Living with Narcolepsy – Know the signs to manage it right
Did you know that 21% of all fatal automotive accidents are due to drowsy driving or falling asleep on the wheel? A survey by Harvard Medical School noted that drowsiness or sleep accounted for a staggering 270,000 workplace accidents, 100,000 traffic crashes and 70,000 injuries yearly in the US alone. Globally, 16-25% of all fatal traffic accidents and 20% of the total traffic accidents in a year are attributed to sleepy drivers. A study published in NCBI noted that over 45% of these accidents are due to sleep disorders.
What are sleep disorders?
Sleep disorders or sleep-wake disorders, interfere with the quality and amount of sleep you get every night, resulting in daytime distress and impaired functioning. Sleep-wake disorders occur in both healthy individuals and those with mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety or other cognitive disorders. There are many different types of sleep disorders known today. The most common ones include:
· Sleep Apnea—repeated sleep-wake cycles and snoring caused by airways getting blocked due to muscle relaxation, causing oxygen deprivation in the brain during sleep.
· Narcolepsy—a sudden urge to fall asleep at any time and an inability to regulate the sleep-wake cycle.
· Insomnia—involves difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep throughout the night.
· Restless Legs Syndrome—an uncontrollable urge to move your legs while resting or sleeping.
· REM Sleep behaviour disorder—acting out your dreams, such as shouting, talking, punching and screaming while asleep.
What is narcolepsy? Why is it considered to be more dangerous than other sleep disorders?
Narcolepsy is possibly one of the most dangerous disorders on the list as it is characterized by overwhelming daytime sleepiness and sleep attacks that can cause individuals to fall asleep while driving, eating, working, walking, or doing just about anything. Narcolepsy seriously disrupts your daily routine and must immediately be diagnosed by a medical professional.
What causes narcolepsy?There is no single known cause for narcolepsy. This disease is not congenital and can occur without any reason. Medical professionals believe that a mix of the following can cause narcolepsy:
· brain injuries
· autoimmune disorders
· viral infections
· genetics
What are the main symptoms of narcolepsy?
Healthcare workers often use the acronym CHESS to describe the symptoms of narcolepsy. These symptoms include:
· Cataplexy
Cataplexy is the most specific symptom of narcolepsy, seen in over 65-75% patients. Cataplexy is the sudden loss of muscle tone (muscle weakness) while conscious. This is usually triggered by emotions such as laughter, surprise or anger. Patients describe this symptom as feeling weak in the knees, a drooping face or eyelids, slurred speech, dropping head or falling. A cataplexy episode rarely lasts over 2-3 minutes.
· Hallucinations
These appear to patients as visions or dreamlike visions where you can see things that are not there. Hallucinations that occur while falling asleep are termed hypnagogic hallucinations, and those that occur when waking up are termed as hypnopompic hallucinations. These episodes can occur with sleep paralysis.
· Excessive daytime sleepiness
This is the most common symptom of narcolepsy and affects almost every patient of this disease. Excessive daytime sleepiness is the inability to stay alert and awake at daytime and can result in traffic or workplace accidents due to the patient’s urge to fall asleep immediately.
· Sleep Paralysis
Sleep paralysis affects up to 50% of those suffering from narcolepsy. Sufferers are unable to move or talk during sleep-wake transitions. Hallucinations often accompany this.
· Sleep Disruption
Sleep disruption is characterized by frequent awakening and results in poor quality sleep. Over 30-90% of narcolepsy patients suffer from sleep disruption.
Narcolepsy is possibly one of the most dangerous disorders on the list as it is characterized by overwhelming daytime sleepiness and sleep attacks that can cause individuals to fall asleep while driving, eating, working, walking, or doing just about anything. Narcolepsy seriously disrupts your daily routine and must immediately be diagnosed by a medical professional.
There is no single known cause for narcolepsy. This disease is not congenital and can occur without any reason. Medical professionals believe that a mix of the following can cause narcolepsy:
· brain injuries
· autoimmune disorders
· viral infections
· genetics
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