title: Restless legs syndrome treatment with dopaminergic drugs.
abstract: Sixteen patients with symptoms of restless legs syndrome and resulting insomnia are included in this study. They were nine women and seven men with a mean age of 50.8 years and with a mean duration of symptoms of 6.3 years. The purpose of the study is to determine the drugs that are useful for the treatment of restless legs syndrome. In 13 patients L-Dopa plus benserazide, in two patients bromocriptine, and in the remaining one patient piribedil were used orally at night approximately 1 h before bedtime. Compared with placebo these dopaminergic drugs decreased the times of waking up and staying awake periods at a statistically significant level (p changed between 0.025 and 0.01, t test). In this susceptibility of CNS there is dysfunction of the dopamine system triggered by sleep, and resting and dopaminergic potentiation by drugs affect the symptoms.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001545:Benserazide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001971:Bromocriptine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010891:Piribedil / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011897:Random Allocation; D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D001971:Bromocriptine; D007980:Levodopa; D001545:Benserazide; D010891:Piribedil