A Case of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder in Parkinson Disease Treated With Sodium Oxybate

Jennifer Liebenthal, MD¹; Jason Valerio, MSc, MD, FRCPC^1,2; Chad Ruoff, MD¹; Mark Mahowald, MD¹

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is characterized by altered dream mentation, vocalizations, and dream enactment behavior (DEB). The motor behavior is often aggressive, resulting in potential injury to the patient or bed partner. Clonazepam and melatonin are considered standard treatments. Limited data exist on the use of alternative agents when standard medications fail. We report a case of successfully treated RBD in advanced Parkinson disease (PD) with sodium oxybate in a patient refractory to both standard and alternative pharmacologic agents.

JAMA Neurol.2016;73(1):126-127. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2015.2904.