Symptoms
People suffering under narcolepsy have an impairment in the sleep-wake-regulating part of the brain. Most of them also suffer under cataplexy as well. Here, during a sleep-attack they are losing control over their muscles and collapse being fully conscious.
To be sure that someone is suffering under narcolepsy the following symptoms have to occur for more than six months:
Excessive day-time-sleepiness:
This is the main symptom of narcolepsy, almost all people concerned suffer under extreme day-time-sleepiness which is occurring independent from the actually consumed amount of sleep. On the one hand, the sleeping attacks arise in monotonous situations like reading, watching TV or passenger in the car – situations, in which the concentration of healthy people also might decline. Events in darkened rooms (cinema, conferences etc.) also might lead to sudden sleeping attacks. But, narcoleptics not only suddenly fall asleep in monotonous, boring situations but also during eating, talking or while working. Most of the time, these naps are short and people concerned feel more rested afterwards.
First signs of extreme tiredness are an unsteady gait, unclear pronunciation and glassy eyes. On outsiders these signs have the impression that people concerned are drunken which often leads to little understanding for people suffering under narcolepsy.
Cataplexy:
The second symptom about 80 to 90 percent of all people concerned suffer under is cataplexy. During a cataplexy-attack, people concerned have no control about their muscles, they suddenly and completely relax while being fully conscious. Most of the time people concerned completely remember everything what happened. Emotions like joy, laughing, anxiety or anger trigger an attack which lasts only a couple of seconds, most of the time. Is the whole musculature impaired, the patient collapses or falls down. There is also a form of a light cataplexy – here, only single parts of the musculature is concerned. For example the face- and jaw-musculature (an unclear pronunciation) or the muscles of the arms and/or hands (objects are dropped).
Disturbed night sleep:
About the half of all narcoleptics is concerned by this symptom. A disturbed night sleep doesn’t occur from the beginning but develops in the course of the disease. People concerned often wake up during the night without being able to fall asleep again. Their sleep is very light and they don’t feel slept off in the morning. Some suffer under an urge to move, have nightmares, talk during sleep or sleep walk.
Hallucinations:
About 50 % of the patients suffer under hallucinations. Like with sleep paralysis the illusions occur intensified while falling asleep resp. while waking up. The hallucinations only last a couple of minutes. Healthy people, too, might have both forms of hallucinations; they are no sign of narcolepsy on their own.
Sleep paralysis:
About 50 %, too, suffer under sleep paralysis. Here, people concerned are not able to move or talk during the transition from sleeping to wakefulness or the other way round.
Automatic behavior:
People concerned are very tired but try to escape the urge to sleep. During the state of automatic behavior people concerned no longer realize their surrounding or dangerous situations. They just continue with what they are doing. This might lead to dangerous situations, for example in the household (handling with knives, climbing a ladder etc.). Most of the time, narcoleptics are not able to remember this situation.
Migraine, head ache, disturbances in concentration, depressions, potency disorders, change of the personality might be further symptoms. Of course, the risk of accidence increases.
People suffering under narcolepsy are always tired, not just once in a while. They never really fell well rested. Since outsiders often have little understanding for narcoleptics they try to avoid situations in which sleeping attacks or cataplexy might occur. This often leads to social isolation.
Read more in # 3 – causes and treatments.
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