RLS then Exercise.. Uh oh!!!

On Friday last week, I posted about issues with my RLS, but that wasn’t the end of it.

As I said, on Wednesday night I was having problems getting to sleep, big problems due to restless leg syndrome in all four limbs – very rare. So I went on the treadmill for 20 minutes then snuggled nicely into bed.

^{Walking on a treadmill can help burn off the restless feeling when my RLS flares.}

Thursday morning, I woke up & my legs had felt like I’d run before full marathon with zero prep the day before, instead of just 20 minutes.

So I started with the pain meds, the anti-inflammatories and the muscle relaxers that I do every day when I get up. The unexpected pain did eventually start to lessen more.

But Thursday nights are one of my cub nights with my third years, howlers from both packs. We’re helping them work on their Seeonee Award.

Fortunately, when this meeting was planned we weren’t aware if we were going to be in person or not so we planned a virtual meeting. The kids wanted to play Drawsaurus which is an online version of Pictionary. Lots of fun!

^{Drawsaurus is an online version of Pictionary! The boys love it!}

So I didn’t have to do anything. I did not have to prep much, other than just set up the game which took about 30 seconds. We played 4-5 rounds I believe. We could do this because it was a smaller group, just the four of them tonight.

So as we started we are having fun and I’m relaxing. Silly me, I text my sister and ask her if she wants to go walking tonight after my meeting, which we normally do on Thursdays.. Of course she responded in the affirmative.

I was actually starting to feel better at the end of the meeting – Yay!!

I make it to my sister’s for 9:00pm and we leave shortly thereafter walking the dogs. Our pups were both very well behaved tonight, strangely enough – they usually do not start calm & maintain that for most of the walk.

So our walk was uneventful and we walked the neighborhood just south west of us. There was nothing extraordinary about our walk in the way of physical exertion.

There was a coyote but that’s a different story altogether.

One thing about that walk however was the length. It was almost 11:00pm by the time we got back to her house. In steps that is over 10,000 and about 5½ miles (no clue why my Fitbit is still in miles)

^{God Help Me! Five miles & 11,000 steps for one casual walk.}

So take a guess how I felt afterwards. Horrible! My leggs were very painful. I’m thinking a 6 or 7 out of 10 on my pain scale..

I had a shower and the hot water was lovely- everything seemed to relax under the hot spray. Unfortunately it would return when the heat got moved to another spot. I think I need to go snorkeling in a hot tub! LOL..

So I medicated again, including my MMJ…

Guess how I felt the next day…

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I was actually expecting to be in a flare the next morning… Surprisingly, my Leggs were sore.. pain at a 3, 3½.. was expecting 7 or so.

So, Yay! Not as bad as anticipated!

Extra Restless RLS

On Wednesday night I was having problems getting to sleep, big problems. I have Restless Leg Syndrome and when it keeps me up, I take a medication which usually relaxes my body enough to sleep.

^{Restless Leggs keep moving and can’t stop, making you unable to sleep.}

Not this night. No way. I first noticed the issue in my right arm, oddly enough… (Yes. You can get restless leg syndrome in your arms but it’s not the most common place) Then my left leg I noticed was twitching and minutes later my right leg followed suit. All of these are becoming highly hyper-stimulated so much so that normally only one limb that sensitive I know is a significant problem.. But I had three.. I finally noticed my left arm tacked on for the ride, but was fairly ‘mild’ comparatively speaking.

After waiting a half an hour for the meds to kick in, and they didn’t, I knew I’d have to take drastic steps because there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to sleep with three very very restless limbs and one mildly restless arm.

What do I do? I jump on the treadmill. Yes, the RLS can be hugely painful but it wasn’t too bad, achey but mostly just constant moving.. Normally with mild RLS I only have to walk for 5 minutes but this wasn’t mild. Also, my Fitbit doesn’t record exercise until you hit 15 minutes.. lol.. So I was on the treadmill for 20 minutes.. had another quick shower and hopped into bed nice and relaxed.

This is not the end of this story….

Who Do You Sleep With?

Who do you sleep with? A partner? A pet? Alone? Myself, I tend to sleep with a partner.. There are many advantages & disadvantages to sleep with a partner..

 

Disadvantages:
*(S)He may snore or talk while sleeping
*(S)He may be a restless sleeper and putting two together could be a nightmare
*(S)He may be used to having the whole bed and becomes a bed hog
*(S)He may not be used to sharing and becomes a blanket hog
*(S)He may like to cuddle and tho may consciously know not to cuddle, do so unconsciously while asleep
*(S)He may like to connect while asleep and reach out and touch you, but we know there are times when any unexpected touch hurts
*(S)He may have different sleep hours which could disrupt your sleep *(S)He may have a small bladder and needs to use the bathroom several times a night *(S)He may be more sexual and try to initiate some hanky-panky while still asleep
*(S)He may prefer a different room temperature or room darkness
*(S)He be a total morning person who wakes bright, cheerful and alert. To be honest, I don’t think *any* Fibromite wakes bright, cheerful or alert let alone all three! Advantages:
*You are not alone, and you *know* this. You know there is some there for you. You know that there is someone who cares and will be there for you. You know that (s)he loves you and will support you. You know that there is someone who ‘gets it’, or is at least understanding & compassionate, or if your are lucky, both. It’s this knowledge that, as a single advantage, easily outweighs the potential disadvantages. Do you agree with my conclusion? Can you think of any other advantages or disadvantages?