Could my child have RLS

[casey's mom]

Hi, My 7 year old daughter has been waking up at night complaining about her "bum" feeling weird. She needs me to massage it to help it feel better. She also says her legs need to kick. She whines in bed while sleeping and then wakes up. It feels better when she lays on her stomach with her bum up in the air or when I rub it. It does not happen every night but goes in spurts. It has happened for the last 3 nights in a row but could suddenly stop and happen in a month from now. Does this sound like RLS? I mentioned it to her doctor but she was not familiar with it in children. Could it just be a sign of growing pains?

[Guest]

Growing pains are often RLS in disguise . Often kids do like body parts to be rubbed when they have RLS. Not sure about her bum - but RLS can be in strange places. Lots of us feel better when we lie on our stomachs. Oh, and RLS is often periodic, too. These links will give more information about if it really seems like RLS:

http://beta.restlesslegs.org/what_is_rls/

http://www.neuro.jhmi.edu/rls/edu.htm

Hope they help.

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[Kisster]

Have you had her iron levels checked? My son has complained of this before and he has fluctuating iron deficiency. He is only slightly anemic, but iron deficiency can cause RLS symptoms. When I keep him on a iron supplement, he seems to do better.

I have RLS and mine has gotten pretty bad due to chronic iron deficiency. It might be worth checking into.

[viewsakew]

Please be careful giving any child iron. In terms of RLS/PLMD, it is the ferritin levels that are important. For children they should be 35 if the child had RLS. The closer they are to 35, the less of an effect the iron will likely have. A single dose of iron that is too large can cause death in children; the best idea it to only do it under a physician's guidance.

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[Sleepy Head 2]

I have had RLS before they even knew what RLS was. I am 52-years-old and I have had this since I was a little girl. My Dad would give me some milk and crackers before going to bed and if my legs started up before then, he would go ahead and give it to me then. This really helped back then. It has gotten so bad now that I take Requip for it. For years and years I would try and explain what this feels like and friends and family looked at me like I was crazy, but it is really a wide spread problem now. I was so happy when they started coming out with information on it and what to do. You can also have her get up and walk around until it stops, but a lot of the time it will only start over again. Talk to her dr. about it and see what he says.

[Casey's Mom]

Thanks so much for the info. Yesterday she had the weird feeling in her toes on both feet. She said it was the same feeling that is in her bum but in her toes and it drove her crazy. She said it doesn't hurt just feels weird. I She had her feet in water and it felt better. Have you ever heard of it in both toes? Haven't called the dr. because she seems fine during the day and I tell myself that she does not have RLS but after she wakes in the middle of the night, I swear the next day I'll call. Does this sound like RLS? She only rarely complains of her legs having the feeling.

[Keith]

Not to beat a dead horse on the issue, because all have given sound advise. Another avenue to look at is the quality of her mattress. Patients I have seen with this disorder have an underlying lower back problem. The reason this is isolated to the lower extremities is the pressure she could be putting on her lumbar area while laying on her stomach. The nerver roots that exit the spine in that area do supply the buttox and legs in the L 2-3-4-5- areas of the spine. Try having her sleep on her side with a pillow between her legs and a firmer mattress. Just a thought