Latest
Bad restless legs driving me slowly out of my mind
I get restless legs every summer, it's just part of my life, and my mom's, has been for years. The combination of heat, humidity, and barometric pressure give us both jumpy legs. My mom has it easy, she pulls a weighted blanket up over her calves and goes back to sleep with no problem. I struggle more with it, but in the past, wrapping my lower legs with ace bandages and/or wedging a bar of soap between my calves has done the trick. But this August has been different, and I'm currently at about a week and a half since I've had good sleep, or enough sleep compared to what I'm used to.
I take amitriptyline (150mg) as my primary sleep med, because I have fibromyalgia, and when it was prescribed that was the only drug out there that worked on the aberrant brain waves that keep fibro sufferers from getting deep sleep. It's worked fantastically for me for 15+ years; I take my nighttime meds, I pop a melatonin, and I'm out cold within five minutes, barring weather or something that keeps me awake. I stopped using benadryl unless I absolutely need it for itching, because I read that it can contribute to RLS (restless legs syndrome). But now I'm reading that melatonin can do it too, and that RLS with amitriptyline (especially higher doses; I'm at the max) is quite common. I also have a prescription for trazodone, because for the last decade or so, every few months the amitriptyline stops working so well for me, and I switch to trazodone for a week to clear the amitriptyline out of my system. Trazodone lets me sleep, but not as deeply or as long.
I'm desperate, at this point. None of the things that have helped me in the past are helping get rid of the restless legs; I'm suffering for a handful of hours every night before they run their course or I get up for a snack and the down then up on the stairs is enough to shake them loose, and then getting a few hours of sleep before the jumpy legs wake me again. My past remedies: CBD oil, ace bandages, soap, epsom salt lotion, epsom salt foot soak, using the exercise bike for five minutes, and laying in bed doing bicycle kicks to try and wear my legs out. Last night I did night two of tinkering with drastically lowering the amitriptyline dose, and I still had RLS though it wasn't *quite* as severe. I got five hours of sleep, and then woke up with legs that wouldn't stop. The night before, I went downstairs and came back up early on in the RLS, and got about seven hours before I had to be up for an appointment. The amitriptyline is definitely causing it, and the melatonin isn't working anymore and may be contributing to the RLS. The trazodone is iffy on whether it causes it or not. If anyone has any immediate suggestions, I'd love to hear them, I have to get some decent sleep before I completely crack. I'm attempting to get in touch with a neurologist, but my scheduled televisit with her never happened (their fault), they haven't gotten back to me yet about it, and now she's booking out into January, so I don't know what I'll do about that.
Thanks for reading, if you made it here to the end. #restlesslegs #Insomnia #Sleep
