Restless Legs Syndrome - RLS and Narcolepsy (en Inglés) - Khosro Hekmat

Too awake at night, too tired by day.

One condition makes people fall asleep when they want to stay awake. The other keeps them awake when they want to sleep. And yet restless legs syndrome is common in type 1 narcolepsy. In the one study that examined people in person, 20 of 66 drug-free people met the criteria, in a group selected partly for leg symptoms. Earlier work cited by its authors found about 15%.

This volume sets out the evidence on both sides, and how limited it is. The same study measured ferritin in the cerebrospinal fluid and detected no difference between the groups, so it did not support brain iron deficiency as the explanation for this combination. The messenger substance orexin is largely absent in type 1 narcolepsy and was raised in one small study of restless legs syndrome, a finding not replicated in a later study.

It becomes practical with the medicines. Some drugs used in narcolepsy can worsen restless legs, and some drugs for the legs may increase daytime sleepiness. This volume works through both directions and describes five measures relevant to both conditions, none of which has yet been tested in people who have both.

WHAT IS IN THE BOOK

- How often restless legs syndrome occurs in narcolepsy, and what is known about the reverse

- Why the figures on this subject are so thin

- Am I tired because of my legs or because of my narcolepsy?

- Orexin: largely absent in one condition, raised in one unreplicated study of the other

- What the one study of iron in the cerebrospinal fluid found, and why it was too small to detect modest differences

- Broken night-time sleep, the strongest feature the two share

- The trap in the sleep laboratory when the legs cause the sleepiness

- Which narcolepsy drugs can worsen restless legs, and what helps with both at once

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

For people with narcolepsy who also cannot settle in the evening, for patients with RLS and unexplained daytime sleepiness, and for health professionals who want the limited evidence on this combination set out clearly.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Volume 16 of 52 in the book series on restless legs syndrome, part "Sleep". Every volume can be read on its own. The statements in this volume rest on 217 professional sources, each one listed individually in the reference section.