Nocturnal myoclonus in restless legs syndrome effect of carbamazepine treatment
Zucconi, M.; Coccagna, G.; Petronelli, R.; Gerardi, R.; Mondini, S.; Cirignotta, F.
Functional Neurology 4(3): 263-271
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0393-5264 PMID: 2507405 Document Number: 335378
We studied Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) and nocturnal myoclonus (NM) in 9 patients before and after carbamazepine treatment, to verify the correlation between improvement of RLS and modification of NM pattern during sleep. Although CBZ proved effective in the treatment of RLS, it did not modify the pattern of nocturnal myoclonus and its relationship to arousal during sleep. The efficacy of CBZ on RLS may be due to other properties of the drug rather than to the effect on nocturnal sleep: reduction of sleep latency and wakefulness after sleep onset.