Narcolepsy a Sleep Problem-Causes,Common Symptoms&Treatment

Narcolepsy: The cause of nightmares when sleeping

Narcolepsy a Sleep Problem-Causes,Common Symptoms&Treatment. 

Narcolepsy is a type of neurological disorder that interferes with normal sleep. People with this disease also feel sleepy during the day, feel dizzy, and suddenly fall asleep. People with narcolepsy have trouble staying awake for long periods of time, and often fall asleep at work.

Narcolepsy causes a person to be unable to distinguish between sleep and wakefulness, so that the things that can happen inside sleep occur while awake. This causes a huge impact on their daily lives. Most patients do not realize that they have narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is the most widespread disease in the world. About two million people in America are infected with this disease. About 1 in 2,000 people worldwide is infected with the disease.

Symptoms of Narcolepsy:

Symptoms of narcolepsy may not appear at first, but gradually become apparent over a period of several years. The symptoms of narcolepsy are:

• Untimely extra sleep: People with narcolepsy fall asleep suddenly at any time, anywhere. The victim suddenly fell asleep while talking to his friends or doing something. This sleep can last from a few minutes to half an hour. They woke up feeling very fresh but after a while they fell asleep again.

• Sudden body numbness: People with narcolepsy suddenly become weak and numb. This is called cataplexy. Cataplexy is a type of problem in which the patient loses control of his muscles when he suddenly laughs, gets angry, or gets excited, his knees become weak and he falls to the ground. Cataplexy results in blurred speech and numbness. However, cataplexy is not seen in all narcolepsy patients.

• Sleep paralysis or numbness: People with narcolepsy often cannot walk or talk for a while after waking up. It usually lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes. This does not stop breathing, but it is a terrible condition because the body has no control over itself at this time. This type of sleep paralysis is similar to temporary paralysis of the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep. However, there is no such thing as narcolepsy in case of sleep paralysis.

• Hallucinations: Narcolepsy can cause hallucinations or hallucinations. If hallucinations occur during sleep, it is called hypnagogic hallucinations. And if someone has hallucinations while walking, it is called hypnopompic hallucinations. For example: Patients feel that there are strangers in their house but in reality there is no one in their house. Again many times when patients are not fully asleep the patients have hallucinations which makes all the dreams seem real.

• Changes in the REM stage of sleep: Usually we dream during the rapid eye movement or REM stage of sleep. Patients with narcolepsy may have REM sleep at any time of the day. Patients enter the REM stage of sleep within 15 minutes of falling asleep.

• Decreased focus: Excessive sleep during the day, even after a good night's sleep, results in reduced focus and focus on any task that has a profound effect on personal and career.

Other symptoms:

People with narcolepsy may have other sleep disorders. Such as: sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, can even lead to insomnia or insomnia. Moreover, people with narcolepsy may suddenly fall asleep while driving, talking, or even eating, and they continue to do these things while they are asleep. After waking up again they can’t remember what they did in their sleep. This can lead to many accidents. People with narcolepsy are also more likely to gain weight.

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General sleep and narcolepsy:

The normal process of falling asleep begins with the Non Rapid Eye Movement (N-REM) stage. At this stage of sleep, our brain waves move relatively slowly. N-REM After about an hour or more of sleep, our brain activity changes and the REM phase of sleep begins. While we are in the REM stage of sleep, we dream the most.

In the case of narcolepsy, on the other hand, a person suddenly falls asleep at any time of the day or night. After sleep, the brain first enters the REM stage without entering the N-REM stage. Some of the symptoms of narcolepsy, such as cataplexy, sleep paralysis, hallucinations, etc., are similar to changes in sleep REM levels. However, the difference is that in the case of narcolepsy, people feel half asleep and half awake.

Causes of Narcolepsy: 

The exact causes of narcolepsy are not known yet. Narcolepsy can be of two types, type-1 and type-2. In addition to narcolepsy, if it is cataplexy, it is called type-1 narcolepsy and if it is narcolepsy without cataplexy, it is called type-2 narcolepsy. People with type 1 narcolepsy are deficient in a chemical called hypocretin.

This hypocretin is an important neurochemical in the brain that regulates sleep, wakefulness, REM stage of sleep, and so on. As a result of this deficiency, the affected person suddenly falls asleep or wakes up.

People with cataplexy usually have lower levels of hypocretin. At this time we don't know what he will do after leaving the post. However, experts believe that the level of this chemical decreases due to the autoimmune reaction.

Moreover, some genetic factors also play a role in narcolepsy. However, there is a 1 percent chance of the disease being passed from parent to child. Studies have also shown that it can be caused by the swine flu (H1N1 flu) virus and the H1N1 vaccine.

Some of the more notable information of narcolepsy are:

• Age: Narcolepsy usually occurs between the ages of 10 and 30.

• Family history: If a family member has narcolepsy, that person is 20 to 40 times more likely to have narcolepsy.

Treatment of narcolepsy:

If the symptoms of narcolepsy are evident in a person, an experienced doctor should be consulted.

Two tests are usually performed to diagnose narcolepsy. These are: Polysomnogram and Multiple Sleep Latency Test. Narcolepsy has also been diagnosed in modern studies by measuring the level of hypoxetin in the brain fluid. Sad but true is the fact that narcolepsy is not a complete cure. However, it is possible to control the disease by making some changes in medicine and lifestyle. For example, with the help of antidepressants, it is possible to control cataplexy, hallucinations, sleep apnea, etc.

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