my digitized life // john hwang

RLS.

That’s right ladies and gentlemen… I have found it!

For the longest time… as far back as I can remember; I had these unexplainable, indescribable sensation in my legs that wasn’t painful at all but extremely uncomfortable. It always made me want to move my legs, massage it, and/or put it against a cold surface to relieve the sensation.

It was always worse when I was trying to get some sleep; it caused a lot of sleepless nights. People have told me that they sleep much better when their feet are covered and warm; for me, I always slept better when I kept my feet as cold as possible because it numbed the sensation. Even if it’s freezing, you can see my covered in a blanket but my feet are sticking out. This is one of my the reasons why I simply can not stay still when I am trying to fall asleep.

Or even in classes, during long periods… I would clench the muscles in my legs just to temporarily relieve the annoying sensation but it always made it worse. If it got to the point where I couldn’t stand it anymore, I’d just randomly stand up in the middle of class and take a walk for a minute.

Relief only comes from something cold or trying to take my mind off of it.

For the longest time, I thought it was just me… but it seems like there’s a name for it!

RLS – Restless Leg Syndrome.
http://www.wemove.org/rls/rls.html

No joke, I randomly found this (I thought I was searching for something about sleep schedules and sleep aids)… I gotta say, I was never able to explain these sensations to anyone because… they are just indescribable but the symptoms from the site above explains it in the clearest detail possible aside from actually having experienced it.

Anyway… now I know what it’s called and how to describe it to other people and that it has a name: Wittmaack-Ekbom syndrome a.k.a. Restless leg syndrome!

WOW!