Imagine trying to relax but being overcome by an uncontrollable need to move your legs.

Your sleep is disturbed and it can be difficult to sit still for any length of time without twitching or jumping.

This is what life can be like for people with restless legs syndrome (RLS).

Sufferers experience a crawling or burning sensation which they can only relieve by walking around or moving their legs.

It's almost impossible for them to suppress the urge to move them and they find they can just jerk on their own.

Helen Parker-Padley, 55, has suffered from restless legs syndrome for nearly 40 years. She says: "It can be almost like having ants in your legs.

"It's mainly when I'm in bed. That's when I really notice it. You are trying to get comfortable and get to sleep and then your legs are off. There's this strange sensation running through your legs and you know you've got to move them.

"When they are very bad they will jerk on their own. Mainly I find I'm moving them just trying to get the pain out.

"It can affect my sleep. I find it does wake me up a lot."

For Helen, who lives in Swanborough Place, Whitehawk, restless legs syndrome mostly affects her from the knee down.

When she is sitting in the lounge with her leg up on the footstool, her toes twitch and her ankle moves.

"Your legs just feel uncomfortable and there's uncontrollable movement. It's very irritating because you can't relax with it."

Helen began to suffer from RLS badly at around the age of 45, when she started going through the menopause. She found she was experiencing it most nights.

She started looking into ways to help cope with the condition. She has found a feather mattress topper, cold gels and pain killers have all helped.

She now says she experiences it three times a week on average, at night.

"It's totally random," she says. "It never follows a particular routine."

Restless legs syndrome, also known as Ekbom syndrome, affects women more than men and becomes more common as people get older. Up to one in ten people will develop some degree of restless legs syndrome at some point in their life.

The syndrome can affect other parts of the body as well as the legs. According to a study published in the journal Clinical Therapeutics, some people can suffer with the condition as severely as those recovering from a heart attack or those with diabetes and arthritis do.

One 69-year-old woman from Brighton has suffered from restless legs syndrome for more than 40 years. She says it has ruined her life.

The woman, who does not want to be named, believes her restless legs syndrome started when she was early 20s but it became severe when she had her first child a few years later.

"I had two children and both pregnancies were an absolute nightmare," she says. "I could not sleep or sit or do anything.

"It never went away from then. I have never had a night or day without it."

She feels the crawling sensation at the top of her buttocks, right at the bottom of her back, which gives her the urge to move her legs.

She says: "It's like an insect crawling around inside your flesh. You've got to get up and walk and straighten your muscles in your legs. You can't relax, you've got to keep moving around.

"You can't sleep through it. You have to get up. It can last for four hours and then go off. If you don't move your legs yourself and you try to ignore it your legs will jerk on their own"

Restless legs syndrome meant she could never work in an office job and it has also affected her social life.

She says: "I can't go to the cinema, I can't go to the theatre.

"I can't go to a restaurant - I do, but it's embarrassing as I have to get up and walk around.

"I can't travel long distances in the car. I have to keep stopping and walking about."

It is when she is at her most relaxed and most tired that restless legs syndrome strikes and at night it keeps her awake.

She has kicked her husband badly in her sleep and it means they can no longer sleep in the same bed.

"It's a lonely life because I wander around the house at night," she says. "I have often cooked a meal in the night for the next day."

The condition has reduced her to tears and even left her wishing she were dead at times.

She has tried various treatments including an ice pack, medication for Parkinson's disease and complementary therapies, but without success.

She was given a strong painkiller drug by her doctor and takes one at night which helps the problem.

Her husband also brushes the affected area with a body brush each evening which helps.

She did find that when she had an epidural while in hospital for an unrelated operation she wasn't affected by restless legs syndrome for five days.

Later this month she is going to have a drug implant in the hope it will numb her nerves and help the condition.

She says: "I'm afflicted by this thing I can't do anything about. It's so frustrating. It affects everyone close to me. My children and family feel great sorrow for me because they know what I'm suffering and they can't help me."

Information: The Ekbom Support Group can give more information about restless legs syndrome. Send a A4 self-addressed, stamped envelope to Ekbom Support Group, 18 Rodbridge Drive, Thorpe Bay, Essex SS1 3DF. You can also log on to www.ekbom.org.uk.