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Narcolepsy
what is Narcolepsy?
Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to regulate wake-sleep cycles.Narcolepsy creates a tendency to fall asleep at inappropriate times – often every three to four hours. Good sleep techniques or over the counter products usually have no affect on people with narcolepsy, who find it difficult to stay awake for long periods of time regardless of the circumstances. Narcolepsy quickly and effectively destroys a person’s daily routine.
what happens when I sleep?
In typical sleep, we enter deep (REM) sleep in approximately 90 minutes. However, narcoleptics enter deep sleep almost immediately as well as periodically in daytime hours. We are most relaxed when we are in REM sleep – which can account for the paralytic symptoms narcoleptics experience.
In rare cases, individuals may sleep for more than an hour. Additional symptoms may include sudden loss of voluntary muscle tone, extreme hallucinations upon waking or during sleep and, perhaps most frighteningly, brief episodes of sudden paralysis.
am I at risk?
At this time it’s unclear what causes narcolepsy but doctors are getting closer to identifying a relation between the gene that controls the production of sleep and awake chemicals in the brain. Narcolepsy is very likely caused by a combination of REM disturbances and neurological dysfunction.
how is Narcolepsy diagnosed?
Several specialized tests are used to diagnose narcolepsy, and will likely require a visit to the Sleep Lab. sleep disorders clinic, usually are required before a diagnosis can be established. A thorough medical history and potentially a polysomnogram (PSG) and the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) are most commonly used to confirm a diagnosis of narcolepsy.
For more information about the various treatment plans available to patients who have been diagnosed with Narcolepsy, contact your Bon Secours physician.
