RLS: Not Just Jittery Legs
Twitchy, sore legs and urges to walk everywhere sound like the perfect combination for a good night’s rest. Although not a common condition among people, it’s a daily feeling for some as they go to bed. Restless Leg Syndrome, or RLS, is a disorder that affects millions of people across the world. The disorder is what it is: restless legs. Most people who hear about RLS usually shrug it off; there’s not anything serious about having a little more excited legs, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case. Restless Leg Syndrome is characterized by only a few related symptoms: urges to move one’s limbs (specifically the legs), “creepy-crawly” senses along the legs, relief comes with exercise, and the severity of the symptoms
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increases with rest and during the night. The disorder isn’t just jittery legs, but a severe impact on the life style and physical as well as emotional state of the individual. Sometimes the manifestation of RLS starts from an early period of life: childhood. Children who have these unusual urges compare them to the feeling of bugs crawling on top of or underneath the skin. Sleep during the night isn’t deep and blissful, but rather interrupted and uncomfortable. Between the hours of two and five in the morning, sleep isn’t easily obtained and sustained. Sleep deprivation for these children isn’t uncommon, and the deprivation doesn’t disappear with age. On the contrary, the symptoms increase with age and consequently so does sleep deprivation. As a significant number of people came to doctors to report these symptoms, scientists started to investigate. The result was the introduction of the “new” disorder: RLS. With the advancements of research, doctors have found that RLS is a physical disorder down to the genes—more specifically the chromosomes. While the exact chromosomes with the defect are still under investigation, the culprit is the abnormal protein the chromosomes are producing. The protein affects the brain, rather than the nerves, as many would assume. “RLS is a disorder of the brain, not a disorder of the nerves” (Yoakum, 68) and the triggers include iron deficiency, dopamine deficiency, and the abnormal protein. It’s being suggested that if a sleep study is taken, the patient asks the doctors to monitor the dopamine and iron levels. Dr. Kryger notes: "With people who have low iron, there seems to be overactivity in parts of the brain that results in an urge to move the legs." (Rabbitt 101) With all of these factors combined and the condition untreated, the individual with RLS experiences terrible cramps and pains that beg the legs to move. While the disorder is mostly genetic, in some reported cases of RLS the symptoms have developed later in life and have been caused by other medical issues, which is called secondary RLS.
Women who are pregnant have reported unusual urges to move their legs, and have resulted in diagnosis of RLS. Sometimes the trigger for RLS is a disease in the nerves of the legs, which sends abnormal signals back to the brain. The symptoms that come from these causes are urges to move the legs, soreness, and even psychological stress. The symptoms aren’t usually present during the day, but rather during periods of rest. During the evening and the night when one is usually preparing for sleep, RLS individuals are awake and active. “As a result, most people with RLS have difficulty falling and staying asleep…the condition causes exhaustion and daytime fatigue.” (Springer, 491) RLS isn’t just restless legs, it’s a disorder that infringes on daily life, or rather, the quality of one’s …show more content…
life. Because RLS has such easy-to-identify symptoms, shouldn’t it be easier to diagnose?
Yes and no. While easy to identify, this disorder is not commonly known. The research done on RLS is still very new. Only about 6 to 10 percent of people have RLS, and even then there are varying degrees of severity. Physicians don’t recognize RLS because they weren’t taught about the disorder. It’s not commonly covered in medical schools, and if you don’t know about a condition, it’s very hard to diagnose a patient with it. (Yoakum, 68) In fact, diagnosing RLS is easier to do by simply talking with the patient about their symptoms and medical history, not by doing a sleep study. Many people have read about RLS and have gone to their doctors to tell them about the condition they think they have. Now more and more doctors are hearing about the research done about this disorder, and more and more people are receiving the treatment they
need. The indications of RLS are the need to move one’s limbs, mostly the legs, and the sensations worsen in the evening. The urges are almost irresistible. How can it be treated? Much of the treatment includes proper exercise and a healthy diet, with the avoidance of caffeine, large amounts of sugar, and alcohol. Mental distractions during restful periods, massages, and hot packs are other helpful solutions. Although these basic treatments don’t cure people of their symptoms, it’s much more bearable. In some instances, doctors have been experimenting with medications to ease severe RLS when the aforementioned tactics aren’t as effective. Some of the medications help with the regulation of dopamine and iron. However, there are some medications that worsen the disorder’s symptoms. Prescriptions such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, antihypertension drugs, anti-nausea drugs, and anti-seizure drugs all complicate the process of finding a solution for patients. But the research is still continuing, and as doctors understand more about the origins and complications of RLS on the human body, the more effective the treatments and medications will become. The symptoms of this disorder are little, but the impact they have is huge. Urges to move when the body needs rest, interrupted sleep, and daytime fatigue are all big effects of RLS. This disorder can start at an early age, and the quality of the person’s life is greatly reduced. And although the condition is incurable at this point, the research done has benefitted many of the patients immensely. More and more of society is becoming aware of this disorder. Doctors and physicians are beginning to understand what RLS is, and treatment is becoming more readily available. Medications and other methods are becoming more effective. The research is breaking boundaries, and eventually the answers needed will be found. These restless “nightwalkers” (Yoakum 68) will find rest after living a life without it.
Concerning his sleep, Ransley generally retires to bed between 10.30 and 11.00pm with short sleep onset latency. There is a history of snoring and witnessed aponeas. He describes fragmented sleep, but significant sleep maintenance insomnia. There is infrequent nocturia and no significant restless legs symptoms. When he wakes at around 4.30am, he often feels initially refreshed, but within a couple of hours will start to become somnolent and will often nap for half an hour between 1.00 and 3.00pm.
Spinal Muscular Atrophy, also known as “SMA” is a genetic and also a motor neuron disease that affects the area of the nervous system that controls your voluntary muscle movements such as walking, crawling, and swallowing. When someone acquires this condition their muscles start to shrink as a cause to the muscles not receiving signals from the nerve cells in the spine that control function. Spinal Muscular Atrophy is a rare but serious condition.
Kinesiology can be defined as the study of mechanics of body movements, so I think that is very important to know the meaning of movement when studying kinesiology. Everything in kinesiology has to do with the movement. Every action the body takes is a movement which is what kinesiology is. You cannot be successful in the field of kinesiology no matter what you are doing if you do not understand what movement is. It is the study of human movement, performance, and function by applying the sciences of biomechanics, anatomy, physiology, and neuroscience. It looks at movement and which muscles are involved to create movement relating to strength exercising and sports technique. Movement is an act of changing physical location or position or of
The disease’s onset can be gradual. Some cases remain mild for decades; others, about one third, have a quick beginning, start spreading and becoming disabling within months (2,6). Nonetheless even the mild cases may lead to sleep interference and limit daily activities (1). Erythromelalgia patients have higher morbidity and mortality rates when compared with the general population (2).
As we all know, sleep is an important part of our lives. Without the proper amounts and type of sleep, fatigue and other problems can arise. Generally, we can clearly distinguish between a sleeping person and a person that is awake. With sleeping disorders, the distinction between an awake person and a sleeping person becomes more intriguing. What is the difference, how does it relate to the I-function and consciousness? Each sleeping disorder has its own unique answer to this question. It is essential to understand sleep to fully appreciate it. However, many aspects of it remain a mystery. We do have some degree of understanding of sleep. Within our sleep cycle a type of unusual sleep occurs, REM sleep. During this cycle the periods of REM sleep are interspersed with slow wave sleep in alternation. Each period of REM sleep (there are usually 4 or 5 periods a night) lasts for approximately 5 to 30 minutes. During these periods a sleep paradox occurs. An enormous amount of brain activity takes place; this is sometimes even more activity then when awake. This clearly indicates that sleep is not simply to rest our mind and not to think. So, during this period our brains are extremely active, yet there is usually no input or output. During this period, along with the random eye movement (REM), there is a complete loss of muscle tone. Essentially, at this point, the motor system is paralyzed (normally the body inhibits any movement). The autonomic nervous system also alters its behavior. The regulation of body temperature is lost and the blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rates shows increased variability. REM sleep can be detected by measuring the electrical activity of the brain with an electroencephalogram. At this point, the EEG will show the same pattern of activity as when the brain is awake.
During normal REM sleep, the muscles become deeply relaxed and the nerves to the muscles are basically paralyzed. The normal sleep period begins with about 90 minutes of non-REM sleep before REM sleep begins. But for a person While he did not use the word "narcolepsy," he wrote about patients experiencing "a sleepy disposition who suddenly fall fast asleep” (White). After nearly two centuries, two German doctors named Westphal and Fisher studied patients who would randomly fall asleep. These patients also experienced other symptoms such as dream-like hallucinations while they were awake and "automatic behavior," which caused them to perform daily tasks while they were still asleep (White).
The discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep suggested that sleep was not, as it was thought to be, a dormant state but rather a mentally dynamic one. Your brain is, in fact, very active in this state, almost to the level at which it is when a person is awake. Yet during this active stage in which most dreams occur, the movements of the rest of the body are completely stilled. To imagine this paralysis during dreams not occurring is a frightful image, since in many cases dreams are violent and active. When the neurotransmitters that control the movement of the body do not work properly the person develops REM sleep behavioral disorder (RBD).
Narcolepsy often remains undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for several years. This may occur because physicians do not consider the diagnosis of narcolepsy frequently enough. They may think of narcolepsy only in people who have the main symptom of excessive daytime sleepiness. Narcolepsy may not be considered in the evaluation of patients who come to doctors complaining of fatigue, tiredness, or problems with concentration, attention, memory, and performance, and other illnesses (seizures, mental illness, etc
Nursing Times, 92, 52. Oleson, T. & Flocco, W. (1993). "The 'Path of the Earth Randomized Controlled Study of Premenstrual Symptoms Treated with Ear. Hand, and Foot Reflexology. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 82, 906-911.
Wilson, J.F. (2005). Is sleep the new vital sign? Annals of Internal Medicine, 142 (10), 877-880.
Kales, A. (1972). The evaluation and treatment of sleep disorders : Pharmacological and psychological studies. In M. Chase (ed.)The Sleeping Brain. Los Angeles : Brain Information Service.
Sleep is a reoccurring act that is part of our daily lives. It is one of the most important elements of human health. The natural state of sleep has been studied throughout the years of human evolution. It occurs when hormones are released throughout the body to make the individual begin to fall asleep. The importance of sleep is often overlooked amongst humans, leading to a disorder. There are problems that occur in the human body that are of higher importance and require more attention. Sleep disorders should be viewed as a priority to humans because it alters human health, presents as a precipitating factor for other health problems, and can be treated quickly.
Sleep disorders are an underestimated public health concern considering that fifty to seventy million Americans are affected. Technological advances in the field of sleep have facilitated various theories to explain the need for and the purpose of sleep. Scientist have uncovered many types of sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy. Sleep disorders affect men ,women, children, the elderly, and the obese in different ways. Factors such as the number of children and the effects of menopause have been studied to determine their effects on sleep. Various treatments have been utilized ranging from non-pharmacologic to pharmacologic methods. Scientist have pinpointed areas of the brain that are involved in sleep deprivation and hormones that ultimately affect sleep.
Sleep disorders are defined as a group of syndromes characterized by disturbance in the patient's amount of sleep, quality or timing of sleep, or in behaviors or physiological conditions associated with sleep. To qualify for a diagnosis of sleep disorder, the condition must be a persistent problem, cause the patient significant emotional distress, and interfere with his or her social or occupational functioning. (Frey p265). Some sleep disorders can effect children of all ages. The sleep disorder that children are subject to often depends on their age and development. Sleep disorders change most frequent in the middle-school years. Children often experience more anxiety at this time. (Burcum). The source of the certain sleep disorder cannot normally be pin pointed in every case. Many factors come in to play when dealing with the cause of a sleep disruption. Parental characteristics, personality, psychosocial influences, education, parenting skills, stress, trauma, school, culture and personal health can all bring about sleeping disorders in young to middle-aged children.
Sleep and Sleep Disorders. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 July 2013. Web. 7 May 2014. .