A very cordial welcome to www.NarcolepsyTreatment.org, a site that provides the most comprehensive and exhaustive information about a common yet under-diagnosed condition called narcolepsy.

Though close to 3 million people worldwide are affected by this sleep disorder originating from a malfunctioning central nervous system, that includes 200,000 Americans, not many of us truly know what narcolepsy is all about, its causes, symptoms and treatment.

If you are a victim of narcolepsy or have someone in the family who has been diagnosed with this condition, your curiosity to know more about it is understandable. Narcolepsy is a pathetic condition to watch and one of the most distressing and disabling disorders to suffer from.

This site is a storehouse of information about narcolepsy, which interestingly remains undiagnosed for more than 10 years after the first symptoms show up! While someone may show some of the signs and symptoms of narcolepsy during his or her pre-school or teen years, the condition may remain ignored for the next decade till they show up again during adulthood. The reason for this is, as you would read later in the pages, narcolepsy symptoms are not only subtle, but they also vary according to patients. The condition affects both men and women.

Be that as it may, narcolepsy still remains a controllable condition, though no medication has yet been discovered that promises complete cure. Nevertheless, the treatment options are many, and they all aim to alleviate the symptoms and improve the overall quality of life of the patient.

What is narcolepsy?

While narcolepsy is essentially a result of neurological dysfunction, it has no link with any existing mental or psychological disorder. You know a person is suffering from narcolepsy when he or she falls asleep quite suddenly during the day (could be several times in a day), while doing any kind of activity like talking, eating or even working at home or office.

To get a formal grip on the subject of narcolepsy, perhaps we need to understand the sleep cycle of an average healthy adult first. The two primary and alternating sleep cycles are the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM), resulting from varying  degree of activities of the brain cells.

We go to sleep and enter the NREM phase first. This phase is deep sleep when the brain cells are in an inert and relaxed state. After remaining in this phase for about 90 minutes, our sleep cycle moves on to the next phase, the REM phase. This phase is marked by more active brain cells (like when we are awake) and this is the reason why we tend to dream while going through this phase. However since the body muscles are still in a relaxed state, we do not normally enact the dreams.

These phases alternate through the entire time that we sleep. For narcoleptics, this sleep cycle is reversed. This means that a narcoleptic would enter the REM phase first, sometimes within 10 minutes of falling asleep. This disturbance of sleep cycles causes a condition called narcolepsy that manifests itself in various ways.

Read more in: What is narcolepsy

What are the narcolepsy symptoms?

Narcolepsy is characterized by four typical symptoms, often referred to as ‘tetrad of narcolepsy’. They are:

1. Excessive daytime sleepiness: One of the most common symptoms, the patient can have frequent sleep attacks during the day, lasting for about half an hour each. The patient simply falls asleep while doing any kind of normal activity like eating, walking, etc. Extreme feelings of joy, sorrow or excitement are considered to trigger this symptom. Foggy thinking, fatigue, depression, etc could also be accompanying symptoms.
2. Cataplexy: characterized by sudden loss of muscle tone. The patient could simply tumble and fall or even drop things when this happens.
3. Hallucinations marked by vivid dreams or nightmares when falling asleep are common symptoms too.
4. Sleep paralysis is another symptom that completely paralyses the patient when he or she wakes up from sleep. The patient is unable to move or talk.

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What are the possible narcolepsy causes?

Though we still do not know why narcolepsy affects a person, what we do know that there are definite links between the condition and certain genetic disorders. The other most identifiable cause is the deficiency of a specific brain protein called hypocretin, also called orexin that is produced by neurons located in certain sections of the brain. A person could be narcoleptic if the number of neurons producing this protein is less than average.

Of all the causes of narcolepsy, hereditary factor is perhaps the most prevalent. Nearly 10% of patients diagnosed with narcolepsy have confirmed that they have a family member who also suffers from a similar condition. Brain injury, tumors and stroke could also cause narcolepsy.

Over exposure to pesticides has been identified as one of the possible cause of narcolepsy.

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Narcolepsy treatment: what are your choices?

Though there is still no permanent cure of this condition, there are both home and drug therapies available that can significantly alleviate many of the narcolepsy symptoms and provide relief to the patient by way of increasing alertness, reducing sleepiness, etc.

Maintaining a regular sleep schedule as well as programming daytime naps could restore some sleep patterns in the patient. Refraining from alcohol and increasing physical activity in children are also part of home remedies for treating narcolepsy.

Methylphenidate, Modanifil, Clomipramine, imipramine, fluoxetine, or sodium oxybate are some of the drugs of choice for the management of this condition. These drugs fall under the category of anti-cataplexy or anti-depressants. The basic aim of all these drugs is to increase daytime alertness and reduce the frequency and intensity of cataplexy attacks. Many of these drugs have strong modes of action and should never be self-administered.

Needless to mention, all the drugs have their fair share of drug reactions and side-effects. Disturbed digestion, nervousness, headaches, irritability are some of the more common side effects experienced by majority of patients.

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