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So in conclusion, treatment can include good sleep hygiene, scheduled naps throughout the day to give energy. And also medications, medications we use are stimulants and also sometimes accessorize to help suppress REM sleep and even help with mood. And finally, sometimes sodium oxivate or Xyrem. The good news is that with treatment narcoleptics can have a great improvement in their daytime energy and function so much better.
So in conclusion, treatment can include good sleep hygiene, scheduled naps throughout the day to give energy. And also medications, medications we use are stimulants and also sometimes accessorize to help suppress REM sleep and even help with mood. And finally, sometimes sodium oxivate or Xyrem. The good news is that with treatment narcoleptics can have a great improvement in their daytime energy and function so much better.
What are the causes of narcolepsy? Well, no one really knows, but we do have some hypotheses. We know there may be a genetic predisposition. There is a protein complex on the chromosome six called HLA DQ B one zero six zero two. That is commonly found in people with narcolepsy, with cataplexy, but many people may have that gene and not have narcolepsy. So something else has happened. So what we think is there's an auto-immune destruction of a protein called hypocretin. It's also called Erekson in those people, with that gene and those hypo cretin proteins get attacked by the body as an auto-immune disease. And they dwindle a number and that controls our waking and sleeping cycle. What can cause that infection or that, uh, attack? It can be our own body's confusion, but sometimes infections like H one N one flu or possibly streptococcus inflammation. Infection can cause it, there may be a consideration of a head injury or a trauma or a stroke to the brain, or even a brain tumor that may cause it. But nobody really knows. We just know there's an association with this gene and also a deficiency of this protein called hypocretin.
They may have what are called hypnagogic hallucinations. Hypnagogic means as I fall asleep, on the other hand, there can be hypnopompic, which means as I wake up, so hallucinations can occur while one falls asleep. If one has narcolepsy or when one wakes up falling asleep, hallucinations are more common. They're vivid, strange nightmares. They tend to be very frightening. Again, they can last for just a few moments or minutes, and they're not dangerous, but they're very frightening and scary for the person.
People always ask about insurance and will this be paid for an absolutely. This is a legitimate diagnosis, especially meeting with a sleep specialist. What happens is we have our suspicion, we order the appropriate tests. These tests get paid for these medications get paid for to help narcoleptics. So no one should be worried about that. There's also resources that we can go to for support groups and other information and where narcoleptic patients can get together and exchange stories and success stories, especially such as the narcolepsy network.
"Narcolepsy is a chronic neurologic disorder that affects the way the brain is able to regulate the sleep and wake cycles. It does this abnormally. What happens ordinarily is we have four stages of sleep. One, two, three, and REM, and we cycled through these stages all night long stages, wanting to sleep are very light and you'll easily wake up. If someone calls your name, stage three, sleep is the deep restorative sleep and REM sleep or rapid eye movement is our dream cycle. Normally it takes a person to fall asleep and be asleep for about an hour and a half. Before we have our first dream. This is not true for narcoleptics. They can go into a dream within seconds or minutes of falling asleep. And in fact, their sleep is not just disruptive at night, but even their daytime wakening and functioning is compromised because sleep can intrude while they're awake during the day as well. So if I don't sleep well at night and they don't stay awake well during the day. So you may have heard of narcolepsy, and know it is associated with excessive daytime sleepiness. People can actually fall asleep in the middle of a sentence in the middle of a meal. And sometimes even while they're driving, they have this irresistible urge to sleep called a sleep attack. Sometimes they know it's coming on and can pull over to the side of a road and take a nap. So naps are quite restorative for people with narcolepsy, but they have to do it. Sometimes they can't control the urge to sleep. On the other hand, while they're sleeping at night, they may be awake much more than they should be. That's called fragmented sleep."