Narcolepsy and Symptoms
The causes of narcolepsy and symptoms are mostly heredity, infection, disorders of the immune system, hormonal changes and trauma and stress. Narcolepsy is a neurological problem which occurs in about one in 2000 people and affects a person’s sleeping behavior. Research indicates that this condition may be the result of a lesser number of Hcrt cells that produces the chemical hypocretin resulting in limited secretion of hypocretin. There is no permanent cure, on the other hand it can be reduced significantly with proper treatment.
Indications of narcolepsy
The most frequent indications of narcolepsy are spells of day time sleepiness, cataplexy and sleep paralysis. Research says that it is the second biggest reason for daytime sleepiness, sleep apnea being the major cause. Hypocretin is believed to be playing a major role in sleep tendencies. Less hypocretin means that people have less control over their tendencies of falling asleep. Let us have a good look at narcolepsy and symptoms. Narcoleptics fall asleep many times during the day and experience extreme sleepiness all throughout. They may doze off while working, eating or driving even. They are even known to fall asleep while talking. This happens many times during the day and each sleeping spell lasts for about 30 minutes. Symptoms associated with the condition are: some memory loss, acute fatigue and depression.
Cataplexy
Cataplexy is normally associated with narcolepsy. It can produce a quick temporary loss of muscle strength. Cataplexy is triggered by very strong emotions like anger and surprise. People suffering from muscle weakness may have mild problems like limpness in the neck or knees or very severe weakness leading to complete collapse. Sleep paralysis is a common occurrence for people with this illness; this phenomenon is characterized by a short paralysis episode after they start falling asleep or when they are waking up. The person’s senses remain awake while the ability to move or talk goes away. REM sleep is the phase when a person enters dream mode. This phase normally starts 90 minutes after a person has fallen asleep. But people start seeing vivid images and hearing vivid sounds as in dreams just while falling asleep. This is called hypnagogic hallucination.
Microsleep
One of the symptoms will be night time episodes of not being able to fall asleep deeply while having intense alertness. Microsleep is another typical characteristic of narcolepsy and symptoms. In microsleep people have short sudden sleepy spells in which they continue to work and talk and then wake up without remembering anything. People also may suffer from many common sleeping problems. They may have trouble falling asleep and may have very disturbed sleep along with nightmares. Children with narcolepsy may have trouble concentrating, focusing and remembering things and may be hyperactive. Those children will rush anything they are doing instead of doing it slowly.This condition can be very destabilizing for a person suffering from it. It can lead to physical weakness and can be socially embarrassing too. This can cause anxiety and depression. It can completely disrupt normal social life. Any normal daily activity like driving can become life threatening for a person with this ailment. People with narcolepsy find it difficult to work as sleep episodes are not understood by people who do not suffer from them.
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