Both narcolepsy and insomnia can make you feel sleepy during the day. But with narcolepsy, you might fall asleep while driving or doing another activity. Or your body could suddenly go limp when you laugh or cry. If you don't sleep well and you feel tired during the day, talk to your doctor.
People with narcolepsy may feel rested after waking, but then feel very sleepy throughout much of the day. Many individuals with narcolepsy also experience uneven and interrupted sleep that can involve waking up frequently during the night. Narcolepsy can greatly affect daily activities.
Excessive fatigue and daytime sleepiness aren't always just the result of a few nights of poor sleep. These symptoms could be a sign that you have narcolepsy, a chronic sleep disorder that causes a person to fall asleep suddenly and at inappropriate times.
Narcolepsy is characterized by uncontrollable excessive daytime sleepiness, paroxysmal cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hallucinations. It is often misdiagnosed as psychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia, resulting from the overlap in symptoms and a lack of understanding of narcolepsy.
A rare neurologic disease characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness associated with uncontrollable sleep urges and cataplexy (sudden loss of muscle tone while awake, often triggered by pleasant emotions).
Narcolepsy is often misdiagnosed as other conditions that can have similar symptoms, including: Depression. Anxiety. Other psychologic/psychiatric disorders.
Summary. A person with narcolepsy is extremely sleepy all the time and, in severe cases, falls asleep involuntarily several times every day. Narcolepsy is caused by a malfunction in a brain structure called the hypothalamus. Mild cases of narcolepsy can be managed with regular naps, while severe cases need medication.
There are barriers to narcolepsy diagnosis because it isn't as obvious as a broken arm. You may not know you keep falling asleep during the day, and friends and family might overlook it. It's important to see a specialist who can run thorough tests and exclude medical reasons for your sleep troubles.
Things that have been suggested as possible triggers of narcolepsy include: hormonal changes, which can occur during puberty or the menopause. major psychological stress. an infection, such as swine flu, or the medicine used to vaccinate against it (Pandemrix)
Your health care provider may suspect narcolepsy based on your symptoms of excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden loss of muscle tone, known as cataplexy. Your provider will likely refer you to a sleep specialist. Formal diagnosis requires staying overnight at a sleep center for an in-depth sleep analysis.
Surprisingly, despite being very tired, many people with narcolepsy don't sleep well at night. There are two main types of narcolepsy: Type 1 involves having excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, and a low level of hypocretin.
Multiple sleep latency test
You'll be asked to take several naps throughout the day, and a specialist will analyse how quickly and easily you fall asleep. If you have narcolepsy, you'll usually fall asleep easily and enter rapid eye movement (REM) sleep very quickly.
Narcolepsy is usually a long-term (chronic) condition. Symptoms may develop slowly over a number of years, or suddenly over the course of a few weeks. You should see a GP if you think you may have narcolepsy so they can find out what's causing your symptoms.
Take Care With Caffeine
Coffee, tea, or other caffeine-fueled eye-openers may help prevent drowsiness. But take care if you take stimulant medications such as armodafinil (Nuvigil) or modafinil (Provigil) for your narcolepsy. Mixing them with caffeine can make your heart race or trigger jitters and anxiety.
The incidence of narcolepsy is approximately 1 in 2,000 and most researchers believe that the disorder remains undiagnosed or misdiagnosed in many affected individuals. There is increasing evidence that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder.
Because narcolepsy is a rare condition, in normal life many people with narcolepsy may never meet anyone else with the condition. That does not mean that you are alone. Narcolepsy UK encourages people with narcolepsy to interact with each other and to share their experiences.
Although this condition isn't common, it's widely known because of its symptoms and how they happen. Narcolepsy is usually treatable, but the condition can still cause severe disruptions in your life, ability to work and social relationships.
During sleep paralysis you may feel: awake but cannot move, speak or open your eyes. like someone is in your room. like something is pushing you down.
Over half of people who have narcolepsy also have an anxiety disorder like panic attacks or social anxiety. You could also become anxious as a response to the hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren't there) or cataplexy (sudden muscle weakness) that narcolepsy can cause.
Thorpy recommends people with narcolepsy take no more than two naps of 15 minutes each. Since patients with narcolepsy have disturbed quality sleep at night, taking excessive daytime naps can worsen their sleep disruption.
People with narcolepsy find it hard to stay awake for long periods of time. They fall asleep suddenly.
There are 5 main symptoms of narcolepsy, referred to by the acronym CHESS (Cataplexy, Hallucinations, Excessive daytime sleepiness, Sleep paralysis, Sleep disruption). While all patients with narcolepsy experience excessive daytime sleepiness, they may not experience all 5 symptoms.