Is “Restless Leg Syndrome” Fake?

Published July 20, 2007 in Media.

I’m pretty damn sure it is. My plan: come up with some fake disorder that sounds realish, get an attractive young couple to hawk sugar pills in a commercial to cure it, and profit.

23 Responses to “Is “Restless Leg Syndrome” Fake?”

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1 GW Chimpzilla
Jul 20th, 2007 at 7:08 pm

Sure it’s real. I’ve had it all my life. As long as I’m active, I can fall asleep at night. I don’t take any medication for it, but that new drug called Mirapex sounds exciting:

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION ABOUT MIRAPEX: When taking MIRAPEX hallucinations may occur . . .

Sounds like fun!
2 Waveflux
Jul 20th, 2007 at 8:00 pm

You mean to say you doubt the Seinfeld episode about the jimmy legs?
3 R. Klein
Jul 20th, 2007 at 8:14 pm

I can’t stop my leg!
4 A.S.O.
Jul 20th, 2007 at 9:18 pm

I don’t think it’s fake, but I think Big Pharma wants to take a condition that really affects 0.0001% of the population and convince 0.1% of the population that they have it.
5 C.S.Strowbridge
Jul 20th, 2007 at 9:56 pm

Fake, over-hyped, misdiagnosed, over-medicated, etc.

Worst part of it, it puts me on the same side as Tom Cruise.
6 Ivyfree
Jul 21st, 2007 at 12:25 am

It’s absolutely real. I’ve had it all my life. I remember crying as a child because I couldn’t explain what was wrong. When I read about it a few years ago, I was relieved: I wasn’t going crazy. And my doctor prescribes meds for me, and now I can sleep. It’s a sleep disorder.
7 momedmunnay
Jul 21st, 2007 at 2:21 am

This is exaggerated bs, just like ADD, and ADHD, and BiPolar, etc etc etc. Half the “victims” probably don’t have a damn thing wrong with them. There may be a good number of folks with “restless legs” or whatever the hell, but there couldn’t possibly be enough of them to merit repeated national drug advertisements. The marketing is designed to sweep in a bunch more people that are looking for crutches, and then you get even more business from compliant doctors who are so happy to have attention from gorgeous pharma reps that they have allowed the glossy drug propaganda to go unchallenged to the masses.
8 merlallen
Jul 21st, 2007 at 7:20 am

It’s real. I have it and it drives me nuts. It’s really hard to sleep.
9 Nimrod Gently
Jul 21st, 2007 at 7:29 am

Nah, it’s real. It’s just nerves going prang when they’re not needed, so magnesium (in multivitamins) usually does the trick. It’s not serious enough to merit millions of dollars in research but it is dangerous to just decide that it’s fake because it’s easily exploited or it’s got slightly too convenient symptoms. That set back ME research by about ten years.
10 midderpidge
Jul 21st, 2007 at 10:17 am

Uneven Fingernail Growth Disorder Anxiety. Let’s sell it.

“I was afraid to leave the house, self conscious that everyone would look at my fingernails and comment on how the pinky nail was longer than the thumb’s. I even wore gloves everywhere. I couldn’t sleep at night thinking my middle toenail might outgrow my fourth toe’s by one thousandth of an inch.

But then my doctor told me about a new drug called PLACEBO. Just two pills a day and my Uneven Fingernail Growth Disorder Anxiety has been under control!!!

Within a week I was able to take my gloves off. A whole new world has opened up for me and the dog will now come near me. If only the drug companies could do something about my Acute Eyebrow Awarenesss….

Warning: Placebo may cause psychosomatic headaches and uncontrollable bowel movements. Do not use PLACEBO as an antidepressant. PLACEBO should not be used to decorate birthday cakes unless you are really out of sprinkles.
11 shrimplate
Jul 21st, 2007 at 10:59 am

RLS is real. But it’s even more real now that there’s a drug that helps it.
12 shrimplate
Jul 21st, 2007 at 11:00 am

Being an asshole is “real,” too. But there isn’t a pill for it.

Cyanide, maybe, but that awaits FDA approval.
13 Rebecca Poole
Jul 21st, 2007 at 11:06 am

My husband has this - had it before the condition had a name.

RLS can be quite painful and disrupts his sleep significantly. If the sleep cycle is disrupted enough, the symptoms of RLS become worse.

Like those diagnosed with fibromyalgia, RLS sufferers tend to have a history of emotional trauma, so drugs alone don’t solve the problem. But the US has a short-term solution mentality about most things. I don’t want to really look at myself or change my behavior, the insurance companies will put out for meds over a doctor’s time, so pills will always be pushed.
14 Duros62
Jul 21st, 2007 at 11:47 am

Do not taunt PLACEBO.

My girlfriend claims to have it. I dunno, if one of the sysptoms is thrashing around in your sleep and kicking your partner, then yeah. Her mom said that a remedy (”it works, I don’t know why) is to put a bar of soap, preferably Irish Spring, under the covers near your feet.

Ho’kay.
15 Nathanael Nerode
Jul 22nd, 2007 at 12:58 am

It’s certainly real. Related to fibromyalgia as it turns out. “Thrashing around in your sleep and kicking” — on a regular basis, not just when you’re having bad dreams — is pretty much most of the syndrome.

Treatment is nontrivial — since the syndrome is pretty much just a collection of symptoms, it really depends on the underlying cause, which is different in each case (and can be as simple as magnesium deficiency). The drugs they’re pushing aren’t particularly effective or very safe, though I’m sure they’re the best treatment for a small fraction of the affected population.

Drug ads should be banned. I know people for whom Vioxx is absolutely appropriate because they have severe arthritis and other painkillers don’t work, and they have low risk for heart disease.

But the drug companies advertised Vioxx to ten bazillion people, got millions of people using it who should have been on other painkillers, and then caused a reaction when the dangers (which well-informed people knew all along) were “discovered”, and ended up with it being banned. Which screwed the tiny population of people who really *did* need the stuff.
16 merlallen
Jul 22nd, 2007 at 6:16 am

I eat a couple of bananas a week. Problem solved. It’s only a problem if I don’t eat bananas for awhile. Drinking milk also helps.
17 akaoni
Jul 23rd, 2007 at 8:43 am

I’m mixed about the whole thing. My wife complains frequently of RLS, but I personally think it might be as much an artifact of anxiety and lack of excercise as actual disorder. Bringing fibromyalgia into the equation does not lent RLS a veneer of credibility, however…
18 Nimrod Gently
Jul 23rd, 2007 at 9:15 am

Like my father, Nathanael, who was stranded until they got Celebrex in instead. Which might also give him a heart attack as it happens, but they won’t know until 2010 because hey what’s the rush man.
19 Jeremy
Jul 23rd, 2007 at 9:45 am

It’s real. I have stayed awake entire nights due to it. Is it overdiagnosed and over-medicated? Probably, just like a lot of other conditions. But just because something is overdiagnosed, that doesn’t mean it fails to exist.

Thanks a boatload for being so understanding, Oliver.
20 Xanthippas
Jul 23rd, 2007 at 5:23 pm

I invite anyone to come over and tell my pregnant wife who’s trying desperately to get to sleep at night that it’s not real. Only wait until I’ve moved, because although I will enjoy laughing at her violent response to your claim, I’d actually like to keep my own head thank you very much.

Anyway I think this pretty much sums up my opinion:

It’s real. I have stayed awake entire nights due to it. Is it overdiagnosed and over-medicated? Probably, just like a lot of other conditions. But just because something is overdiagnosed, that doesn’t mean it fails to exist.

Yep.
21 Eric Siry
Jul 24th, 2007 at 4:28 pm

My GF has had it since she was 5, and so does her sister. Sometimes she asks me to punch her in the leg to soothe the crawling sensations under her skin. Count me as another vote for “Is it overdiagnosed and over-medicated? Probably, just like a lot of other conditions. But just because something is overdiagnosed, that doesn’t mean it fails to exist.”
22 acaciababy
Feb 4th, 2008 at 2:24 am

Many of you seem to be describing the symptoms of myoclonus. It occurs most often at rest, such as when falling asleep, and it’s sometimes accompanied by RLS. It’s also hereditary and progressive, and cannot be cured, only controlled–somewhat–with medication such as clonazepam, valproic acid, and with the serotonin precursor, hydroxytryptophan. I have found success with myrapex and neurontin. For those who believe they have RLS, check it out with a neurologist–you may have myoclonus instead, or in additon to, RLS.
23 acaciababy
Feb 4th, 2008 at 2:27 am

Many of you who think you have RLS seem to be describing the symptoms of myoclonus. Check it out with a neurologist. It’s sometimes accompanied by RLS, is hereditary, and progressive.