[Sleepless in CA]

So here I am another night, awake and on the computer because my poor husband is having PLMD episodes again. Being in CA it makes me jump because I think it's an earthquake. It has been hard. I was hoping to find a cure. I found this article about it and find that there is really no cure except to drug him. I guess I will take the shakes. We thought it was a calcium defficiancy because he drinks some cokes and not much milk. He took supliments and they seemed to help but it is still going on. So I guess it is not that. Not sure what to do. If you are a spouse, how do you cope with this? I love him and will never sleep in a separate bed. Sometime I have gone to our daughter's bed just to get some sleep. Does it get worse with age? Thanks.
Sleepless in CA

[Molly229]

I so know how you feel. My husband started with this a couple of years ago. This past month has been worse than ever. Midway through the night I'm moving to the spare room. I hate it.

I find that he falls asleep and within 2 hours, he's flopping around like a guppy out of water. I often wonder how he can be rested at all.

He drinks alot of tea and I'm wondering if he should not have any in the evenings.

[jmon]

My husband will understand what you're going through. I have suffered from PLMD for probably 20 years, but didn't really understand it until recently. I take medication and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. As crazy as this sounds, it doesn't have any affect on the PLMD right around the full moon. The pharmacist tells me that this isn't that unusual. I've cut back on caffeine and alcohol, although I haven't cut them out entirely. Moderate exercise and a hot bath or shower helps. Recently, I realized that if I sit at the computer and play some mindless card game for about 15 minutes before bedtime (when my legs have been "jumping") it seems to help. Why, I don't know, but I would give anything to be cured. Often when my legs are bothering me, I just get up and go into another room to sleep to give my husband a break. For the most part, I do get sleep and I guess I owe it to taking medication. I HATE taking medication. The thought of taking it the rest of my life is disturbing to me, so I'm hoping that someday they figure out what the heck causes it.