Sleep disturbances during sessions

Has anyone ever heard of a PD patient having sort of tremors (random, not fast, flailing of arms and/or kicking of legs) and talking in his/her sleep during overnight PD sessions? These symptoms go away in the morning, may just be some sort of sleep disturbance caused by something else. This is where I get all my best answers so I am throwing it out there… thanks.

Hi Babboo, not being a doctor, just from the sound of this it seems like Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)–other than the sleep talking. Here’s an RLS resource: http://www.rls.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=471&srcid=-2. RLS does occur in folks who aren’t on dialysis, but is more common in those who are.

All in all, it sounds like poor sleep quality, which is a risk factor for poor outcomes. If my loved one was sleeping that badly, I’d want to know his or serum albumin (protein level) and whether or not he or she was getting enough treatment. As I said, folks who aren’t on dialysis do get this, too, but on dialysis we have to assume that the reason is not enough dialysis. On PD, if the amount of residual kidney function drops, the amount of dialysis has to be increased.

There are a number of drugs that are used to treat this (e.g., Lyrica, Neurontin…), but first check out the amount of dialysis.

Did these symptoms during sleep occur at all before dialysis? Can you relate the symptoms to dreams? I gather that “night terrors” can cause people to flail about, talk in their sleep, etc.

How’s your dialysis adequacy? Toxins in the blood can cause problems in how the nerves work.

Have you started taking new medications lately? Some medications have side effects of vivid dreams or nightmares and involuntary movements. You can find out medication side effects on this website:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html

I’d talk with the doctor about a sleep study. A sleep study can discover what’s happening during sleep and recommend how to treat any sleep problems diagnosed. Here’s info about sleep studies:
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/slpst/slpst_whatis.html