Does restless legs syndrome have an impact on life?

Restless legs syndrome does not cause much harm to a person's life, but it may affect sleep**. Because patients with restless legs syndrome, the general symptoms appear at night, especially when sleeping, the legs will unconsciously shake back and forth, because the legs will have a feeling of soreness, numbness, swelling and pain, if this feeling lasts too long, it will also affect the quality of sleep. Restless legs syndrome has no hindrance and impact on life, deep muscle discomfort occurs in both legs during quiet, sleep, rest, indescribable pain, irritability, non-stop massage or walking, etc., seriously affects rest and sleep, very painful, but does not affect the normal function of the lower limbs, there are no obvious organic changes, various examinations may be negative, it is a mental and psychological disease, and the patient is accompanied by clinical symptoms such as anxiety.

The cause of restless legs syndrome is not clear, and it is more complicated, and it is a very rigorous and professional process, which needs to be carried out comprehensively to achieve good results. Restless legs syndrome affects quality of life, resting and sleeping, but it does not affect life.

1.What is restless legs syndrome?

Restless legs syndrome is a neurological syndrome characterized by a strong desire for limb movement, usually accompanied by paresthesias in both lower limbs, occasionally involving the upper limbs, and a variety of paresthesias, such as soreness and numbness, ant walking, pinprick sensation, and even indescribable discomfort, which is relieved after limb movement, worse at rest, lessened during the day, and worse at night.

2.What are the causes of restless legs syndrome?

The specific pathogenesis is not fully understood, but the current data show that the disease has a certain hereditary nature, and such patients often have abnormal nerve conduction in the limbs, as well as spinal cord lesions, and neurotransmitters, such patients show insufficient dopamine function.

In addition, this disease is often secondary to a variety of other diseases, including uremia, peripheral neuropathy, anemia, and myopalgia.

3.Are there many people with restless legs syndrome in the population?

The prevalence is more common in Western people and rare in Asians, and there are no relevant epidemiological data in China.

4.How is it diagnosed if you have restless legs syndrome?

Diagnostic criteria include 4 areas:

1) A strong desire to move the legs, or accompanied by discomfort in the legs;

2) the above experience occurs or is exacerbated during rest;

3) Partial or complete relief of the above experience after moving the legs;

The main harms of restless legs syndrome include:

1. The main sleep disorder is that the total sleep time is shortened because the patient has to keep moving his legs at night, which makes it difficult for the patient to fall asleep and increases the number of awakenings;

2. Affect the recovery of the patient's physical strength and energy, because the patient does not sleep well at night, which can lead to the patient's drowsiness, lack of clarity, lack of energy to do anything, and sleepiness;

3. Cause emotional changes in patients, such as anxiety, depression, tantrums, anger, impatience, impulsiveness, and lack of interest in doing anything;

4. Affect the cognitive function of the patient, because the sleep is not good, which leads to the consolidation of memory during the day, resulting in the patient's memory decline and attention change;

5. Affect the patient's daytime function, poor sleep, daytime drowsiness, emotional changes, impulsiveness, and impatience, resulting in a decrease in the patient's ability to work, live, and socialize.

Restless legs syndrome is a common sleep disorder related to abnormal involuntary movements of the legs, which is mainly manifested by indescribable discomfort such as tingling or burning sensation in the legs during sleep or wakefulness, which forces involuntary movements of the limbs, and repetitive leg movements can affect the patient's sleep.

Restless legs syndrome can be divided into two types: primary and secondary according to the nature of its onset. Primary restless legs syndrome may be related to genetic traits; Secondary restless legs syndrome** is complex and includes nutritional deficiencies, secondary to certain metabolic diseases, immune system disorders, Parkinson's disease, lower extremity vascular disease, tumors, pregnancy, and taking certain medications.

Restless legs syndrome usually occurs mainly in both lower extremities, can be severe on one side, or limited to one lower extremity, but rarely affects the upper extremities and hands. The affected limb has an indescribable and unbearable painful feeling mixed with soreness, numbness, swelling, pain like crawling, itching, etc., which is not in the superficial part of the body, mainly in the deep tissues (such as musculoskeletal). Symptoms appear at rest, while during the day at work, labor, or sports.

Symptoms often force the patient's calves to move constantly, or even linger indoors and outdoors for a long time, to relieve the symptoms, hence the name restless legs syndrome.

The harm of restless legs syndrome is mainly caused by sleep disorders, making it difficult for patients to fall asleep, increasing the number of awakenings at night, and then because of poor sleep quality, the state of the second day is affected, drowsiness, lack of concentration, emotional instability, fatigue, and decreased work and study efficiency.

Restless legs syndrome refers to an indescribable uncomfortable feeling in both lower limbs when sleeping and resting, with a strong desire to move the legs, turning over and not falling asleep, and the uncomfortable feeling in the legs can be relieved after activity, but it appears again after stopping the activity, causing the patient to be unable to fall asleep.

** Some iron and dopamine agonists can be used to reduce this periodic lower limb activity and improve the quality of sleep.

The main harms of restless legs syndrome include:

1. It is mainly a sleep disorder, because the patient has to keep moving his legs at night, which makes it difficult for the patient to fall asleep, and causes the number of awakenings to increase, so the total sleep time is shortened;

2. Affect the recovery of the patient's physical strength and energy, because the patient does not sleep well at night, which can cause the patient to be drowsy and unconscious the next day, and have no energy to do anything, and also feel sleepy;

3. Cause emotional changes in patients, such as anxiety, depression, tantrums, anger, impatience, impulsiveness, and lack of interest in doing anything;

4. Affect the patient's cognitive function, because of poor sleep, resulting in problems in the consolidation of memory during the day, resulting in memory decline and attention change of the patient;

5. Affect the patient's daytime function, poor sleep, daytime drowsiness, mood changes, impulsiveness, and impatience, resulting in a decrease in the patient's ability to work, live, and socialize.

1. Abnormal.

Most patients with restless legs syndrome have some of the following abnormal feelings, such as tearing sensation or worm peristalsis, and when the condition is aggravated, there will be local stinging and burning sensations, and accompanied by symptoms such as itching. In the case of physical labor, the number of episodes of restless legs syndrome gradually increases, leading to soft tissue strain.

2. Affect sleep.

During the course of the disease, the patient's legs will repeat the stereotyped and the same movements, which will wake the patient from sleep and seriously reduce the quality of sleep. Since the middle of the night is the peak period of the disease, many patients do not sleep well until after 4:00 in the morning, and on the second day, they will experience physical reactions such as lack of energy, physical fatigue, and memory loss.

3. Other hazards.

If people with restless legs syndrome do not have medication to control their condition, their emotional state will also change, such as being anxious, irritable or depressed for a long time, resulting in inability to manage interpersonal or family relationships. At the same time, due to the inability to control the shaking of the body, the patient's career choice will become narrower and narrower, affecting the financial ability.

All in all, restless legs syndrome is more harmful to patients, both men and women are likely to develop the disease, and with age, the incidence of disease is greater. There are many harms of this type of disease, and in addition to skin abnormalities and impaired sleep, psychological problems can also occur. Patients should treat the disease as soon as possible, such as taking traditional Chinese medicine to regulate qi and blood, and relieving muscle tension through massage and acupuncture.

The harms of restless legs syndrome mainly include: 1. Mainly sleep disorders, because the legs have to be constantly moved at night, which makes it difficult for patients to fall asleep, and leads to an increase in the number of awakenings, so the total sleep time is shortened; 2. Affect the recovery of the patient's physical strength and energy, because the patient does not sleep well at night, which can lead to the patient's drowsiness, lack of clarity, lack of energy to do anything, and sleepiness; 3. Cause emotional changes in patients, such as anxiety, depression, tantrums, anger, impatience, impulsiveness, and lack of interest in doing anything; 4. Affect the cognitive function of the patient, because the sleep is not good, which leads to the consolidation of memory during the day, resulting in the patient's memory decline and attention change; 5. Affect the patient's daytime function, poor sleep, daytime drowsiness, emotional changes, impulsiveness, and impatience, resulting in a decrease in the patient's ability to work, live, and socialize. Patients with iron deficiency are advised to also take iron supplements, which can be used to improve lower limb circulation, and sedative drugs, such as diazepam, clonazepam, etc., can be used to improve the patient's sleep and relieve symptoms.