People suffering from narcolepsy are often convinced by a family member or work colleague that they need to seek medical help for their sleep disorder. There is often up to a 15 year gap between the start of symptoms and the actual diagnosis of the problem.
Narcolepsy can be a very debilitating disorder and sufferers often display a whole range of educational, occupational and psychological problems. Narcolepsy is often found in people with diagnosed learning difficulties and at the moment there are very few treatments available.
Narcolepsy has five main symptoms which are excessive daytime sleepiness, insomnia, cataplexy, sleep paralysis and hallucinations.which can be very frightening and real to the sufferer. Cataplexy is a loss of muscle function while awake.
Sleep paralysis occurs in about half of the people that suffer from this sleep disorder. For several minutes before falling to sleep or waking up, the person with this symptom cannot talk or move. When we are in the REM stage of sleep our muscles relax and "turn off". This is so that we don't act out our dreams. Sleep paralysis happens when that mechanism doesn't switch off after you awake.
Some sufferers may only experience one symptom while others can experience all of them. Daytime sleepiness is the first to appear and all narcolepsy sufferers will experience this. The desire to sleep is so strong that sufferers can't fight it no matter now hard they try. These attacks can last from 5 to 10 minutes and can happen several times,
Narcolepsy sufferers may also experience blurred vision, migraines, poor concentration and doing unusual things such as putting the car keys in the fridge or putting a tub of ice cream in the cupboard instead of in the freezer.
Polysonogram and Multiple Sleep Latency exams are used to diagnose narcolepsy and a treatment plan can then be created by the doctor. Tests are conducted in two-hour increments to allow the person to sleep and usually the polysonogram test does a continuous test of brain activity when it's in REM sleep mode when sleep happens at night.
Treatments usually consist of anti-depressants, but a plan of short daytime naps have been shown to be beneficial in lowering dependency on medication and cutting the risk of narcolepsy sufferers injuring themselves or others while opertttating machinery or driving.
Diet and exercise should also form a very important role in managing narcolepsy. Getting the correct nutrition is vital for maintaining good health and eating the recommended 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day should be automatically incorporated into your lifestyle. Take a good quality nutritional supplement as well as often even with a healthy balanced diet you may still lack certain trace minerals and vitamins.
Narcolepsy is manageable if you follow the doctor's instructions and taking medications when you're supposed to and following therapy plans that are designed for that person to follow to the last detail.
Kathy Joyce copyright December 2007
Contact email:healthytowealth@aol.com
