Is Narcolepsy Merely Comical Or A Serious And Life-threatening Sleeping Disorder?

                                                                                         

Many of us will be familiar with Narcolepsy since it is often referred to for comical effect in stories and films. The common image is that of a person in the middle of a conversation who suddenly falls to the ground going from a state of alertness to a state of complete sleep. The individual then awakens without realizing that he or she has been asleep and carries on with their conversation.

Of course, narcolepsy is not normally as it is portrayed on the screen. Although in a few extremely rare cases of this sleep disorder people do fall asleep without any warning, the majority of people with narcolepsy have problems with overwhelming sleepiness during the day and occasionally have to give in to the desire for a nap.

Like other conditions there are different degrees of narcolepsy. For instance, some people might simply have a problem with becoming excessively sleepy during the day while other people might have a whole variety of issues that all indicate narcolepsy.

One example of narcolepsy is falling asleep while you are working or engaged in conversation and not even appearing asleep to the people around you. While others might think that your mind is elsewhere or you might start to think that you have memory problems because you do not seem able to remember what people tell you, the fact is that you are really sleeping during these interactions. You simply do not look as if you are asleep because your eyes remain open and the people around you cannot tell that you are sleeping.

Other interesting characteristics of the rarer forms of narcolepsy include hallucinations and brief periods of paralysis. Having hallucinations on waking can be a sign of narcolepsy but it is certainly not an absolute indicator although people with severe narcolepsy could well experience scary and dramatic hallucinations because of this fairly rare sleep disorder. Sleep paralysis is actually reasonably common and our bodies are to all intent and purpose 'paralyzed' during sleep so that we are not able to act out all the actions in our dreams. However for individuals suffering from narcolepsy the paralysis extends beyond the normal sleep paralysis and a narcoleptic individual might be totally paralyzed upon waking up but be aware of his situation and understandably very scared.

There is of course medication that is designed to help people with narcolepsy and medication is normally quite effective in assisting people to keep awake during the day and then to enjoy a full night's sleep.

Some people find difficulty with medication because the stimulant effect that is designed to keep them awake during the day makes them feel nervous or jittery. In the real world is a trade-off for a few narcoleptics who must either continue to have erratic sleep or solve their sleeping problems and put up with the side-effects of the medication.

However, some narcoleptics have no choice because the desire to sleep during the day is so great that they end up falling asleep while at the wheel of a car or at other dangerous times. In these luckily rare instances medication can be a life-saver.

About the author:
Help-Me-To-Sleep.com provides information on a range of sleeping problems including narcalepsy and looks at such things as narcolepsy symptoms, narcolepsy treatment and narcolepsy medication.


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