Sleep myoclonus refers to a condition, where any sudden twitching movement or jerking affects a muscle. As the name highlights, the condition often takes place during sleep and it takes place under unconscious control or an individual does not do it purposely. Sleep myoclonus affects small muscles and movements of the legs or arms.
What Is The Best Treatment For Sleep Myoclonus?
Treatment to cure the problem of sleep myoclonus becomes highly effective when doctors succeed to identify the reversible underlying cause to treat, like any other health condition, a toxin or a specific medicine. However, there are situations when curing or elimination of the underlying condition is impossible. Because of this, treatment intends to ease various symptoms of myoclonus, especially when doctors try to disable it.(1) Common treatment options to cure the underlying conditions associated with sleep myoclonus include the following-
Medications To Cure Sleep Myoclonus
Doctors often prescribe the following meditations to deal with the problem of myoclonus.
Tranquilizers. Tranquilizers available in the form of clonazepam drugs are useful to combat various symptoms of myoclonus.
Anticonvulsants. Anticonvulsants drugs are useful to control seizures, especially epileptic seizures and at the same time, to reduce other symptoms of myoclonus. In most of the cases, doctors recommend for valproic acid, lebetiracetam and primidone anticonvulsants.
Therapies As Botox Injections. Botox injections, like onabotilinumtoxin injections are helpful to treat varieties of myoclonus problems, especially if the problem affects on a single specific area in patients. Onabotilinumtoxin toxins are responsible to block the release of clinical messenger responsible to trigger muscular contractions.
Surgery To Ease Myoclonus Symptoms. If you experience myoclonus problem and related symptoms because of any lesion or tumor in the spinal cord or brain, you have to undergo with surgery. People suffering from myoclonus and experiencing problems in their ears and face get plenty of benefits from the surgical procedure.
Deep Brain Stimulation. Doctors are trying the procedure of deep brain stimulation in few individuals suffering from myoclonus and related movement disorders. However, researchers have to study in detail about DBS procedure and its effects to deal with myoclonus.(1)
Common Cause Of Sleep Myoclonus
In most of the cases, sleep myoclonus involves problems with dopamine i.e. a neurotransmitter and the distinction itself differentiates it from the problem of seizure that involves electrical changes in the human brain. Myoclonus may even take place because of side effects from certain drugs, which include cyclic antidepressants, levodopa and bismuth-salts.
However, in this situation, a patient may improve his/her condition by stopping the drug immediately. Along with this, sleep myoclonus leads to other conditions with somewhat different symptoms to affect the patients’ legs and cause disruption in their sleep. These are hypnic jerks or night starts, periodic movements of limbs during sleep, restless legs syndrome and leg cramps occurring nocturnally.
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