Oh those legs of mine

They still don't let me sleep.

They don't twitch anymore as far as I can tell... But they are still quite restless and a bit achy. But most of all, they itch!

It seems that my legs are going through the whole "falling asleep and waking up" process. Earlier on they felt like a limb does when it has just woken up, very nasty to move around because even the slightest movement send electric jolts though the limb. And when the blood circulation is restored somewhat the feeling of needles comes in.

And the paresthesia is what has been going around for several hours now.

Gah...

And the result are in

At least one kind of... My hemoglobin level was 10,6 g/dl. No wonder I feel "a bit" weak, tired, disoriented etc.

According to Wikipedia the value should be somewhere between 13,5 to 16,5 g/dl. Congratulations Turkka! You are anemic!

And what are the symptoms of anemia?
Symptoms common to many types of anemia include the following:

• Easy fatigue and loss of energy (check)
  
• Unusually rapid heart beat, particularly with exercise
• Shortness of breath and headache, particularly with exercise (check, at least the headache part)
  
• Difficulty concentrating (check)
  
• Dizziness (check)
  
• Pale skin
• Leg cramps (check)
  
• Insomnia (check)

Interestingly enough I have always had quite low level of hemoglobin and I have had lack of energy, dizziness and especialy insomnia for quite some time. Insomnia actually just about as long as I can remember.

I've had my hemoglobin levels checked every now and then (usually with the periodic checkup for my MS medication) and never has it been this low...

Aaand back to bed

The restlessness has eased up for now if not, unfortunatelly, gone completely away either.

I wish I can sleep now...

I didn't want to sleep in the first place...

there I was sleeping blissfully away... And all of sudden my left leg decides to twitch. Not just a little but falling short of a kick just barely. I don't know if the leg had been twitching earlier in the night but now I was awake.

Not letting one strong twitch bother me I decided to keep on sleeping. But the leg had oter ideas. It twitched again, twice, thrice... I try keep on sleeping, the leg twitches more.

Ahhh, crap.

Up I am again, feeling tired as hell but also feeling the left knee having signs of restlessness.

So I decided to Google a bit. And through the links I go. Restless Leg Syndrome seems to dominate the results and helpguide.org seemed to be as good a place for studies as any with the article on RLS. Reading through the article however revealed an even more interesting theory for me. Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD). After a bit of reasearch I found that SleepEducation.com has a good article about it. eMedicineHealth provides a long article on PLMD and reading it at the very moment feels like too much work when all I want to do is sleep...

In a nutshell those articles have couple of good points.

One being that there seems to be link with PLMD and MS even if there is not much of data to support this. The other being that some antidepressants are thought to cause PLMS (milder form of PLMD) or making it worse; I quite recently ran out of my SSRI meds.

I'll have to remember to call my doctor to ask for the renewal of the prescription and for a little help and advice on what to do in the meanwhile.

Ah well..

Back to bed... I am so tired that I am quite sure the restless leg is not going to disturb me that much...

Up at odd hours again

For couple of days now I have had this strange dizzy feeling. You know the kind that you occasionaly have when getting up too quick. Only that for me this time these dizzy feelings can hit when I am just sitting. Or laying down. Or walking. Or just turning my head.

This worries me and makes me think if my MS is acting up again... If I am hitting a relapse...

And as if that was not enough my left knee decided to start being restless. And aching. I cannot fall asleep. I feel like I need to move my left leg every couple of minutes.

This... Sucks.