“While I have had restless legs syndrome most of my life, only recently did I find out there was a name and a condition to describe what was going on with me.”

It first started in my teenage years. I was always swinging my legs and constantly shifting in my seat-so much so that my parents took to calling me the "wiggle worm." My father was the same way, tapping his feet constantly whenever he would sit down. Back then, the fidgets I used to have were mild, only happening when I had to sit still for a long time, like on car trips or during a long movie. Physicians often dismissed the weird feelings in my legs as growing pains. For most of my life, the burning, creeping feelings were an on-again, off-again nuisance. However, when I became pregnant, my symptoms became far worse, happening frequently during the day and night. Meanwhile, my obstetrician thought I was just suffering from blood sugar fluctuations. After the pregnancy was over, things went back to the way they used to be, only having issues once in a while.

However, as I got older, my symptoms became progressively and consistently worse. I used to get those weird feelings only in my lower legs, but now I feel them throughout my legs. Before, the weird feelings used to happen only later at night for less than 30 minutes before I could get to sleep. Now, the problem happens all night long. When I would have trouble, my lower legs would twitch frequently, so much that sometimes I just could not sit still. There was no cure for the feeling except for getting up and walking around. Sitting at a desk all day was difficult. I would often find excuses to get up and wander around the office. Long business meetings were intolerable. Having to deal with persistent tingling sensations in my legs made it hard to concentrate on what clients were saying. Dealing with these unbearable sensations all day made an 8-hour workday seem twice as long.

I try not to complain since I am not in pain, but these sensations really do disrupt my life. The thought of this getting even worse as I get older scares me. I am afraid that I will become bedridden and be tortured by these feelings all the time without a way to take care of them.