case
Aunt Li, 70 years old this year, has a "strange problem": at night, as soon as she lie down on the bed and prepares to sleep, her legs start to toss on time as if the alarm is adjusted. It is so uncomfortable that her legs are uncomfortable everywhere, as if there are insects crawling, as if they are sore and swollen, and nothing is like it. It is indescribable. I really have no choice but to get up and walk around the living room to relieve it. But as soon as I got to bed, my legs started to develop symptoms again, so I rubbed my legs and walked around again and again. After so many twists and turns, it was almost a sleepless night.
What's wrong with Aunt Li?
What's going on with restless legs at night?
"Doctor Yanzhao" invites
Hebei Medical University First Hospital
Chief physician of Neurology,
takes you to know a familiar and unfamiliar sleep disorder
—— Restless leg syndrome
1. What is restless leg syndrome?
Restless leg syndrome, also known as restless leg syndrome, is mainly manifested in extreme discomfort in both lower limbs during sleep at night, forcing them to keep moving their lower limbs or walking down the ground, resulting in serious sleep disorders. The disease can be seen in all ages, including preschool children, but is more common in young people and middle-aged people, with more women than men.
2. What is the cause of restless leg syndrome?
Most of the causes of restless leg syndrome are unknown, which may be the result of genetic and environmental factors. Dopamine dysfunction and iron deficiency in the brain may be the key pathogenesis of restless leg syndrome. The following factors can secondary to restless leg syndrome: anemia, iron deficiency, pregnancy, renal insufficiency, Parkinson's disease, peripheral neuropathy, etc.
3. What are the clinical manifestations of restless leg syndrome?
Restless Leg Syndrome is a spontaneous, unbearable, painful abnormal feeling that occurs in the lower limbs. This abnormal sensation often affects the deep part of the patient's calf such as muscles or bones, especially the gastrocnemius muscle, and it can also occur in some patients' thighs or upper limbs, usually symmetry. Patients often describe the feeling of ants crawling or insect biting deep in the lower limbs. In addition, they may also experience itchy, pain, tingling, burning, tearing, peristaltic discomfort. Sometimes the patient's feelings are indescribable. Patients will feel urgent and strongly dying for this, and will lead to excessive activity such as tossing and turning around and walking around.
Symptoms will also occur when resting, such as sitting for a long time or driving for a long time, and activities can partially or completely relieve the symptoms. Normally, symptoms become strong when bedridden at night and peak after midnight. In severe cases, you must get up and walk constantly, and some patients need to constantly knock on their legs to be relieved.
4. What are the dangers of restless leg syndrome?
Patients with restless leg syndrome are often misdiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Many patients have symptoms for many years, even for 30-40 years. Although this disease is not harmful to life, it seriously affects the patient's quality of life. Most sleeping drugs are ineffective, and the patients are in great pain. Many patients will develop depression, anxiety, attention deficits, drug dependence and other diseases, and some patients will even have the idea of suicide.
5. Prevention tips
1. Pay attention to diet. Avoid alcohol and caffeine intake, quit smoking, and ensure adequate intake of iron in the diet.
2. Regular work and rest. Develop good sleep habits and applying gel and lotion before bed may also help relieve symptoms.
3. Stretch and massage the legs (help to relieve symptoms of restless leg syndrome and improve sleep)
4. Cold/heat sensory stimulation treatment. Raining with hot or cold water (foot soaking) may help relieve symptoms.
5. Plan daily physical exercise.
6. Some over-the-counter drugs can also aggravate the symptoms of restless leg syndrome, including most antidepressants, antipsychotics, antihistamines, nausea-relieving drugs, etc.
7. When non-drug treatment methods cannot relieve symptoms, you need to seek professional help from a doctor, and after careful evaluation, specific drugs and other treatment methods are given.
Expert introduction
Gu Ping
Hebei Medical University Department of Neurology 2 and Director of the Vermatology Center.Chief physician, professor, doctoral supervisor.
Director of the Chinese Sleep Research Association
Cognitive Disorders Branch of the Chinese Society of Geriatric Medicine (ACDC)
Standing Committee of the Chinese Society of Geriatric Health Care Association Alzheimer's Disease Branch (ADC)
Standing Committee of the Chinese Physicians Association Sleep Medicine Professional Committee
Deputy Chairman of the Sleep Science Branch of the Chinese Society of Geriatrics and Geriatrics
Vice Director of the Hebei Neuroscience Society, Secretary-General
Alzheimer's Disease Branch of the Hebei Medical Association Alzheimer's Disease Branch, Hebei Medical Association Alzheimer's Disease Branch, Secretary-General
Alzheimer's Disease Committee, Hebei Medical Association Alzheimer's Disease Branch and related diseases branch, as appointed as chairman
Hebei Society of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Neurogenic Disease Branch,
Hebei Provincial Society of Mental Health, Psychological Medicine Committee,
Hebei Provincial Society of Mental Health, Deputy Chairman
Hebei Provincial Middle-aged and Elderly Health Association, Parkinson's Disease Branch,
Hebei Provincial Government Special Post Expert
Author | Qi Xiaobin
Edit | Yueyue
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