Thursday, August 09, 2012

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS)

As a child, approximately once a week, I will wake up in the middle of the night in tears because of severe pain in my limbs. The muscles were so tensed that I would punch my limbs and not feel a thing. The pain reached its peak whenever I'm in a state of unconsciousness or semi-consciousness. So what I had to do is get out of bed, walk around and force myself to be fully awake. Needless to say, I dreaded nights and the possible pain awaiting me. I saw several GPs and a specialist but none of them could give me the right diagnosis.

A few years ago,  I decided to consult Dr. Google. I typed in my symptoms and to my surprise, my symptoms were matched to a particular disorder. I took comfort in knowing that whatever I was facing, I wasn't alone. There were others like me. Also, I could put a name to my disorder. It was called Restless Leg Syndrome.

Symptoms

RLS leads to sensations in the lower legs between the knee and ankle. The feeling makes you uncomfortable unless you move your legs. These sensations:
  • Usually occur at night when you lie down, or sometimes during the day when you sit for long periods of time
  • May be described as creeping, crawling, aching, pulling, searing, tingling, bubbling, or crawling
  • May last for 1 hour or longer
  • Sometimes also occur in the upper leg, feet, or arms
You will feel an irresistible urge to walk or move your legs, which almost always relieves the discomfort.
Most patients have rhythmic leg movements during sleep hours, called periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD).
All of these symptoms often disturb sleep. Symptoms can make it difficult to sit during air or car travel, or through classes or meetings.
Symptoms may be worse during stress or emotional upset.

source


Fortunately, the pain slowly subsided as I grew older. My limbs still hurt at night but the pain is now bearable. There's two possible reasons for this: 1. my tolerance to pain has increased or 2. the pain subsided. Either way, although I was and am not cured, I was thankful that the situation have improved and I accepted that the pain would always be part as my identity.

Sometime last year, I went on a 12-week fitness challenge. Embarking on that challenge, I improved my fitness regime and more importantly, cleaned up my diet. I eliminated almost all forms of bad carbs (mostly wheat), sugar and any other processed food from my diet. In summary, within weeks, I became fitter and healthier. But the thing I really did not expect was that, without realizing, the pain in my limbs went away. Two months into my health regime,  I had a moment of epiphany as I was lying in bed one day. I realized my limbs have not hurt for a while. I did not want to celebrate prematurely because the pains might come back. But deep down, I was happy that I could possibly have a life without constant physical pain. What that meant was I could enjoy a deep uninterrupted sleep. Which in turn, meant that I didn't have to wake up and feel like I wasted 8 hours, not being productive yet not fully resting. I was also much more alert, refreshed and productive during the day.
I found that my cognitive processes worked much quicker. In summary, I felt quite alive.

But earlier this year, after the Christmas period and the Chinese New Year celebrations, I became more slack with my health regime. I ate more junk, processed food, wheat-based food and exercised less. I was still much healthier than before but definitely not as healthy as few months prior to that. Slowly but surely, the pains started returning.

Last Friday saw me making chicken and avocado wraps for dinner. That night, I had slight pains in my limbs but it was still bearable. I had the leftovers for Saturday lunch and dinner. Saturday night, I went to bed at 12.30 am but could not fall asleep until 3.30 am. I lay in bed in excruciating pain. I haven't felt that degree of pain in a while now. I also haven't had that many consecutive wheat/bread meals  in a while. I made the connection. Wheat was a possible cause of my pain. I once again consulted Dr. Google and found that many other RLS suffers also suffered from gluten intolerance. Months ago, I vaguely knew that "bad food" triggered inflammation but I didn't realize that wheat specifically, was especially bad for my body. So last weekend became a weekend of reflection, planning and visualization for me. I tried visualizing my life without gluten and what that meant - no cakes, no pasta, no bread, no biscuits forever. That also meant a reduction of pain and a good night's rest. That's definitely possible. I just have to redefine what good food means to me. That means, re-adjusting my taste buds and opening myself to the opportunity of exploring different recipes and world cuisines that is not so wheat-based. It will be an interesting and exciting journey ahead.

I'll probably post in another month or so, to let you know how I'm going with this life experiment!



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