This AXA Website Uses Cookies
We use cookies to give you the best possible online experience. If you continue, we'll assume you are happy for your web browser to receive all cookies from our website. See our cookie policy for more information on cookies and how to manage them.
Restless leg syndrome, or Ekbom syndrome, causes unpleasant sensations in your legs that are variously described as painful, like a toothache, a crawling sensation on the skin or twitchy, fidgety legs. It tends to come on at night, especially when you are sitting or lying down and is often worse if you are in a confined space such as a car or cinema seat. Unfortunately, being sleep deprived can often make symptoms worse, but since it often disrupts sleep you can get into a vicious cycle.
Apart from medications, which may be advised if your symptoms are bad, lifestyle measures include: avoiding stimulants like caffeine (in tea and chocolate as well as coffee); not napping during the day, no matter how tired you are; regular exercise during the day, but not within a few hours of bedtime; a warm bath before bed; avoiding getting too hot in bed; massaging your legs if symptoms start.
A recent small study suggested that a type of osteopathic exercise called positional release manipulation might help. It’s not available on the NHS and we need more studies to know for sure whether the benefits are real, but it may be worth considering if you’re still struggling.
We’re here to help you take care of your health - whenever you need us, wherever you are, whether you're an AXA PPP healthcare member or not.
Our Ask the Expert service allows you to ask our team of friendly and experienced nurses, midwives, counsellors and pharmacists about any health topic.
Conditions
A compacted vertebrae could be the result of a crush fracture in the past...
Read MoreMusculoskeletal
Bulging, herniated and slipped are all...
Read MoreMusculoskeletal
Although injury to the important stabilising cruciate ligaments...
Read MoreMusculoskeletal
Dizziness and a dry mouth are both possible side effects of many antibiotics, so this could be causing your symptoms.
Read MoreConditions
Labyrinthitis is usually caused by a virus affecting the middle ear leading to dizziness and vertigo...
Read MoreConditions
Viral labyrinthitis causes dizziness, vertigo, balance loss and sometimes hearing loss...
Read MoreConditions
The symptoms you describe could fit with an underactive thyroid gland...
Read MoreConditions
The NHS supplies a range of hearing aids, but won’t usually offer quite the same range of choice as private providers.
Read MoreConditions
Psoriatic arthritis is a form of inflammatory arthritis that is related to the skin condition known as psoriasis...
Read MoreConditions
Most people have been immunised against mumps, as it is part of the MMR vaccination given routinely to all children.
Read MoreConditions
I wonder if you may be suffering from one of the rarer forms of headaches
Read MoreMusculoskeletal
Scoliosis with a 65 degree double curve for a 13 year old girl. Severe pain as this has caused a slipped disk
Read More