We all get sleepy sometimes, but what if you have no control over falling asleep?
Narcolepsy is a chronic disorder of the central nervous system, which is caused by the brain losing the ability to control your sleep and wake cycles. When sleeping, the brain goes through four to six separate sleep cycles consisting of REM sleep and non-REM sleep. A person with narcolepsy will fall asleep quickly and enter REM sleep quickly, but will not stay there long enough. This can happen anywhere, at any time.
Narcolepsy is a very real condition that affects about one in 3,000 people nationwide.
Symptoms include:
- Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS): Being so tired that it’s interfering with regular daily activities such as work, school and family relationships, even when getting enough sleep at night.
- Cataplexy: A sudden loss of muscle tone often triggered by intense emotions, like laughter, anger or surprise. This can manifest as slurred speech, weakness in the knees or complete collapse.
- Hallucinations: Vivid daytime hallucinations and lucid dreams.
- Sleep paralysis: The inability to move while waking up or falling asleep. Episodes can last for a few seconds to a few minutes.
So what causes narcolepsy? In most cases the brain has a decreased number of neurotransmitters called hypocretin, which are responsible for telling the brain when to sleep and when to wake up. Recent studies hint that there may be an autoimmune response in people with narcolepsy that causes the decrease in these important proteins in the brain.
Women and men get narcolepsy at the same rate, and about 10 percent of people with narcolepsy also have a close relative with the disorder as well. Generally, narcolepsy is diagnosed in childhood or adolescence and is a lifetime disorder, although older patients can also be diagnosed with narcolepsy. There is no cure right now, only medications and behavioral changes to help with managing the disorder, but it can be managed well with your doctor’s help.
If you think you have narcolepsy, there is help available for managing your condition. Start with a visit to your family physician. He or she may recommend an appointment with a sleep specialist for testing that includes a sleep study and possible blood work. The sleep specialist may also ask that you keep a sleep journal.