Unusual nocturnal motor restlessness in a patient with spinocerebellar ataxia 3.

Video-polysomnographic monitoring of a female patient with spinocerebellar ataxia 3 (SCA-3) in whom rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder was clinically suspected demonstrated recurrent episodes of unusual nocturnal motor restlessness occurring during non-REM sleep and severely disturbing both the patient and her bed partner's sleep. Even if nocturnal manifestations are common features of SCA-3 and increasingly recognized, such a case has never been reported before. We discuss this peculiar movement disorder as a particular manifestation of the wide spectrum of parasomnias occurring in such a rare neurodegenerative disease.