“My problem began just recently, originating in my left leg. It started out as a dull throbbing sensation that would keep me from going to bed at night. I thought I was going crazy when I first started feeling those weird sensations.”

My family couldn't understand what I was going through, and I was just told to "live with it." As soon as I would lie down in bed, I felt like I needed to flex my feet and stretch out my muscles. I would walk around endlessly at night, unable to stay still and go to sleep, staying up until 3 am or later.

My problems were aggravated if I was under a lot of stress or not getting enough rest and exercise. When that happened, my symptoms went from being a nighttime problem to an all-day problem. People at work looked at me like I was nuts when I had an attack because of how my legs jiggled nonstop until I got up and started pacing around the office. They couldn't understand how I felt like I wanted to jump right out of my skin and how the only way to make those feelings tolerable was to move around.

Because I was getting such poor quality sleep at night, I was often late to work because I was groggy in the mornings. The final straw occurred when I nearly got into a car accident because I nodded off at the wheel one evening. I finally went to my doctor and described my symptoms. He had never heard of anyone having symptoms like mine before, but thankfully he referred me to a neurologist who did. I was diagnosed as having restless legs syndrome by the neurologist. I wanted to cry in relief that this wasn't just something in my head that I had to deal with; it was a treatable condition that would no longer get the better of me.