Living with RLS/PLMD

I have had RLS for the past 10 years. I had never heard of RLS and assumed that my symptoms were due to some kind of yeast infection on the soles of my feet.

My feet felt like I had pins and needles sticking me all over the bottoms of my feet. I had intense urges to move my feet but when I did so, my symptoms were not relieved in the least.

I tried all kinds of over the counter treatments but had no success. I never told my doctor because I thought, why should I tell him about some yeast infection of my feet?

I developed severe difficulty sleeping and was put on Elavil for that. I had to take 100 mg at bedtime for it to be effective. I was pleasantl surprized that all of the symptoms of RLS went away when I was put on the Elavil.

Pleasantly surprized is a gross understatement because the RLS felt so bad that it was like a very cruel torture. The pins and needles feelings were very intense.

I had to switch from the Elavil to trazodone and thankfully that takes care of my RLS as well. Later, when some of my RLS symptoms came back, he tried me on a benzodiazepine and that worked as well. It has an addictive potential so I didn’t stay on that for long.

I never knew I had RLS untill I saw commercials on TV for a treatment.