{"id":11584,"date":"2025-09-11T05:20:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/?p=11584"},"modified":"2025-09-11T05:20:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:20:29","slug":"periodic-limb-movement-disorder-what-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/11\/periodic-limb-movement-disorder-what-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Periodic Limb Movement Disorder \u2013 What Is It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

A\u00a0sleep disorder<\/a>\u00a0that is characterized by rhythmic movements of your legs and sometimes your arms during sleep is called\u00a0periodic limb movement<\/a>\u00a0disorder (PLMD).\u00a0PLMD<\/a>\u00a0is also known as\u00a0Restless Leg Syndrome<\/a>\u00a0(RLS<\/a>).<\/p>

It is not known what causes PLMD to occur but research has shown that those who have certain medical problems including\u00a0Parkinson\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0disease may be prone to PLMD. Those with narcolepsy commonly have PLMD.<\/p>

The symptoms of<\/p>

LMD<\/a>\u00a0are unusual leg or arm movements during sleep. Sometimes the individual with PLMD wakes up partially or fully but usually they do not wake and their bed partner has to tell them about the fact that they are kicking in their sleep.<\/p>

The diagnosis can be made by the history given by the bed partner, or by an over-night study called an overnight polysomnogram, which is a test that records sleep, and bioelectrical signals that come from the body while the individual is asleep. A doctor may order blood tests to assess the level of iron, folic acid, vitamin\u00a0B12<\/a>, thyroid function, and magnesium.<\/p>

Several drugs such as\u00a0anticonvulsant<\/a>\u00a0medications, benzodiazepines, and also narcotics can treat PLMD. Some doctors also use drugs that are used to treat\u00a0Parkinson\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0disease to treat\u00a0PLMD<\/a>. Using these drugs may reduce or completely eliminate the unusual leg or arm movements.<\/p>

Doctors believes that taking caffeine containing beverages and foods may intensify symptoms of PLMD so products like coffee, tea, chocolate, and soft drinks should be avoided if you have PLMD. Certain\u00a0antidepressants<\/a>\u00a0can make the symptoms of PLMD worse.<\/p>

PLMD<\/a>\u00a0can occur at any age but is more common in those who are middle-aged or elderly. Both males and females can both get PLMD \/\u00a0RLS<\/a>.<\/p>

PLMD used to be called nocturnal myoclonus but that name is not used anymore today.<\/p>

Chronic sleep disruption, daytime sleepiness and PLMD is not a normal part of getting older and if you are experiencing these symptoms you should speak with a doctor about your symptoms so that a diagnosis and treatment can be determined.<\/p>

Diabetes<\/a>\u00a0mellitus,\u00a0iron deficiency<\/a>, spinal cord tumor, spinal cord injury, sleep apnea, breathing difficulties, narcolepsy and uremia can lead to PLMD. Other things that can lead to PLMD are\u00a0anemia<\/a>, and certain medications or when individuals are going through withdrawal from sedative medications.<\/p>

The leg movements can involve one leg or both. The movements can be slight or involve wild kicking and thrashing about while asleep.<\/p>

Typically the movements last about 2 seconds but occur every 20 to 40 seconds.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0sleep disorder\u00a0that is characterized by rhythmic movements of your legs and sometimes your arms during sleep is called\u00a0periodic limb movement\u00a0disorder (PLMD).\u00a0PLMD\u00a0is also known as\u00a0Restless Leg Syndrome\u00a0(RLS). It is not known what causes PLMD to occur but research has shown that those who have certain medical problems including\u00a0Parkinson\u2019s\u00a0disease may be prone to PLMD. Those with narcolepsy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insomnia-mind-and-spirit-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valuecare.wpgamma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}