Retless Leg Syndrome and MS

[Peg321]

Hi!

I just posted for the first time yesterday.  Just wondering if there is a connection between RLS and MS.  I started out 3 years ago diagnosed with RLS. I went to the doctor because I was soooo tired.  Over the past three years I have a whole bunch of other things going on, plus the RLS is out of control.  When I go to bed at night, I can't even lay and watch tv. My legs start with the pulsing, pins and needles and the need to stretch.  I can't stand it so I have to take my meds (Mirapex), which puts me to sleep.  I also have these same sensations in my arms and face.

I've just recently had a normal brain mri with contrast and a normal eeg.

Thanks!!!

[J_PO]

i have m.s. and also rls and sleep apnea that i have to use a cpap machine at night. no wonder m.s.'ers feel tired all the time!!!

[Heather3418]

Thanks for your comment on Mirapex.  Unfortunately for me, it is another drug that increases the dopamine and is also used for Parkinson's disease.  It seems that all the drugs in that family of medications, I cannot take.

Keep us informed.

Heather

[Peg321]

Thanks for all your comments and concern.  I've wasn't feeling too good for a few days, so didn't post.  I had a cervical mri on Friday and can't wait to get the results.  

Heather- I take Mirapex at night.  It helps me to fall asleep, but I start waking up at about 2:00 and off and on until I get disgusted and get out of bed.

I'll keep you posted on my test results.

What a wonderful group and tons of information!!!

Thanks!!
Peg

[Heather3418]

Welcome, welcome welcome!!

I am a long time sufferer of Restless Leg Syndrome, now called 'Restless Limb Syndrome,' since it's known to affect the arms AND the legs.  I cannot take any of the dopamine medications to help with the RLS.  RLS has now affected my arms as well as my legs.  Sleeping escapes me on so many nights.  I bite my arms in a useless effort to stop the creepy crawling sensations.  

I also was diagnosed with MS 14 years ago.  I have had carpal tunnel release on each hand, if that makes any difference in considering a greater propensity towards this kind of thing for people with MS.

I took Klonopin for years for RLS.  It now doesn't touch the RLS so I am tapering down from the medcation as I write this.  Long process.  I understand that RLs gets worse with age.  I will turn 55 soon. It IS getting worse as the years pass.  I wish I could find a medication that would help.  I am very serious when I say that this condition will drive you insane, if you don't find any relief.  This is one of the most sleep disruptive conditions I have ever endured.  Add in the all the night time pain I experience in my legs, thanks to MR. MS and it's a wonder I haven't landed in a mental hospital some where.

I really feel for anyone that suffers from RLS.  It bothers me more than the MS.

Best Wishes and so happy you joined our group.  I feel it's the greatest on the Internet today.

Heather

[Momzilla]

Hi, Peg~

I wanted to welcome you, too.  Sorry, I was at work with a major sinus headache yesterday and meant to say Hi to you all day.  Just never got around to saying it. So...Hi!

I hope you get the information and support here that I have always found to be such a comfort.  

Looks like you got great answers to your question.  Keep 'em coming!

Feel well,

Momzilla*

[Quixotic1]

You have gotten good answers.  Indeed RLS is more common in MS than in the general population.  So are several other movement disorders like tremor, diskinesia, and myoclonic jerks.  The MS can attack any part of the CNS including those which control and initiate movement.  And, as Jon said, it can unmask, peripheral injuries like carpal tunnel, before they would normally have shown up.

Welcome to our forum.  I hope youe have found here a good place for friendship and information.

Quix, MD (unofficially, but with MS)

[JonM]

I never had RLS before the MS came on.  Also have mild carpal in both hands too, that came on with the MS.

I think MS makes us more susceptible to borderline conditions that we always had but were not noticed until our good friend Mr. MS came along and changed our sensation and perception to about everything.

Jon

[jensequitur]

Just read an article on Medscape - patients with multiple sclerosis have more than 5 times the risk of having RLS compared with normal people, according to studies.

[jensequitur]

I've heard that people with MS are also often diagnosed with RLS.  Probably something to do with the kind of damage MS does to the brain.

[Wobbly]

Hi... I'm not yet Dx so can't help much with this question.... I am in the process of being Dx...but?  

hope someone will jump in to answer for you...

take care
andie