help for insomnia and restless legs?

[Brownie~]

I am 20 weeks and have been having a hard time staying asleep at night due to restless legs and low back pain. Last night I woke at 4:30 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. I was considering taking a Unisom, but I read that it can actually aggravate restless legs. Does anyone have experience with this?

I really need to get a good night's rest as I have an active 3 yr old and a husband who is out of town. TIA!

[CorasMama]

yeah, Unisom and all the meds like it (diphenhydramine, doxylamine, promethazine, etc) can cause really bad secondary RLS.

My doc gave me valium, 5mg, to take at bedtime if I was having RLS symptoms while I was pg. If you're not taking a ton every day, most benzos are pretty safe during pregnancy. The only concern is, if you take it a lot (more than just a 5mg pill once a day), there is a chance the baby will have withdrawal symptoms for a few days. But again, there is no evidence of this with a small, as needed dose.

Other ideas:

Make sure you're taking a ton of calcium and magnesium.

Soak in an epsom salts bath.

Ask for a TENS unit, and experiment with placement on your legs.

Try putting a really heavy blanket on your legs.

No sugar for 3 hours before bed can help.

[luckiest]

Ugh, I don't have any advice for you, but I wanted to lend you my sympathy. I experienced only a few nights of RLS after a surgery last fall. The doc overprescribed my pain meds (percocet), apparently forgetting to factor in that I'm about 115 lbs, and I experienced terrible, horrific percocet withdrawal. The RLS was so bad I spent a few nights sobbing on my couch so that my thrashing wouldn't keep my husband awake. I found that a SUPER hot bath would have a numbing effect on my legs long enough to get a couple hours of sleep. Of course I wasn't pregnant at the time, but after a day or two when it wasn't as bad I took Tylenol PM and benadryl to help me sleep.

So far being pregnant I've had a few nights of mild symptoms, but nothing too terrible.

Hope you find something that helps, mama, RLS is no fun.

[sprocket1]

oh my goodness i can totally relate.. i suffer from RLS normally and when i was pregnant i thought i was going to go insane.. i too used to sob on the couch so my partner could sleep, pace around the house, shower, bath. Normall to relieve the pAIN i sleep on my tummy as the pressure off my calves seems to help but being pregnant that was impossible... what worked for me was inccreasing my iron level.. so with diet and iron supplements and also magnezium but not too much mag.. and also a little but not too much extra calcium!
hope you get some relief soon!

[babymango]

What helped me the most with RLS was to keep my room a few degrees cooler than usual. That was a suggestion from my midwife, I didnt even realize I was too warm, but the cool room really made a difference. I went from sleeping 2-3 hours a night, to a full 7 hour night (and it would be more if i didnt have a toddler getting up at 6am)

[Sfcmama]

Sorry, mama - RLS drove me bonkers! One trick I found late in my pregnancy (wish I'd figured it out sooner!!!) was to put my feet/legs/ankles on one of those cheap drug store neck massagers. You know, the ones that plug in and are about 20 bucks? It would jiggle my legs slightly and keep them in motion long enough for me to fall asleep. Drinking a ton of water helped too but then I was up peeing all night. HTH!
Good luck

[Brownie~]

Originally Posted by CorasMama

My doc gave me valium, 5mg, to take at bedtime if I was having RLS symptoms while I was pg. If you're not taking a ton every day, most benzos are pretty safe during pregnancy. The only concern is, if you take it a lot (more than just a 5mg pill once a day), there is a chance the baby will have withdrawal symptoms for a few days. But again, there is no evidence of this with a small, as needed dose.

thanks for this advice. I do have valium 5mg on hand, but had been afraid to take it, as I had read that valium was a class D drug. I am 20 weeks along, so I am out of the first trimester danger, I suppose. Did you find that you slept through the night with 5mg? Were you groggy in the a.m.?

Thanks again for your all of your kind responses. I am taking Floradix for extra iron and a liquid calcium/magnesium before bed. Will look into the massager and making the room cooler!

[ASusan]

I would have to take twice the dosage of liquid cal/mag before bed. (So, 2 Tablespoons of the one I was taking.)

[CorasMama]

the valium didn't make me groggy the next morning, but I have a pretty high tolerance for benzos.

And I totally second the suggestion to take a ton of cal/mag

[Mama2Kayla]

Natural Calm(magnesium suppliment) worked well for me

[micah_mae_]

I take all my magnesium and calcium supplements at night for this reason. It really helps.

[lillymonster]

Originally Posted by micah_mae_

I take all my magnesium and calcium supplements at night for this reason. It really helps.

I do this too, I take cal/mag right before bed, take extra iron (the natural iron didn't work, I tried 2 brands that everyone else like - I took IronSorb, not natural, but it doesn't constipate and it worked) around dinner time. I also stretch a lot before bed, all the leg stretches I can think of. If I am up in the middle of the night, I do them again.

[elonwy]

This can also be a vitamin D issue. One of my symptoms before being diagnosed with scary low levels of vit D was bad RLS. You should check with your care provider before upping vit D levels during pregnancy though.

[Brownie~]

I am happy to say that I think my restless legs might be under control finally! I don't want to jinx it, but last night they did not bother me at all. Before bed I have been taking a Chinese herb tincture that is Peony and Licorice. I also take the Floradix and liquid cal/mag with dinner. I added in also taking Hyland's homeopathic restless legs formula before bed, too, and I think this might have been the trick. This combination seems to be working!