Legs twitch when you sleep is not a disease

Many people have such experience: sleep dream of jumping a bit, leg is involuntarily tread about the quilt, and sometimes so wake up. Themselves generally do not seriously, you can see small children sleeping legs moving, they thought, "This is not a disease, the child has no effect on the growth and development, in need of treatment do" and a series of problems. In the clinic, the doctor often encountered parents anxiously consulting the above issues. In fact, sleep legs twitch is not a disease, to specific conditions.



　 Frequent leg movement need to be aware

Many people fall asleep and sleep during the leg would twitch occasionally, but in general the frequency is very low and will not impact on sleep, which is a normal phenomenon. However, if more than 5 times per hour, tic, will result in decline in the quality of sleep, at present the international community to the phenomenon known as "sleep periodic leg movements," in general does not produce insomnia and daytime fatigue, do not need hospital treatment; if so severely affects sleep quality, and even affected the day's living, learning, they are called "periodic leg movements disease" is sick, need to go to "treatment of sleep experts" at the treatment.

"Periodic leg movements disease" in 1953 first put forward by foreign scholars, mainly referring to appear in the legs during sleep (occasionally arm will also appear) periodic, involuntary twitching, usually tens of seconds intervals occur once every one hours more than 5 times, can occur throughout the sleep process, the performance of the toes, ankle, knee and hip joints of the local bending, often cause temporary or full awakening which led to sleep on and off, but the patients themselves often do not feel these movements.



　　There are many causes of leg movement

On "periodic leg movements disease" in itself, is not difficult to diagnose if a patient complained of night-time sleep disturbance or daytime sleepiness, fatigue, while others observed the legs twitch when you sleep, the frequency of more than 5 times per hour on the can be diagnosed. Of course, if more accurate, they have to the hospital to do "polysomnography." "Periodic leg movements disease" can be divided into two kinds of original hair and the secondary type. The "periodic leg movements disease" in patients with a variety of aim of the inspection is to identify those potentially treatable cause of secondary.

Of the original cause of hair is not very clear, so many patients have even done a lot of checks did not find the problem is not surprising; secondary type for many reasons, including sleep apnea, paroxysmal sleep, drugs (such as disable sleeping pills, taking antipsychotics), uremia, iron deficiency anemia, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, spinal injury and pregnancy.

For "periodic leg movements disease" in the treatment of patients, we must first address the cause, the cause removed, legs move naturally turn for the better; if not, then just symptomatic treatment. Can first be non-pharmacological treatments, such as relaxation therapy and to develop good sleep habits, etc.; can be followed by drug therapy, currently considered an effective drugs, including dopamine receptor agonists, sleep sedative drugs and anti-epileptic drugs.



　　And "restless legs syndrome" Identification of

In addition, the "periodic leg movements disease" needs and "restless legs syndrome" to identify, although the two are of movement disorders, but they are two different diseases. The former pairs of the lower limbs twitch, just happened to fall asleep at night, its movement is uncontrolled, mainly as a sleep disorder; while the latter pairs of lower limbs indescribable discomfort during the day, night can occur, and often need to beat leg Department or out of bed and walk around in order to alleviate not only affects sleep at night, but also directly affect the daily life during the day, the patient has been expressed in "fidgety." Although 80% of "restless legs syndrome" are accompanied by "periodic leg movements disease", but the contrary is not tenable. In the past has been that "restless legs syndrome" is only common in adults, but the new survey, 35% of patients had symptoms before the age of 20, while 10% of patients may have disease before the age of 10, indicating the disease should be in children attention.



In addition, the majority of the "Tourette syndrome" in patients (mainly for the wink and the curse, etc.) are also accompanied by "periodic leg movements disease." So the children suffering from both diseases, it would not go to bed at night when the legs twitch so simple, and should go to the hospital to conduct a comprehensive inspection.