Periodic Limb Movement DisorderDescription and Examples of PLMDPeriodic limb movement disorder together with sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome, appears to be more prevalent in older persons, and they are also more marked among nursing home residents than the independent elderly.
Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD) is a movement disorder that occurs often at people with sleep apnea, narcolepsy and Parkinson's disease.The symptoms of PLMD occur only in sleep, with repetitive movements of the limbs, mostly legs, such as:
Occasionally the movements are so severe that the whole body moves restless for several hours. In this video you can see a person with periodic limb movement disorder: The side effects of periodic leg movement are easily deduced from the observation of the quality of life of the patients:
There are medications that can make the condition worse, such as antidepressants, antihistamines, and some antipsychotics. Here is another example of periodic limb movement disorder:
Another medications which are sometimes prescribed to help patients sleep more restfully are benzodiazepines, such as diazepam and clonazepam. But these medications should not be used in apnea patients since they can aggravate their disorder. Whichever drug is chosen, it should be used initially in a low dose and timed to be given before the onset of the symptoms. The dose of the drugs should be gradually increased until the symptoms are adequately controlled.Some more great pages you might like:
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