Parasomnias

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Parasomnias Hrayr Attarian1* 1 Loyola University Health System, Department of Neurology, United States Learning objectives: Recognize the major categories of parasomnias Know the clinical presentations of the common parasomnias Understand the treatment options available Parasomnias are undesirable physical or experiential events that occur in and around sleep and although most of them are benign they can, occasionally, lead to significant morbidity primarily through injury to self or bed partners. They remain poorly recognized and understood. They fall under 3 categories; "NREM parasomnias", "REM parasomnias" and "Other parasomnias". Sleepwalking, sleep terrors and confusional arousals constitute the first category. The key differentiating characteristic of sleepwalking is the extensive wandering, of sleep terrors the autonomic hyperarousal and of confusional arousal the complex behaviors and sluggish response to the environment. There is a degree of overlap among all three. Among the REM parasomnias the most common is nightmares and the most injurious REM sleep behavior disorder or RBD. Nightmares are anxiety and fear provoking recurrent dreams and most do not require treatment but of those that do tend to respond to cognitive therapy low dose prazosin, an alpha 1 antagonist. RBD is a condition where the normal atonia of REM is absent and patients tend to act out their dreams hence risking injury to self or bed partner. This condition can be idiopathic but may also be related to neurodegenerative disorders, other sleep disorders or secondary to exposure to antidepressant medication. Treatment is generally successful with either clonazepam or high dose melatonin. The category of other parasomnias comprises of conditions that are not state dependant. Catathrenia or nocturnal groaning is such a condition that although benign can lead to significant sleep disruption and social embarrassment. It usually responds to CPAP even in the absence of sleep related breathing disorder. Sleep related eating disorder is another such parasomnia which can lead to injury, obesity and other adverse health outcomes. The treatment of choice is usually topiramate although pramipexole and SSRIs have been shown effective as well. Conference: Paroxysmal Neurology Symposium, Chicago, United States, 7 Apr - 7 Apr, 2010. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Abstracts Citation: Attarian H (2010). Parasomnias. Front. Neurol. Conference Abstract: Paroxysmal Neurology Symposium. doi: 10.3389/conf.fneur.2010.07.00006 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 07 Apr 2010; Published Online: 07 Apr 2010. * Correspondence: Hrayr Attarian, Loyola University Health System, Department of Neurology, Maywood, IL, United States, h-attarian@northwestern.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Hrayr Attarian Google Hrayr Attarian Google Scholar Hrayr Attarian PubMed Hrayr Attarian Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.