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Periodic limb movement disorder

Posted by lloydr @lloydr, Jul 6 10:21pm

Does anyone have experience with plmd? I’ve been diagnosed and movements started 3 months prior to open heart surgery, last September. 3 years leading up to surgery cardiac tests didn’t show problems until being referred to the Mayo Clinic for micro vascular where I was found to have 100 percent blockage on the LAD with collateral growth around the blockage. After surgery things got out of control with involuntary muscle movements to a point of being debilitated because of the inability to fall asleep. It has been the most bizarre, concerning experience I’ve ever had. Since September it’s been a daily battle and any thoughts would be appreciated on how to rest. I’ve found distracting my mind by reading and then focusing on a particular thought and speaking aloud to myself distracts me into falling asleep. Thanks, Lloyd

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aureliorod | @aureliorod | Jul 7 9:07pm

Trazadone was one of the meds I had problems with. That doesn't mean that you will, too. I tried 17(!) drugs, altogether. Frustrating. Clonazepam was the champ, for me. Good luck, in your quest.

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vikkitennis | @vikkitennis | Jul 8 7:10am
In reply to @gloaming "I have no such experience, but I can think of why the limb movements happen. It..." + (show)
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I have no such experience, but I can think of why the limb movements happen. It is, to me, an indication of restlessness and underlying anxiety that keeps you from entering successive stages of sleep. IOW, you are stressed and your system is 'aroused' sufficiently, even while attempting to sleep, that your unconscious mind is just hanging onto sleep with its bared teeth. Also, if your heart is stressed with low blood supply, it feels different in some people and that can be a signal to your sympathetic nervous system to keep you alert, anxious, aroused, wanting to enter into full-blown fight-or-flight response...including strange dreams and thrashing limbs.
That is to say that your body is doing precisely what it thinks it needs to do to save you, even while you're in bed and asleep. Meaning 'perfectly natural and understandable'.

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The comment from "mbixler" is correct: it is a neurological disorder, not a psychological disorder.
"Gloaming" confesses in their opening sentence: "I have no such experience", better allow for those who have this terrible disorder to. comment on it.

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gloaming | @gloaming | Jul 8 12:15pm
In reply to @vikkitennis "The comment from "mbixler" is correct: it is a neurological disorder, not a psychological disorder. "Gloaming"..." + (show)
Profile picture for vikkitennis @vikkitennis

The comment from "mbixler" is correct: it is a neurological disorder, not a psychological disorder.
"Gloaming" confesses in their opening sentence: "I have no such experience", better allow for those who have this terrible disorder to. comment on it.

Jump to this post

Let's get a bit of balance here. Firstly, I didn't ever claim that it is a 'psychological' disorder, but that it might be related to unresolved matters (which everyone has, and that are not necessarily 'disordered':
https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/periodic-limb-movement-disorder
The primary cause of PLMD is neither well understood nor well known. It's largely still a mystery. Secondary PLMD ...IS...a sleep disorder, and sleep disorders have many potential causes.
As you will see from this website and article, sleep disorders come in a wide variety and have many origins, from narcolepsy to sleep apnea and beyond. Some are emotional, some neurological, some from chemical defects, whether from diet or other problems with metabolism.
https://sleepopolis.com/education/periodic-limb-movement-disorder/
One can argue (legitimately) that it involves neurological function (or dysfunction) because limbs don't move without neurological activity. From there, though, the inquisitive mind would look for root causes.

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