title: Restless legs syndrome and pain disorders: what's in common?
abstract: Between 10 % and 30 % of the population report chronic pain. More than half of these also have sleep complaints. From considering these data, it can be inferred there is a significant overlapping between these conditions. Restless Legs Syndrome/Willis-Ekbom Disease (RLS/WED) is characterized by complaints of an "urge to move" frequently associated with dysesthesias. From that perspective, these sensations can also have painful characteristics. By the same token, the presence of comorbid diseases as predicted by a higher prevalence RLS/WED, have many of them with pain as an important complaint. Pain is a multidimensional response involving several levels of expression ranging from somatosensory to emotional. The potential shared mechanisms between RLS/WED and pain may involve sleep deprivation/fragmentation effect, inducing an increase in markers of inflammation and reduction in pain thresholds. These are modulated by several different settings of neurotransmitters with a huge participation of monoaminergic dysfunctional circuits. A thorough comprehension of these mechanisms is of utmost importance for the correct approach and treatment choices.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurofisiologia Clínica, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Av. Albert Einstein, 627, CEP 05652-900, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil, leonardoierardi@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Leonardo Ierardi
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Goulart
authors.forename: Raimundo Nonato
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Delgado Rodrigues
authors.forename: Mario Fernando
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Prieto Peres
mesh_terms: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D008550:Melatonin / Q000378:metabolism; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011115:Polyneuropathies / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012148:Restless Legs Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000378:metabolism; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D014807:Vitamin D; D012701:Serotonin; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D007501:Iron; D008550:Melatonin