Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS)

Restless leg syndrome causes an urge to keep moving the legs often along with uncomfortable sensations in the leg and sometimes in other body parts too.It becomes worse at rest, mostly in the evening or at night. Movement may help relieve the uncomfortable sensation. The patient may also have insomnia & involuntary periodic leg movemnets during sleep or resting in wakefulness. It is a condition not well understood at present by the medical community and perhaps factors such as genetics & environment may play a role in its susceptibility. However,the most common factor found is iron deficiency in the brain which makes it difficult to take iron out of the blood & import it into neurons. This may have multiple affects on the brain such as:

disrupting oxygen transportation as well as myelination , resulting in abnormal signals in multiple neurotransmitter systems of the body & Dopamine signalling resulting in lower Dopamine levels .Often patinets are then prescribed higher Dopamine drugs to increase Dopamine levels which cause other significant side-effects longer term causing a worsening of the symptoms .