Periodic limb movement disorder

Periodic Limb Movement Disorder or PLMD or sleep myoclonus or nocturnal myoclonus is a form of Periodic Leg Movements of Sleep (PLMS) involving very frequent movements that disturb the quality of sleep. Patients with PLMD are normally unaware of the movements, and it can only be diagnosed via polysomnography (PSG).

Signs and symptoms

 * Fatigue
 * Unfreshing sleep or non-restorative sleep

Treatment
A number of different medications have shown positive results in patients with PLMD, although many were very small clinical trials.

ME/CFS
Periodic Limb Movement Disorder is recognized as a common comorbidity of ME/CFS by the U.S. ME/CFS Clinician Coalition (2020). and is particularly common in people with Restless Leg Syndrome, which also affects many people with ME/CFS.

Possible causes
PLMD is more common in people aged over 70, people with restless legs syndrome, which causes urges to regularly move legs in the daytime, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, people with diabetes, low iron and certain other medical conditions. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560727/

It can also be related to use of certain medications including lithium, a mood stabilizer used got bipolar disorder, tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline, and selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors.

Learn more

 * Periodic Limb Movements - American Academy of Sleep Medicine Sleep Education