Saturday, August 24, 2019

ENCORE #115! – Dealing With Restless Limb Syndrome


From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That was eight years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry appeared in January of 2015.

First of course, the definition: “Restless legs syndrome (RLS) also known as Willis-Ekbom disease (WED) or Wittmaack-Ekbom syndrome, is a neurological disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move one's body to stop uncomfortable or odd sensations. It most commonly affects the legs, but can affect the arms, torso, head, and even phantom limbs. Moving the affected body part modulates the sensations, providing temporary relief.”

Once again, this is something my wife has struggled with. But instead of breast cancer causing it, it has exacerbated it. She’s had RLS her whole life (at least since she was six years old!) Breast cancer – double mastectomy, aggressive tri-weekly chemotherapy (Taxotere + Adriamycin + Cytoxan and the next day, neulasta), followed by five years of anastrazole – just made it...weirder.

I first experienced when we got married. At night, before falling asleep, she would move her legs in order to “short-circuit” the odd sensations. That seemed to work. Then the cancer diagnosis and treatment and as of right now, it has manifested itself by odd sensations in her LEFT arm. This is odd because the removal of sentinel nodes and the resulting lymphedema was in the RIGHT pit and arm (sounds like a medieval British pub, doesn’t it...).

Current research suggests “...exercise, avoiding RLS precipitants (caffeine, alcohol, antidepressants, antihistamines); exercise; counter stimulus to sensory symptoms (hot or cold baths, limb massage, compression stockings, counter-pulsation devices); herbal medicines and acupuncture; and cognitive behavioral therapy.”

Her first “go to” was to up her calcium intake: “Dehydration, prolonged sitting, or not getting enough potassium, calcium or magnesium in your diet can be associated with leg cramps. So can certain medications -- including diuretics, beta blockers and other blood pressure drugs. Sometimes, these cramps also may be related to an underlying metabolic condition, such as an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) or a parathyroid condition. Diabetes or other conditions that disrupt your metabolism can also cause muscle cramps.”

The calcium chews she’d been doing were originally to counter the bone debilitation caused by the chemotherapy, so she stopped for a while. The RLS increased and now she uses the calcium chews as well as a hot water bottle to lower the intensity of the sensations.

As I wrote earlier, we’ve also started a regimen of exercise together – alternating strength training (after a visit with the Planet Fitness trainer) and cardio – we usually do a half an hour of stationary biking. The hot water bottle was a “new development” and has been remarkably effective.

I’ll note here something we HAVE NOT tried, but is a recent development: “In 2014, the FDA approved a device that provides electrical stimulation to the legs as a non-medication treatment for restless legs syndrome. Studies suggest this treatment can be quite helpful. Although it is generally well tolerated, it occasionally causes a temporary worsening of symptoms, leg cramps, soreness and motion sickness.” My guess is that this is an outgrowth of the device developed for those who suffer from chronic pain, what’s called Microcurrent Electrical Therapy.

Taken all together, the “therapies” seem to be working for the time being. It’s also light years better than adding ANOTHER pill to her already abundant storehouse!


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