For Vi Clemis getting a good night's rest wasn't always so easy to come by.
She says, “You have to move them, that's why you can't fall asleep.”
She has Restless Leg Syndrome. It is a debilitating disorder that more than 12 million Americans have, but up until recent years many doctors didn't recognize the condition.
Dr. Doug Whitehead with Greer Family Medicine says, "A lot more people probably have it than they think. Again it could be the same symptoms as people with diabetes as people with disc disease they may have numbness in their legs or pain so it may get thrown into those types of thought processes."
Dr. whitehead says it's a neurological disorder that patients like Vi describe as tingling in their legs or an uncontrollable urge to move that occurs late at night when they are trying to rest.
He says, “We don't know why people get it. But there is a spot in the brain where movement takes place. It is related to a neuro-chemical called dopamine and it seems to be malfunctioning in some way that this movement sensation takes over.”
Vi says she's lost a lot of sleep over the last 25 years because of her restless legs.
“I can't fall asleep. I would have to get up out of bed. I have tried sometimes going into bed and it starts again so out of bed.”
Dr. Whitehead says now as patients begin to come forward with the condition, doctors are finding some medications intended for Parkinson's patients help ease the leg pain. That's what Vi has been using and she says the constant urge to move no longer keeps her up at night.
There are herbal medications available at your local pharmacy that have helped some people with less severe cases.
Dr. Whitehead says other people have been helped by taking iron supplements or cutting out caffeine and alcohol.
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