Restless Leg Syndrome 

     Restless leg syndrome (RLS) is a condition wherein patients get abnormal sensations in their legs when trying to sleep.  They often describe a feeling of “ants under the skin” or a creepy-crawly sensation.  Sometimes it consists of an inner restless feeling that requires them to move their legs around which helps transiently improve the feeling.  Often the patients are sleepy during the day because during their sleep, they may have frequent kicking movements of their legs.  These kicking movements wake the patient up briefly, although they may not realize this.

     RLS is sometimes associated with peripheral neuropathy, radiculopathy, and iron deficiency anemia or pregnancy.   The condition is usually diagnosed by the patient’s history and tests are not needed, but occasionally a sleep study is necessary to exclude other sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.  The treatments are largely successful and include medications and correction of anemia if it is present.