restless legs--Have you tried Air Compression booties?

Greetings Ladies!

I've suffered on occassions with rls. Since the surgery I'm getting it almost every night.

At the castle, they put me on air compression booties. Amazingly my legs have never felt better since those nights in the ivory tower (LOL). I'm thinking of buying one of those machines.

Have any of you rls sufferers tried this type of device? Which brands work best? I don't trust those $20 models. Any advice?

By the way, my surgery went very well. To me the worst part is the boredom of recovery. I guess I'm pretty lucky aside from the rls keeping me up nights.

Love to you all!

Hi hystervark,
I'm glad to hear your surgery went well. If boredom is your biggest challenge in your recovery you will have done well indeed. If you rest and don't strain and let yourself heal you should do great!
I also have suffered with restless legs for years. I didn't even think about using one of those machines. Mine also didn't bother me in the castle,but once I got home they were awful. I wonder why that is?
I've always had good results by upping my calcium and especially my magnesium with that. One of my drs prescribed neurontin and I haven't had rls since I started taking it. Sorry I don't have any info on the machines. If you're interested you can do a search on rls. There have been a lot of good discussions on it in the past.

's, Rita

I too suffer from restless leg syndrome. I LOVED those compression leg things in the hospital! I didn't have a problem at all while I was in the hospital and haven't had much problem since then either! I have looked at those 20 dollar models in the stores and have really thought about trying them, but since my legs haven't been bad lately, I probably won't at this point. The nurses always laughed at me because they said most people hate those things in the hospital. I was in for a week and wore them every night. They said I didn't have to wear them after the first couple nights, but I wanted to! Felt so good. Take care, Tiffany

hystervarkm,
My DH has restless leg syndrom. I have recently found out that it is a sleep apnea problem. So if your bored and like the internet you can probably find tons of info on it under sleep apnea. I am not sure if I spelled apnea correctly.

Hi,

I've had problems with restless legs too. Taking some magnesium before you go to bed may help. (Too much may give you diarrhea though so you may have to experiment with the amount.) Also, I've read that an iron deficiency can cause restless legs. Sometimes I take an iron tablet before bed and usually this calms my legs down fairly quickly so I can get to sleep.

Had those air compressor booties too while in castle. I LOVED THEM !!! Ok did not even know they were on right away. Had surgery in early morning and I think I finally noticed them after supper. Not sure why they were on but I'm a BIG princess so thought had somehting to do with that. I too was bored in castle. But DH was great got me plenty of nice mag. to read and reminded to keep moving.
I'm week 3 of post op and feeling great !! Doing as Dr. asked...go slow and take it easy yet. I feel so bad with reading so many other princess have such problems.

I did a paper on RLS last semester and found some interesting stuff about it. It is very likely that an iron deficiency (actually deficiency in iron absorption) does cause problems with dopamine receptors. This can cause certain neurological problems, including RLS.

I have suffered from this occasionally in the past, but now that I've had the surgery, I suffer almost every day. It's so frustrating. I cannot sit still for very long - this makes it very difficult for me to relax. Not good, seeing as how that is what I am supposed to be doing! I have a good case of anemia because I lost a lot of blood during my sugery and was slightly anemic going in. Taking iron hasn't helped much yet.

I take Trazadone (an anti-depressant that has been found to be a very useful sleep aid) at night to help me sleep. I think it works for alleviating the symptoms of RLS a bit too.

I hope you find relief soon!

Sarah and Linnipoo,
Please read my thread titled Be careful taking iron supplements.
Sarah when you researched RLS did you find any info on it being apnea?

No, I didn't find any relationship in my research to sleep apnea and RLS. Not to say that there isn't a relationship, I just didn't find it. As far as iron supplementation, I am only following doctor's orders. He prescribed a slow-releasing iron supplement until my hemoglobin and hematocrit levels go up. He said it could take up to 6-8 weeks!

I have hypertension and despite an array of medication still have water retension. I had the boots on in hospital which I actually found soothing. i was amazed to see the shape of my legs and ankles when the boots were removed. I hardly recognized them because they were so slim !! however it has not lasted and the fluid retension is as bad as ever. I wouldn't mind a pair of them for home. I had to eventually take mine off at day 6 because although i found them soothing the other women were going to have me evicted because of the noise !!!
Take care Jean