Ask the MD: Acting Out Dreams and Parkinson's Disease | Parkinson's Disease

Ask the MD: Acting Out Dreams and Parkinson's Disease | Parkinson's Disease

FoxFeed Blog

Ask the MD: Acting Out Dreams and Parkinson's Disease

Posted by  

Rachel Dolhun, MD

, August 09, 2018

Actor Alan Alda's recent announcement that he's living with Parkinson's disease (PD) brought the disease into the public eye. But what caught many people's attention was what led him down the path to diagnosis: acting out his dreams, or REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). This sleep condition is a lesser-known symptom of Parkinson's that, in some people, can precede movement symptoms (tremor, stiffness, slowness) and diagnosis by years or even decades.