Successful Treatment of REM Sleep Behavior Disorder With Sodium Oxybate

Objectives: To identify the effectiveness of sodium oxybate in treating the rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD). Methods: Report of effectiveness of sodium oxybate in a patient with severe RBD who was unresponsive to all other standard medication. Results: The patient's severe symptoms had persisted unchanged for 5 years despite multiple drug treatments. They responded promptly to low-dose sodium oxybate treatment with video confirmation of cessation of physical activities during sleep. This improvement was maintained during 12 months of follow-up. Conclusions: These novel findings indicate that sodium oxybate should be considered in RBD when other treatments are ineffective or poorly tolerated. They also suggest that RBD and cataplexy may in part share a common pathophysiology.