Science trumps magic

I've written here before about my battles with restless leg syndrome and how I was persuaded to sleep with a bar of soap as a magical(?) cure for the problem. Much to my surprise, it actually worked. My twitchy legs stopped twitching at night and keeping me awake. I was able to sleep soundly.

I still don't know why it worked. Psychological palliative? Placebo effect? Who knows? Who cares, really, as long as it worked. But then it stopped working. By this past summer, the problem had returned with a vengeance. My legs were no longer just restless at night - they ached. I spent my nights tossing and turning and my days frowning and snapping at people. Finally, I got so desperate that I actually discussed the problem with my doctor. "Well, duh," you might say, and you would be right.

My doctor asked me several questions about my symptoms and then explained that there might be several causes. It could be a nerve problem which could be treated with a very low dosage of a drug that is used to treat Parkinson's Disease. Or it could be that I was deficient in some dietary elements needed for good health. She sent me to the lab to have a workup done on my levels of folic acid, folate, and vitamin B-12. She explained that deficiencies in any one of these could potentially result in the symptoms I was experiencing.

Well, long story short, my folic acid and folate levels were fine, but my B-12 levels were seriously low. As in practically non-existent. My doctor prescribed an immediate series of weekly injections to get my levels higher and a long-term regimen of monthly injections. I also started taking over-the-counter B-12 supplements. Since my first day of taking those supplements, I have slept like a baby every night and have learned to smile again.

I share this personal story of my health with you because of the previous post I had written about "My magic bar of soap." I don't want to leave you with the impression that the magic endured. Indeed, science trumps magic and knowledge trumps ignorance. I never understood how that soap could actually work, even though it seemed to for a while, but I do understand - at least nominally - why the B-12 works.

And why was my body so low in B-12? Well, the major source of B-12 in the diet is animal products. I eat very little of those. I can't claim to be a true or strict vegetarian, but I eat practically no red meat. I eat poultry and fish in very limited amounts, also. I do eat eggs and cheese and milk, but, obviously, not enough to provide my body with what it needs to be healthy.

Let this be a cautionary tale then for others who are vegetarian or vegan or who, like me, limit their intake of animal products. You might need to take those B-12 supplements.

My magic bar of soap

No doubt you have heard of a condition called restless leg syndrome.  You've probably seen commercials on television for products that are supposed to cure it.  You might even think it's one of those made-up imaginary diseases designed to make money for someone who has come up with a "cure."  Well, I'm here to testify that it is not imaginary.  I've suffered from it for years and it has cost me countless hours of restful sleep.

At times it is simply an annoyance, but at other times it is a serious problem, causing insomnia and making it difficult for me to function after a sleepless night of tossing and turning.  I've tried any number of remedies over the years - exercises, massages, pain pills, analgesic ointments, various mineral supplements - and some of them even work, at least temporarily, but I've never found anything that really worked to permanently relieve the problem.  Enter the world of folk remedies and white magic.

From time to time, I would read stories about sleeping with a bar of soap between the sheets as a cure for leg cramps and restless legs and I would always think to myself that this was probably the most ridiculous thing I had ever read.  What could a bar of soap possibly do?  I could conceive of no scientific basis for it and so I dismissed it.  

A couple of weeks ago, I went through a really bad period of restless legs.  In spite of trying all the methods I had used in the past to relieve my symptoms, nothing worked.  For an entire week, I barely slept, and when I slept, it was not a restful sleep.  My days were miserable.  Sunday night, September 25, was the worst.  I spent much of the night walking the floor.  By Monday, I was desperate enough to try magic.

Last Monday night, before I went to bed, I slipped a bar of soap between the sheets.  I slept soundly that night for the first time in over a week, so soundly that I found it hard to wake up the next morning.  Maybe my body was trying to make up for its sleep deprivation.  Every night since then, I have slept with my magic bar of soap, and the operative words here are "I have slept."  I don't sleep as soundly as I did that first night every night, but every night I sleep without restless or cramping legs.  For me, it's a miracle, because I can't explain it.

Why should a simple bar of soap make a difference?  Does it exude some kind of chemical that calms the legs?  Is it simply a placebo effect, the power of suggestion?  Does it somehow invoke my protective spirits to come and lull me to sleep?  Who cares?  For now, for me, it works, and that is the only important thing.  If it be white magic (or in the case of my soap, pink magic) it is the very best kind of magic!