Restless Leg Syndrome
Question: I have searched and searched for information regarding this syndrome. I would really like to know what causes it and what can be done to treat it. It is so bad that at night I just can't sleep. Please let me know anything you can find about this.

Answer: Restless leg syndrome is an unusual syndrome in which patients feel as if their legs are twitching. There is a feeling of worms crawling under the skin and movement is necessary to alleviate the feeling. Unfortunately there is no current explanation for this syndrome and no very good treatment. There are several treatments which usually means that none of them is very successful. It is more common in renal failure patients; but, the overwhelming majority of patients are healthy. Many patients have a mild underlying anemia and correction of the anemia(especially if Iron Deficient) is sometimes helpful. Valium or equivalent drugs are used to suppress the symptoms; but, are rarely extremely helpful. I have had some success using melatonin in occasional patients.
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