Your doctor will diagnose RLS based on how you describe your
symptoms. It's important to keep track of when symptoms occur
and what makes them better or worse, as well as any other sleep
problems you are having. There is no blood test for RLS.
However, low iron stores are thought to cause or aggravate RLS
in some people. Your doctor may want to check your iron stores
using a serum ferritin test or test for other conditions such as
kidney disease or vitamin deficiencies that could be causing
your RLS. A sleep study is required to diagnose some sleep
disorders but is not necessary for the diagnosis of RLS.
However, your doctor may want a sleep study to check whether you
have periodic limb movements during sleep. Your doctor may also
recommend other tests to determine whether nerve damage is to
blame for your RLS. A sleep study, also called a polysomnogram,
is a painless, noninvasive test that records your physical state
during various stages of sleep. While a polysomnogram is not
necessary for the diagnosis of