Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that is caused by the brain not being able to control sleeping and waking patterns in an individual. At different times throughout the day, people with narcolepsy will feel the need to sleep. When the need is very great, they will spontaneously fall asleep. These sleeping periods can last anywhere from a few minutes to an hour.

These narcoleptic sleep episodes can occur at any time and so, it is difficult for the individual to carry out their daily activities. They can occur while at school, work, driving, while eating, or at any other time. People with narcolepsy do not spend more of their day asleep than normal sleepers as individuals with narcolepsy will also experience frequent episodes of wakefulness during the night.

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People with narcolepsy experience REM sleep disturbances that start gradually and increase dramatically over time. There are four major symptoms of narcolepsy and these are excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hallucinations.

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is the most common symptom felt by patients. This is a constant feeling of extreme exhaustion, the inability of focus and concentrate, a lack of energy, and depression. Patients sometimes experience memory lapses and find it hard to stay awake during a quiet activity such as listening to a lecture or watching television.

Patients will often wake from these sleep episodes feeling refreshed and alert for about an hour or two. During these sleep periods, patients will continue on with what they were doing before the episode occur but the quality of what they were doing will be very poor.

Cataplexy is the feeling of a loss in muscle tone, which leads to a feeling of weakness. These attacks can occur at any time during the wakeful period and usually are experienced weeks or months after the onset of narcolepsy. These attacks will differ in severity and length of time.

Sleep paralysis disallows the patient to move or speak during periods of falling asleep or just shortly after wakening. These episodes resemble cataplexy affecting the entire body and they occur while the patient is fully conscious. These episodes can be very frightening when they are first experienced as the patient doesn't fully understand what is happening.

When the episode is over, the individual will quickly regain full ability to move and speak. Hallucinations also accompany sleep paralysis and occur when the patient is just falling asleep or just waking up. These too are often very frightening. They are usually visual although other senses may be involved as well.

The cause of narcolepsy remains unknown but it is becoming more widely believed that there are different genes that play a major role in the disorder. It's also believed that different parts of the brain that control REM sleep also contribute to the disorder.

There is currently no known cure for narcolepsy. However, the symptoms of EDS and cataplexy can be controlled with drug treatment. The treatment can also be changed as the symptoms change.