[Insomnia in bismuth encephalopathy (author's transl)].

Myoclonic encephatopathy caused by the insoluble salts of bismuth may be accompanied by a state of total insomnia. This insomnia has been confirmed by polygraphic recordings in 3 subjects. The recovery of sleep has a stereotyped course, with a step-wise reappearance over time of sucessive stages of NREM sleeps tarting with stage age I, and parallel re-establishment of REM sleep. Return to normal sleep lags behind clinical recovery. A pharmacological analysis with the phobenecid test was attempted in 2 of the 3 subjects. The results were the same in both as regards renewal of lumbar 5 HIAA, which paradoxically is not changed much; as regards the rate of lumbar HVA renewal, the results were quite different.