Narcolepsy - Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

Narcolepsy is characterized by the classic tetrad of excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations, and sleep paralysis. Narcoleptic sleep episodes can occur at any time, and thus frequently prove profoundly disabling. Narcolepsy usually begins in the teens or early twenties (10 to 20 years old), but this varies; both young children and the elderly experience sleep attacks as well. Approximately 125,000 people in the United States alone suffer from this disorder. In narcolepsy, the order and length of NREM and REM sleep periods are disturbed, with REM sleep occurring at sleep onset instead of after a period of NREM sleep. Thus, narcolepsy is a disorder in which REM sleep appears at an abnormal time. Three other major symptoms frequently characterize narcolepsy permary is cataplexy, secondry is hallucinations during sleep onset or upon awakening; and brief episodes of total paralysis at the beginning or end of sleep. Some cases are associated with genetic diseases such as Niemann-Pick disease and Prader-Willi syndrome causes of Narcolepsy. Infections, exposure to toxins, dietary factors, stress, hormonal changes such as those occurring during puberty or menopaus. Other factors-such as infection, immune-system dysfunction, trauma, hormonal changes, stress-may also be present before the disease develops.