Occasionally patients are diagnosed following negative evaluations by cardiology and neurology for suspected seizures and near syncopal events. Several teenage patients with narcolepsy have mood disorders, mostly depression at the time of diagnosis. There is no loss of consciousness.Ī fifth manifestation is poor night time sleep: Patients with narcolepsy tend to report fragmented and poor night time sleep which runs counter to the fact that they have excessive daytime sleepiness Even though you might feel relaxed after waking, you would be feeling sleepy almost all day. ( R) The occurrence of interrupted sleep by frequently waking up during the night affects many individuals. It may affect facial muscles and affect speech. Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder of chronic nature that affects the ability of the brain to control sleep-wake cycles. The International Classification of Sleep Disorders-2 considers cataplexy as the hallmark symptom of the narcolepsy syndrome 3. It is typically associated with a strong emotional event (laughter, anger, happiness, extreme sadness). Cataplexy is most often associated with narcolepsy (excessive daytime sleepiness) as a major component of the narcolepsy tetrad that also includes sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations. Sleep paralysis is as a result of REM related atonia continuing into wakefulness, with an associated inability to move skeletal musclesĬataplexy: This is a condition in which the patient has a sudden loss of muscle tone. The sensation typically only lasts a few seconds. Sleep paralysis: In this condition, the patient has episodes in which they awake from sleep and are unable to move. Hypnagogic hallucinations: This is a condition in which the patient relates a history of having episodes wherein the patient goes to sleep, and promptly goes into a dream state, wakes up abruptly and has difficulty differentiating between wakefulness and dream events. The task usually does not get done appropriately. In some cases the patient can have an automatic or semiautomatic behavior in which they appear to be continuing a task while in actual fact, they are asleep. This is usually the most debilitating of the features as the patient repeated naps or sleep phases during the day. In children this is typically ignored or considered secondary to poor sleep habits. Excessive daytime sleepiness: Typically the patient complains of increased daytime sleepiness.
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