Restless legs keeping me awake šŸ˜”

Medications
1

The procyclidine isnā€™t settling it down and I am on the highest dose. Left a message with my nurse but she did not reply. Might have to reduce my ap

2

RLS can really suck, especially once your sleep debt gets too high. Have you tried Gabapentin?

Typically Dopamine agonists are effective, but may be contraindicated depending on your diagnosis.

Does hot/cold and massage help at all?

1 Like
3

Just come off gabapentin. Think that had been dampening down the akathisia. Now I have come off it I am having problems.

4

Iā€™m sure youā€™ve already considered everything I could suggest that might help in the immediate present, but Iā€™d definitely be discussing a move back to Gabapentin if it was working sans side effects. Good luck! I have a friend with RLS whose posts are often timestamped past 3am. I donā€™t suffer from it directly, but Iā€™ve been kicked and feathered by my wifeā€™s feet/legs a lot when sheā€™s had it and that was bad enough! ha

1 Like
5

When I say RLS I think I mean akathisia, is this what you mean?

Funny thing is I get it following quetiapine which is an atypical.

6

A patient with acute akasthisia feels very fidgety, and he has a strong urge to repeatedly change his body position eg. the sitting patient may constantly shift his position in a chair, or make constant rocking motions, or constantly cross and uncross his legs, or constantly swing his legs to-and-fro; the standing patient may constantly shift from one foot to the other foot, and he may even frantically pace about the room

(* by contrast to a patient with restless legs syndrome, the patient with akasthisia does not have any unpleasant leg dysesthesias or periodic myoclonic leg movements, and the ā€œmotor restlessnessā€ is not exclusively provoked by rest or sleep)

They arenā€™t apples and oranges, more like different varieties of apples. Either way, the sleep disturbance is very real either way. With RLS, the movements can be sudden and involuntary, hence being kicked accidentally in bed.

I find it interesting indeed that you have found quetiapine to trigger it ā€¦ my wife periodically takes it and there may have been a connection I failed to notice!

1 Like
7

I think on paper quetiapine has low rates of EPS but I suppose everyone is different.

8

True that. Even 15mg quetiapine knocks me out and makes me feel like Iā€™m half way gone under anesthesia, even the following day. I hate the stuff. 200mg helps my wifeā€™s racing thoughts and gives her a better nights sleep. Iā€™d be useless for 48 hours I reckon.