Narcolepsy, a lifelong struggle to stay awake
It seems funny to see someone literally fall asleep in a middle of a rock concert or in a midst of a natural disaster like an earthquake. But there are actually people who experience this kind of weird things and they are called narcoleptics.
Narcoleptics are individuals who struggle with a condition known as narcolepsy. It is a chronic neurological disorder due to the brain’s inability to control the sleep-wake cycles normally. Narcoleptics’ number one problem is falling asleep at any time of the day whether they are busy doing something or not. The attacks vary. The unwanted sleep my last from a few seconds to several minutes even for hours in some cases.
Aside from the Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS), narcoleptics also suffer from cataplexy in which they suddenly lose control over their voluntary muscles. Sometimes, at the beginning or end of their sleep, they experience a total paralysis which lasts for some seconds. Hallucination and lucid dreaming are also part of being a narcoleptic. When trying to sleep, they may see some visions that they think might be real but actually, they are just symptoms of the disorder. What’s more scary about this is that a diagnosis on a patient can only be made 10 to 15 years after the first symptoms appear. Also, it is a lifetime condition in which the cause is unknown.
People with this ailment not only suffer from the hazardous symptoms of narcolepsy. They also endure the lapsed judgments thrown to them by people who don’t have a full understanding of their disorder. Their social lives are usually in peril. Just imagine not being able to drive a car, always in need of a companion when traveling and going to places and falling asleep in a middle of an important conversation. That is why there are support groups present to give help to narcoleptics and their families.
Several drugs are presently prescribed to persons diagnosed with narcolepsy. Modafinil, an FDA approved drug is said to be effective for treating EDS. For cataplexy, antidepressant drugs like tricyclics, imipramine, desipramine, clomipramine and protriptyline as well as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be taken. Narcoleptics may also practice setting a “sleep schedule” where they would try to maintain a regular sleep so as to avoid attacks during daytime. They are advised not to drink alcohol and other beverages with contents of caffeine especially at bedtime to help them have a good night sleep.
If not all the symptoms are present, narcolepsy is difficult to diagnose. But there are several procedures that can be used to find out whether a person has this kind of sleeping disorder. Polysomnogram and Multiple Sleep Latency Test are the two commonly used tests in diagnosing narcolepsy. Polysomnogram is done by the continuous recording of the sleep brain waves as well as the number of nerve and muscle functions during a sleep at nighttime. It can also detect other possible sleeping disorder aside from narcolepsy. In the Multiple Sleep Latency Test, the patient is advised to sleep every 2 hours during the day and observations on the sleep onset latency or time taken to reach various stages of sleep are recorded. It assesses the degree of daytime sleepiness experienced by the patient.
It seems funny to see someone literally fall asleep in a middle of a rock concert or in a midst of a natural disaster like an earthquake. But there are actually people who experience this kind of weird things and they are called narcoleptics.
Narcoleptics are individuals who struggle with a condition known as narcolepsy. It is a chronic neurological disorder due to the brain’s inability to control the sleep-wake cycles normally. Narcoleptics’ number one problem is falling asleep at any time of the day whether they are busy doing something or not. The attacks vary. The unwanted sleep my last from a few seconds to several minutes even for hours in some cases.
Aside from the Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS), narcoleptics also suffer from cataplexy in which they suddenly lose control over their voluntary muscles. Sometimes, at the beginning or end of their sleep, they experience a total paralysis which lasts for some seconds. Hallucination and lucid dreaming are also part of being a narcoleptic. When trying to sleep, they may see some visions that they think might be real but actually, they are just symptoms of the disorder. What’s more scary about this is that a diagnosis on a patient can only be made 10 to 15 years after the first symptoms appear. Also, it is a lifetime condition in which the cause is unknown.
People with this ailment not only suffer from the hazardous symptoms of narcolepsy. They also endure the lapsed judgments thrown to them by people who don’t have a full understanding of their disorder. Their social lives are usually in peril. Just imagine not being able to drive a car, always in need of a companion when traveling and going to places and falling asleep in a middle of an important conversation. That is why there are support groups present to give help to narcoleptics and their families.
Several drugs are presently prescribed to persons diagnosed with narcolepsy. Modafinil, an FDA approved drug is said to be effective for treating EDS. For cataplexy, antidepressant drugs like tricyclics, imipramine, desipramine, clomipramine and protriptyline as well as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be taken. Narcoleptics may also practice setting a “sleep schedule” where they would try to maintain a regular sleep so as to avoid attacks during daytime. They are advised not to drink alcohol and other beverages with contents of caffeine especially at bedtime to help them have a good night sleep.
If not all the symptoms are present, narcolepsy is difficult to diagnose. But there are several procedures that can be used to find out whether a person has this kind of sleeping disorder. Polysomnogram and Multiple Sleep Latency Test are the two commonly used tests in diagnosing narcolepsy. Polysomnogram is done by the continuous recording of the sleep brain waves as well as the number of nerve and muscle functions during a sleep at nighttime. It can also detect other possible sleeping disorder aside from narcolepsy. In the Multiple Sleep Latency Test, the patient is advised to sleep every 2 hours during the day and observations on the sleep onset latency or time taken to reach various stages of sleep are recorded. It assesses the degree of daytime sleepiness experienced by the patient.
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