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How do you counsel patients with isolated REM behavioral sleep disorder secondary to antidepressant on the risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease?

2 Answers
Mednet Member
Mednet Member
Neurology · UNC Health

If I believe the RBD is truly secondary to antidepressant use, then the risk of developing an alpha synucleinopathy should be very low. However, this may not be able to be clearly discerned. In which case, I believe the patient has the right to know and should know about the risk of developing an al...

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Mednet Member
Mednet Member
Neurology · Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

I start by reviewing the different causes of RBD. With isolated RBD (iRBD), there is a risk of neurodegeneration over several years, but if it is truly antidepressant induced RBD, the risk is not clear. There have been cases of neurodegenerative disease but it does not appear that the risk is the sa...

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