Is Narcolepsy Merely Funny Or A Serious And Life-threatening Sleeping Disorder?
Many people will be familiar at least with the concept of narcolepsy since it is often referred to for comical effect in films and stories. The commonly portrayed image is that of a person in mid-conversation who suddenly drops to the ground going from a state of total alertness to a state of complete sleep. The person concerned then wakes not realizing that he or she has been asleep and continues on talking.
Of course, narcolepsy is not exactly as it is portrayed in the movies. Although in some very rare cases of narcolepsy individuals do suddenly fall asleep with no warning whatsoever, most people with narcolepsy have difficulties with overwhelming sleepiness throughout the day and from time to time have to give in to the need for a nap.
Just like many other sleep disorders there are varying degrees of narcolepsy. For instance, some people may simply have a problem with getting very sleepy during the day while other people might suffer from a variety of difficulties that all indicate narcolepsy.
One example is falling asleep while you are engaged in conversation or working and not even appearing asleep to the people around you. Although others might think that you are allowing your mind to wander or you might start to believe that you are developing memory problems because you do not remember what people tell you, the simple fact is that you are actually sleeping during your interactions. You just do not look as if you are sleeping because your eyes are open and those around you cannot tell that you are asleep.
Other characteristics of the rarer forms of narcolepsy include paralysis and hallucinations. Having hallucinations on waking could be an indication of narcolepsy but it is not an absolute indicator although individuals with severe narcolepsy could well find themselves experiencing dramatic and scary hallucinations because of their quite rare sleep disorder. Sleep paralysis is in fact a relatively common thing and our bodies are to all intent and purpose ‘paralyzed’ while we sleep so that we cannot act out our dreams. However for individuals suffering from narcolepsy the paralysis goes beyond the normal sleep paralysis and a narcoleptic individual might be totally paralyzed on waking yet be aware of his situation and understandably terrified.
There is of course medication which is designed to assist people who have varying degrees of narcolepsy and medication is normally quite effective in assisting people to stay awake during daylight hours and then to enjoy a full night of sleep.
A few individuals find difficulty with narcolepsy medication because the stimulant effect which is designed to help them to stay awake during the day makes them feel nervous or jittery. In reality it is a trade-off for a few narcoleptics who must either continue to have erratic and insufficient sleep or solve their sleeping problems and live with the side-effects of the medication.
Some narcoleptics do not have a choice however because the impulse to sleep during the day is so powerful that they wind up falling asleep while driving or at other clearly dangerous times. In these luckily rare instances medication can be a life-saver.
