B.O.T.A.
Bag of Tricks
The B.O.T.A. is a whole "approach", not just a bag of tricks. It is a systematic plan for putting combinations of tricks to work, regardless of which tricks you decide to use.
NOT ENOUGH
Relying on one medicine, or counting on one alternative trick to work in every situation, is usually not sufficient for RLS survival.
BETTER!
It's better, but still not enough, to have a list of several individual tricks which can be applied when an RLS attack begins.
BEST
The best response to RLS, is to systematically and persistently apply a practiced response approach which uses a predetermined combination of tricks.
Repeat! Repeat! Repeat!
When the tricks, which may include both pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical methods, are applied systematically and repeated over and over again, a behavior modification approach is accomplished. Not only do the tricks work to quiet or prevent the RLS attacks at the moment, but they eventually have a positive effect on future tendencies and experiences with RLS.
Look at it this way. Picture a mother talking on the phone, while her children play impatiently at her feet. They want her attention, so they start nagging and acting up. If she ignores them, they'll continue to act up. (Same as if you try to ignore RLS, it will just get worse.) Her best plan of attack is to tell the person on the phone, "I will call you right back." She should hang up the phone, deal strictly with the children, and then place the call again. If they act up again, she should repeat the process, hanging up the phone, dealing with them, perhaps more strictly, and then place the call again.
Once the children realize their behavior will be met with immediate, strict, and consistent attention from mother, they will think twice about acting up while she is on the phone. They will know she is not a victim, tied helplessly to that phone. Before long, they will no longer see "mom on the phone" as fair game or permission to misbehave.
Just as the mother stopped her phone call and dealt with her misbehaving children, an RLSer needs to immediately stop whatever he/she is doing and respond to an RLS attack with a prepared and consistent plan of attack or approach. We must not let the misbehaving, nagging, bully of RLS see us as a victim, stuck in our bed or chair and unable to respond effectively.
The BOTA has four parts. The first two parts are preparations, which are continually adjusted and refined. The third and fourth parts involve actions, which are repeated over and over, again.
PART I: GATHER YOUR TRICKS
Do research, listen to what works for others, analyze what has worked for you, and make a list of all these tricks.
PART II: PACK YOUR BAGS
Decide which tricks are needed for each type of RLS situation. Look at the order in which they will be applied and analyze which combinations work best.
PART III: PLAN OF ATTACK
This is your pre-planned first response to an RLS attack. WARNING! It doesn't always work.
PART IV: RELIEF PLAN
When the Plan of Attack fails, you must have a relief plan which is a never-fail plan for stopping an attack.
It takes practice!! Part III and Part IV are repeated over and over again, until the RLS attack subsides and/or you are able to overpower it and accomplish the task at hand, i.e. sleeping, sitting through a movie, or sitting at a desk. At first, these plans take time and effort to create, perfect, and apply. You will achieve more success as time goes on, until eventually, when you've settled on plans that are effective for you, and your mind and body learn the process, you will be able to use the Plan of Attack and Relief Plan seamlessly and with little effort.
You will know you've perfected the BOTA approach when you hear yourself thinking, "I know I can stop this attack and eventually get to sleep, if I just use my Plan of Attack and Relief Plan, but darn it all, I don't want to go through all of that, so I'm just going to skip to the part where I go to sleep." Believe it or not, when you know you have a plan which will always work, you can make that choice to skip the approach and accomplish the task at hand without going through all the steps. But remember, it takes time, possibly months, and it takes practice to perfect the BOTA and get to this point.
Go to "Gather Your Tricks"
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