Iron Deficiency Linked to Restless Legs Syndrome

Restless legs syndrome affects more than 12 million people in the United States.

Restless legs syndrome is a movement disorder that causes uncomfortable sensations in the legs.

It causes sensations such as creeping, crawling, and tugging inside the legs.

If you lie down and try to relax, the symptoms become worse.

The symptoms occur during periods of rest like watching television, attending a meeting and before sleeping at night.

As a result, if you have restless legs syndrome, you may feel difficulty in falling asleep and staying asleep, which leads to exhaustion and daytime tiredness.

The discomfort of RLS is accompanied by an overwhelming urge to move the legs, which may relieve leg discomfort temporarily. Leg movement, such as walking, stretching and deep knee bends, seems to bring temporary relief. A leg massage or a warm bath also may help.

The causes of RLS include iron deficiency, pregnancy, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, kidney failure, varicose veins or peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage in the hands and feet). High caffeine intake (coffee, tea, and cola beverages, chocolate) also may be related to restless legs syndrome.

Although RLS is more common in people over age 50, it can occur in men and women of any age group.

The symptoms of restless legs syndrome include crawling, pulling, tingling, prickly, and pain. Although the muscles of the lower legs are affected most often, restless legs syndrome occasionally can cause symptoms in the arms as well.

In addition to leg discomfort, restless legs syndrome can also cause periodic jerking leg movements during sleep. These involuntary leg movements often disturb you and your bed partner.

How iron deficiency causes restless legs syndrome?

Iron deficiency is involved because every condition that produces iron deficiency, such as anemia or pregnancy, increases the risk of RLS, says Richard Allen, PhD, a diplomat on the American Board of Sleep Medicine and a founder of the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center.

Iron deficient cells in the brain are mixing up central nervous system signals to the legs and arms, causing the irresistible urge to move the arms and legs and “creepy-crawly” sensations that characterize restless legs (limbs) syndrome (RLS), a Penn State College of Medicine study reports.

Results of the study of brains from people with restless legs syndrome (RLS) suggest that the disorder may result from inefficient processing of iron in certain brain cells. The findings provide a possible explanation for this disorder and may lead to new ways of treating the disease.

The researchers found no evidence of lost or damaged cells in the RLS brains. Instead, they found that receptors which help cells absorb iron are abnormally regulated in cells that produce the nerve-signaling chemical dopamine.

The study, led by James R. Connor, Ph.D., of Penn State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania, was funded in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and appears in the August 12, 2003, issue of Neurology.

Number of studies has related RLS to deficiencies of iron and dopamine. The lack of iron in the cells may cause them to malfunction, leading to the symptoms of RLS, Dr. Connor says. In RLS, we just need to tweak the system to improve cell function, rather than replacing lost cells.

Your doctors should test for iron levels in the blood if you have RLS. Your doctor usually measures blood levels of ferritin, a protein used to store iron, because ferritin levels correlate with the symptoms of RLS.

You can benefit from eating iron rich foods such as red meat and green leafy vegetables. But consult your doctor if you have any heart disease, when eating red meat.

Dr. Connor says that the results do not mean that people with RLS have an iron deficiency. Instead, the iron in their bodies is not being delivered to specific brain cells in an effective way.

The findings help to confirm that RLS is a neurological problem and not a psychological disorder, as many people have suspected, he adds.

Dr. Connor advices that, people shouldn’t start taking iron supplements without a physician’s recommendation. Taking too much iron can lead to problems such as headaches, dizziness, low blood pressure, coma, and even death.

Studies have suggested that high levels of iron also can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, he adds.

In the future, Dr. Connor hopes to study how iron supplementation works in people with RLS. He also hopes to find drugs or medical techniques that can specifically target the problem with iron uptake in the brain.

This type of therapy should be more effective and less dangerous than injecting high doses of iron into the blood.