The Sleep Study

Although I originally added this information on the “My Personal Medical Journal September & October 2007” post, I decided that it was significant enough to expand on.

Several years ago and prior to any symptoms of Parkinsonism, I began having various symptoms related to sleep disorders. In my late teens I began having sleep paralysis, which is described as paralysis upon sleep initiation or awakening which can include visual hallucinations. Additionally, I began to have sudden onset sleep attacks, excessive daytime sleepiness, and minor cataplexy-like episodes about five years ago. These are all listed as symptoms of Narcolepsy. Also, in my late teens I began having episodes where I would act out my dreams by talking, screaming, kicking, hitting, running motions, etc. This is characteristic of REM Behavior Sleep Disorder. These problems still exist.

Since the onset of my motor symptoms, I now experience intermittent insomnia. Additionally, I also have multiple nocturnal awakenings that occur on a nightly basis.

The reason I decided to give this topic its own post, is because sleep related disorders are very common in both Parkinson’s Disease and Parkinson-Plus Disorders. Although I am not a foremost expert on this, I will offer the information that I now know, based on my internet research. The Parkinson-Plus Disorders that I do not mention, are those which I have not done adequate research on.

1. Narcolepsy has been specifically linked to Parkinson’s Disease. Narcolepsy can pre-date the onset of Parkinson’s Disease symptoms by several years.

2. REM Behavior Sleep Disorder is common in Parkinson’s Disease, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, and Multiple System Atrophy. Some literature states that up to 80% of patients who have Multiple System Atrophy, also have REM Behavior Sleep Disorder. REM Behavior Sleep Disorder can pre-date any form of Parkinsonism onset by several years.

3. Insomnia is common in Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple System Atrophy, and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

4. Sleep Fragmentation, which is defined as multiple nocturnal awakenings, are common in Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple System Atrophy, and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

5. Sleep Apnea / Hypopnea is more common in Multiple System Atrophy and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, than in Parkinson’s Disease.


Although there are numerous additional manifestations of sleep disorders in Parkinsonism related conditions, these exemplify the more common ones. Based on the information I have found, I can fully understand why my Movement Disorder Specialist wanted to confirm or rule out REM Behavior Sleep Disorder and Narcolepsy. The following is my recent experience with a sleep study that was done, which was supposed to determine whether or not I have these conditions. It is a duplication of the original post.


I went for a sleep study on the 9th, which was intended to confirm or rule out REM Behavior Sleep Disorder and Narcolepsy. Sleep disorders are common in Parkinson's Disease and Parkinson-Plus Disorders. Unfortunately, it is my opinion that the wrong type of study was done. I am not a doctor, so I plan to confirm this with my MDS in two weeks.

There are two main types of Polysomnograms that can be done, according to the information I found on the internet. One is specifically used to determine if sleep apnea is present. Basically, a patient is wired up with sensors and goes to sleep. After about 90 minutes, the patients is told to change sleeping positions. (Example: switch from sleeping on the back to sleeping on the side) After an additional 90 minutes the patient is awakened and fitted with a mask that is connected to a C-Pap machine. The patient goes back to sleep and is monitored while using the C-Pap machine. The second test is geared more toward ruling out REM Behavior Sleep Disorder and as part of the testing for Narcolepsy. The patient is still wired to various sensors, but is never awakened throughout the night or hooked up to a C-Pap machine.

I was given the first test. The problem with this is that I never entered into REM sleep during the test, due to frequent nocturnal arousals, as well as being wakened every 90 minutes. Therefore, having never entered into REM Sleep, it is my understanding, that it is impossible to determine if I do have REM Behavior Sleep Disorder. Additionally, because the second test that is used in conjunction with a Polysomnogram for ruling out Narcolepsy was never done, it is impossible to determine whether or not I have Narcolepsy.

The only information that was gained by the test that was performed, is that I have multiple episodes of "hypopnea" while I sleep. In general terms this means that I have episodes of shallow breathing of less than 50% of normal, that cause arousals during sleep. Unlike true apnea, I do not stop breathing altogether. It also confirmed that I have multiple nocturnal arousals of unspecified origin that occur. These unspecified arousals continued even while attached to the C-Pap machine. Additionally, my sleep onset latency time indicated excessive sleepiness, and I only achieve 61% sleep efficiency. Normal sleep efficiency is 85%.

Again, I am not a doctor, but after researching my results on the internet, they raised more questions than there were prior to the sleep study. For example, apnea-hypopnea episodes are common in Multiple System Atrophy. These episodes can be decreased with anti-Parkinson medications, which I do take at night. This raises the question of whether or not the episodes would have been more numerous or severe had I not taken my medications the night of the sleep study. Frequent nocturnal arousals are common in both Parkinson's Disease and Parkinson-Plus Disorders. One of my original complaints was excessive daytime sleepiness, which the sleep onset latency time and the sleep efficiency percentage both support. Unfortunately, there is now no determination on the REM Behavior Sleep Disorder or Narcolepsy, but also no real explanation on what these results mean in terms of my condition.

I fully intend to bring these issues up with my MDS for her interpretation. If I am correct in the opinion I have made based on my research, a second sleep study will need to be done. It angered me quite a bit, because I had raised the question about the type of study being done, a week prior to the appointment. I was told that this is the standard test. I now believe that I was misinformed.


As I have stated previously, I am not a doctor. I reached my opinions after doing research on the internet. I will depend on my Movement Disorder Specialist to determine if my opinions are correct. Once I am able to speak to her, I will update this post with that information. Even if the two main issues were not resolved with this sleep study, I am hopeful that the information that was gathered may help her better determine which form of Parkinsonism I have. I will know more about all of these issues in two weeks.