only wear New Balance tennis shoes. They are best with orthotics,

and definately help with the heel spurs, and plantar issues. Not

wearing shoes and going barefoot will make your RLS much worse. I was

also skeptical about shoe orthotics, but they have made a huge

difference. They also allow your feet to slide slightly in your shoe

so that the plantar fasciatus (sp?) and heel spurs don't get worse.

Another trick because it is related to nerves firing when they should

not is to have deep pressure massage on the bottoms of your feet. No

rubbing, and definately with a moisturizer. Squeezing on the heels,

deep pressure on the feet, and gentle stretching of your ham strings

helps. Often times even five minutes of counter pressure is enough to

let me drift off to sleep.

My grandmother,mother, myself and two of my three girls all have RLS.

Among other sleep disorders. is also a night eater. We have

had to stop leaving cookies in the cookie jar because I wake her up

in the morning and find disemboweled Oreo shells in her bed. We keep

a baby gate up and that seems to be enough to stop the sleep

walking. We find her sleeping in some wierd places though! She has

even woken up in the morning and come to us quite concerned

because " someone " threw up in her bed. Ah...the barf fairy?

A good sleep specialist can often help with some of the new meds that

they have out on the market. There is no reason to suffer with RLS.

Good luck! Barbara

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 6/27/2004 12:20:04 AM Central Daylight Time,

bubbas3girls@... writes:

A tag, or lump in

my clothes can make me crazy.

yes,Barbara..i thought i was crazy,lol...i cannot stand tags,some

fabrics,etc..and thank you for all of the info on RLS..i really appreciate

it..(((hugs)))

carmen

[Guest guest]

Wow... I thought I was the only one with that problem. I've had hot feet on

and off since childhood and have never been able to get any answers for it..

My mom used to call it Foot Fever. As a child, I used to end up putting my

feet on the wall to cool them off. Now I use ice packs... hehehehe... But

what causes that? I had a case of it last night.

hugs,

Norah

Re: Restless Legs Syndrome/klonopin

Hi Barbara,

Thanks for all of the tips. I take elavil and ambien to help my

sleep...before I used them...I would be awake for hours and hours. They

have made such a

difference. I have a question...what causes your feet to burn? My mother

complains of this a lot.

Thanks,

Kay