Restless legs and periodic limb movements

My husband, a qualified master baker had to give up work a year or so after we got together due to having restless legs. It sounds like something that is just mildly annoying, I'll bet many of us have had that awful feeling of needing to move our legs, especially when over tired. It's not nice but probably not something you would expect to stop you from working. I can understand why people would feel outraged by it.
I first noticed Tim was different to other men as soon as we shared a bed *blushes* As we drifted off into a happy love drunk snooze, we were led in bed holding hands, all romantic. When he started to squeeze my hand, at first I thought it was reassuring and sweet but soon I realised (to my horror) that he had no idea he was doing it HMPH! When his body twitched I genuinely thought it was just Tim falling into a deep sleep (You know that feeling of falling when suddenly your body jumps?) When he started to move his legs around the bed, I thought he was trying to find the cool spot in the bed and a few times I thought 'Hurry up and get to sleep, it's not cute anymore!' (Ooops!) I thought he must find my bed VERY uncomfortable the way he was fidgeting but soon I noticed there was actually a rhythm to it, his legs rubbing along the bed a few time and then he would kick out and also lash out with his arms. 'Hmmm! he hasn't told me about this' I thought, a little worried and a tad annoyed (I like my sleep).
The next day we had a chat and he said an ex girlfriend had complained about his 'performance' in bed LOL! He certainly IS all action! He admitted he hadn't really believed her, he thought she was making excuses. When I convinced him it was a bit of a deal breaker for me (It really was and still is horrendously difficult for me to sleep next to him) he went to see the doctor and got given all sorts of things to try and help, as there is no cure. After quinine, early nights, baths, leg massages, creams, lotions and potions, some prescribed medicines that made him pass out (!), some that made him wet the bed (sorry Tim) and some that made everything feel groovy (for him anyway!) he finally got referred to a neurologist. He explained that he has restless legs with involuntary body movements/periodic movements. He also told him that sleeping with him is a bit like sleeping next to a washing machine on spin cycle. SO TRUE! Hooray!!! The irony is that whilst Tim is merrily twitching away at night, he IS asleep, very poor sleep I admit, but all the same, ASLEEP. He got some new tablets, pramipexole and was soon upped to over the recommended dose. The neurologist noted he was a bit of a special case because not only does he have restless legs, but restless arms too. Very severe as well.
When I got pregnant we had to have separate beds because we were worried he would lash out with his arms. You can imagine the stress this put on our relationship. He is often grumpy and tired and we can't do so many things that 'normal' couples enjoy (No, I don't mean that! That's very fine thank you :-D ) Silly little things like snuggling up together to watch telly or go to the cinema are out, he literally can't sit still for more than 10 minutes! He disguises it by nipping off to make cups of tea, which is nice but I would rather snuggle thanks! Theatre is out, visiting people is tricky. Anything that involves sitting or standing still for too long creates problems. He is very good at hiding it, he can subtly change position, people probably just think he is a fidget.
Behind Tim's mask there is heartbreak, guilt, self-blame, self-hate even. He feels he pushed himself too hard when he was younger, drank too much when he was younger and didn't go to see the doctor when he noticed it first. (I don't think it's his fault at all! ) He takes antidepressants. Even after his diagnosis we tried to get him in for a sleep assessment because we felt his new GP didn't take him seriously enough and not sure even the neurologist realised how sever it is. He got sent to see a psychiatrist by this new GP to find out if the problem was mental rather than physical. GRRR! We know it does affect him mentally but felt that is because of the illness, rather than the other way around but he went and she concluded it was as WE thought, the illness causing the depression. Even so, when he asked the question about being referred to a sleep clinic, the GP said he would be 'a laughing stock' for referring him. NOT very helpful. It does seem that not many people truly understand. He has been to a few benefit agency medicals and has been claiming incapacity benefit or whatever they call now since he was diagnosed. Tim feels they do this more on his mental health than the restless legs etc. I can understand his frustration, it does SOUND like something so trivial but I feel Tim has been robbed of 'normal' life. My fear is that now they are doing this overhaul of the benefits system, he will be expected to work again.
You would be forgiven for thinking Tim doesn't really WANT to work, that's not true at all. Tim is by nature 'a worker' he hates not working and it drives him crazy. He has tried going back to work but the tiredness he feels goes beyond normal tiredness. He gets angry and short tempered (not in a violent way, it's not aimed at us) he falls asleep as soon as he sits down and then he starts with the twitching of course. His body is never really at rest. The thing is he CAN keep going, he says himself he could run for miles, he could rush about all day, but you make him stop and then he suffers. He says the sensations are like ants crawling under his skin, unbearable, itchy, driving him to utter distraction. He can't take any more tablets than he does and after a while he has to wean himself off them because he builds up a resistance to them. The worst thing is there is NOTHING ELSE that helps like these tablets do with the sensations (movement is always there, no matter what) Recently he weaned off these and went on some others, I found him crying and desperate, It was HELL ON EARTH for him and we had to sleep separately (separate rooms) after years of having zip-link beds positioned about two inches apart.It helped us still feel 'together'. Very upsetting for us both. On the other hand I found I slept better than ever! No more swishing noises and being woken up every few minutes. When we shared a bed it was like someone shaking me awake, nudging me as if to say 'wake up!' It doesn't do much for either of our health. Since the weaning and going back on pramipexole tablets I haven't been able to face sharing a room with him again. I just sleep so much better *guilty*
I do wonder what the future holds. Will the boys have it? Tim's dad does get restless legs but not that severe. Will they not recognise how much this affects him and send him to work? If so. How will he cope? Could our marriage survive? I really don't know. Only thing I do know, is I love him and I want to be with him, in sickness and in health...

NEW EARTH POLLUTION

Are you GREEN? Are you doing all you can to save the environment? Are you saving water, recycling your glass, plastics and tins? Do you donate your old clothes to charity? Me too! I 'police' the lights and appliances, make sure my boys don't drop their rubbish outside, insisting that if they can't find a bin they must bring it home. So WHY would I be so against a composting plant? It SOUNDS fantastic! The answer to our landfill problems, the answer to saving the environment, the answer to our guilt maybe? Well...no...it's NOT, not for those of us who live right beside it. I can hear you shouting at me now! 'NIMBY PAMBY!' What do you KNOW about these composting plants though? Are they all about recycling our food waste into a magic nutrient for our farmers? You might be surprised to know that recycling this sort of waste (catering waste including MEAT) was banned for a while after the swine flu outbreak and even now has to be controlled. Animals are not allowed to graze land with this compost on it for several weeks because of the risks of diseases like mad cow, scrapie and swine flu. These deceases are known to be caused by animals eating animals (it's just not what they are meant to do) Could it be that REALLY they are about getting landfill down for the EU? Is it a money making machine? I think so!
Anyway, quite apart from this is the problem of the smell coming from these places. So putrid and disgusting that people in this area are BADLY affected. For the past few years we have not been able to enjoy our summers outside in our gardens, I haven't fancied going for a walk, we can't even open our windows without the stench taking over the whole house. Our clothes hanging on the line smell of it, the interior of the car smells of it, we probably smell of it! You might think, so what?! You live in the country, those sorts of smells are everywhere. True! But would you be shocked if I told you the smell of pig, cow and chicken poo smell a million times BETTER than the smell we have to endure? Not just in the summer either, the truth is that if the wind happens to be blowing this way (too often for our liking) we suffer. Suffer? Too dramatic? Not really when you consider the health problems we seem to be suffering from. Sore, itchy eyes, sore throats, headaches, coughing, breathing problems, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and possibly even exhaustion and cancer! I certainly feel more people than usual in this area seem to have died of cancer or fought cancer in recent years.
My five year old boy has missed two weeks of school since they started back this school year. He has had so many rounds of steroids and antibiotics that my GP is VERY concerned about him. We saw the asthma nurse and we talked about him possibly being referred so they can prescribe him a new inhaler. All very worrying. We all notice that when the NEW EARTH SOLUTIONS composing site is smelling worst we are all affected. My husband was diagnosed with asthma a few years ago and lately I have seen him struggle so much he has had to slow down in general. My 10 year old son may have asthma too and I was diagnosed with it over 15 years ago. We all notice we have to use our inhalers more when the smell is bad. I asked the nurse if this place could be causing the problem and she admitted it couldn't be ruled out and even added that even when the smell is not there, the spores could still be in the air. The GP said much the same, she could rule it out.
After a local meeting involving local residents, environmental health, local council, local MP, environment agency and the operations manager plus the site manager of NEW EARTH SOLUTIONS, we are STILL stuck with it. It seems to me that the snvironment agency are doing all they can to make sure this works, saying that their permit states that as long as they are SEEN to be trying to make improvements they are still allowed to operate. Yesterday we learned that NEW EARTH SOLUTIONS have a new contract to recycle food waste from people in Bath here in Sharpness. Not only that, they are planning on opening a new site in Avonmouth, which means we will probably get the smell from there too.
We would love to move on health grounds. It's such a shame because we love the area and the house is very cheap to rent. It upsets me to think they can just do as they like, releasing goodness knows what gas into the air.
My husband set up a group called WE THINK NEW EARTH SOLUTIONS STINK I hope you will look at it and read all the information he has found on there. You can also see an article about our situation in the Gloucestershire Gazette this Thursday. If anyone has any information on what gases these places emit I would be very grateful.

Making a wirework hedgehog.

HOW I MADE A WIREWORK HEDGEHOG

I made a wrapped loop in one end of a length of copper wire.

I formed a larger loop around a jar of nail varnish and wrapped it a few times under the small loop.

I trimmed the wire and flattened the ends with pliers.

I filed the ends until they were smooth with a needle file and emery cloth.

I bent the wire to form a 'nose'.

I hammered the wire with a nylon mallet to work harden the frame. (The sound of the metal changes when it's done and the metal becomes rigid. )

Next, I made a spiral large enough to almost cover the base frame. Making sure the nose part is clear.

I wrapped the spiral onto the base under the last wrap.

I used pliers to squeeze the end and make it secure.

After trimming the wire I filed the end smooth.

I work hardened the spiral a little, then pushed the centre up to form a helix.

You could leave if flat, just for fun and have that 'just ran over look' :-D

I added tigers eye chips using fine copper wire. (I found 3 wraps in between each stone worked best.)

I then filled the nose with a few rows of brown seed beads, added a black glass bead for the nose and used two black seed beads for the eyes.

Small tigers eye beads were used for feet.

I didn't get photos of the final stages as I was in a hurry to finish it.

It's a fiddly but rewarding job.

I only found out I can make these after a customer asked me if I could make a tortoise!

I made the tortoise in a very similar way and when someone saw it they asked me to make them a hedgehog. I love how my customers have so much confidence in me. It really helps me to push myself and gives me such a boost.

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HERE IT IS!

I have been selling these for £5 including P&P but I really think I am selling myself short there. They take such a long time.

This is the second hedgehog I have made.

Welcome to my BLOG

Welcome

Hello there everyone! I hope you enjoy my blog. I aim to keep you up to date with all that is happening in my world. I shall be adding my latest creations, inspirations and no doubt rants along the way.

Recently... I have discovered http://www.craftjuice.com/ I noticed it on facebook and then joined it, added a few items and hoped my work would get published. I love seeing everyone's work on there, so many great ideas (that I wished I'd had first!) Anyway one thing I will say is if you DO see things on here or anywhere else for that matter PLEASE don't copy it without permission to do so. Surely you can add your own spin and make it YOURS?!

Hallowe'en will soon be here folks! I have been working on some spooky spiders and plan to make a charm bracelet full of them very soon.

Orders have been picking up lately, sensible people are starting their Christmas shopping early. For some reason I haven't got a single thing yet lol!

Wire work I like to use reclaimed/recycled wire for my work. Copper is a favourite, it's in an awful lot of old electrical items, is soft so easy to work. I have used silver wire but it makes me jittery when it's wire I have actually bought :-D