Parasomnias (non-epileptic nocturnal episodic manifestations) in patients with magnesium deficiency.

Twenty seven patients with parasomnias (night terrors, nocturnal motor automatisms, nocturnal verbal automatisms and sometimes with bruxisms) associated with magnesium deficiency were selected. In all of them marked hypomagnesemia, clinical, EEG and EMG signs of spasmophilic syndromes were found. The 8 hours polysomnographical recordings of all cases (monitored in a system with infra-red video-TV cameras) showed severe sleep disorders and EEG nocturnal abnormalities occurring in the SWS (especially in the I b, II and III stages) with disappearance in the REM sleep.

Computerized electroencephalographic mapping in hypomagnesian spasmophilic syndromes.

Out of 397 patients presenting hypomagnesaemia there were selected for this study only 107 cases with neurotic and neuromuscular clinical picture (sometimes with short and simple loss of consciousness) without any sign of organic cerebral lesion. The dosing of the seric and erythrocytic magnesium was performed by means of a colorimetric method of Mann and Yoe, modified by the authors. In all the cases, the EEG and EMG changes were studied by simultaneous recording of the EEG and EMG before, during and after hyperpnoea.