Narcolepsy Symptoms
…a rare sleep disorder

Narcolepsy symptoms can occur from childhood onwards, and often, except in the rarer and more obvious Cataplexy condition, are not always identified by the individual patient.

Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that causes people to fall asleep when they don’t particularly want to. The brain sends sleep inducing messages at unpredictable times, and although this condition is quite rare, those that have it must contend with falling asleep at the most awkward moments.

Basically most patients feel tired much of the time and have a need for planned napping at various times in order to gain some control and order to their day. The overwhelming need to sleep can come at any hour of the day and during any activity, whether active or not.

The difficulty arises in the fact that those suffering this particular form of sleep disorder often do not recognize how sleepy they are or how often they tend to fall asleep. This is where observation from family members and friends must steer them to a reliable medical support solution. It is often others who notice the problem first.

There Are Considered to be Five Main Groups of Narcolepsy Symptoms:

Excessive daytime sleepiness is something everyone with this disorder has. These “sleep attacks” can happen several times a day and last for five to ten minutes and usually this is the first symptom to appear. This feeling of “sleep attack” is a very strong one and one that sufferers are unable to fend off.

Insomnia and fragmented sleep is also a very common symptom where patients do not follow the typical REM and non-REM sleep patterns. The odd part about this is that those with narcolepsy will fall asleep at various times during the day but have difficulty sleeping at night, particularly getting to sleep initially. Waking up frequently during the night is also a common event.

Sleep paralysis occurs in about fifty percent of narcolepsy sufferers. This is a situation where the person cannot move or talk for several minutes before going to sleep or waking up.

The loss of muscle function while awake is a little unusual and is called Cataplexy. Usually brought on by laughing or some evidence of a strong emotion, the neck becomes weak, the head bobs up and down, muscles become weak and the person may fall to the ground.They appear to be asleep and cannot talk but they are actually fully awake and aware of what is happening but have no control over the situation. It is caused by part of the REM not functioning properly. These episodes are usually fairly short in length and occur in about forty-five percent of those identified with narcolepsy.

A hypnagogic hallucination is one where a person experiences vivid and often frightening sensations or “hallucinations”. Often these dreams have dangerous themes and are extremely frightening. occurring just as the person is falling asleep or waking up. Sleep paralysis sometimes accompany these dreams but the most frightening area of this symptom is that those going through this find it difficult to distinguish between reality and dreaming!

There are a few other, more minor symptoms. One interesting one is “automatic behavior” which involves the undertaking of a routine task but done incorrectly or in the wrong sequence. Putting a dirty pot into the fridge instead of the dishwasher or dialing twice the numbers that are usually necessary for a call. This can last for several minutes and produces no recall of the event. Other symptoms include concentration problems, headaches, migraine and blurred vision.

Narcolepsy symptoms are well documented but not easy to diagnose in the early stages, especially when someone is not aware they could have such a sleeping disorder. Treatment is available and your doctor is the best person to discuss this with.

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