Thirty Years of Suffering and One Tablet of Gratitude
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande
At the age of 18, he started noticing difficulty in falling asleep because of a weird pin-prick like sensation in his calves. He ignored it initially, but later in a few months it grew so severe that he could not sleep. Then started a nightmarish phenomenon of sudden squeezing sensation on the legs, sometimes with other abnormal and disturbing symptoms like gnawing pain, pulling and jerky movement of both legs. A little massage initially helped, but within minutes, symptoms returned, and now came up to his thighs. Many a nights, he could not sleep at all.
Lack of sleep worsened his daily performance, and he started getting irritable, confused and often very depressed because of the ongoing symptoms. There were phases of relief without any apparent reason, but the problem almost always returned with more severity. He went from one doctor to another, was told he had nerve problems, muscle fatigue, deficiency, and even psychological issues. Various tests done did not show any abnormality. In the last few years, his symptoms spread over to his hands and became so severe that he could not sleep at all. He tried many medicines from many pathies but had no relief. Then he started having suicidal thoughts.
That’s when Dr. Lakshman Sathe of Dodaich arranged for a video consultation with me for Mr. Rajendra Badgujar, now 50 years old, resident of Sindkheda. As any learned neurologist will have guessed from the description above, I concluded that Mr. Rajendra was a severe case of a rare disease called “Restless Legs Syndrome”. Although rare and more common in women, this extremely troublesome condition is now increasingly recognized in Indian population. This usually is caused by a genetic predisposition, but may also be associated with certain other medical conditions including iron deficiency. The most common complaints are ‘restlessness’ of legs, due to weird squeezing, pricking sensation or jerky movements. Very good treatments usually in form of tablets are available, but most of these tablets have serious side effects if incorrectly used. Also, only if the diagnosis is accurate and not associated with any other related conditions, patients respond well.
Mr. Badgujar, who had suffered for nearly 30 years, had complete relief within a week of starting the new medicine, and is now not only having sustained relief with only one tablet, but has also slept blissfully over last two months. Still, that is not the reason for my article. This poor man travelled to Pune for 9 hours, daring the CoViD pandemic, with his family, only to personally say thank you to me. This single tablet of gratitude calmed my restless mind instantaneously!
Most neurologists can readily diagnose and treat this condition in the first or second visit itself, sometimes a few tests may be required. If the patient reaches the right specialist for various medical conditions, not only is he /she relieved at the earliest, everyone saves a lot of money and we can thus contribute to improve the reputation of our noble profession.
©Dr. Rajas Deshpande
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PS: Every qualified neurologist can diagnose and treat this condition effectively.