Health & Medical Sleep Disorders

A Sleep Disorder Symptom That Can Get You In Trouble, A Disease Called Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder symptom called Narcolepsy is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in which a person experiences extreme fatigue and can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, whether at work, at school or even in social gatherings.
It is often mistaken for depression, epilepsy or side effects of medications.
This sleep disorder symptom or Narcolepsy can occur in both males and females although the symptoms start early and are noticed in the teenage years, and in young adults.
There is a fifteen year gap between when this sleep disorder symptom first appears and when it becomes a full blown disease.
This long incubation period is partly to blame for the seriousness of this sleep disorder symptom.
People with this disorder have a lot to endure: cognitive, educational, psychological, occupational and other difficulties.
People with this sleep disorder symptom can fall asleep in nighttime mode fairly quickly.
Treatments involve training the body when to fall deeply asleep as in nighttime and when to nap.
In time the body will know when to stay alert.
This kind of treatment is helpful in lowering dependency on ant-depressants.
In time the body adjusts and falls asleep naturally.
Narcoleptics often endanger themselves and others by operating vehicles and other machinery.
They have no control over when and where to fall asleep and don't realize this is a sleep disorder symptom.
Unfortunately studies show that most people with this disorder don't know they have a problem and so this disorder is under diagnosed in the population.
Severity varies from person to person, form barely noticeable to obvious.
Medical science cannot diagnose a disease if there are no symptoms and the person does not complain about any difficulties.
Diagnosis usually involves the use of two tests, the Polysonogram where more than two dozen small electrodes will be placed at strategic points on your body including the nose, under the eyes, on the chin, abdomen, hands, legs and so on, to feed information to a polysomnograph which will record this information and interprete them to make them understandable to a trained professional.
The second test involves Multiple Sleep Latency or MSLT- a sleep disorder diagnostic tool that measures time between the start of a daytime nap and the first sign of sleep.
Tests are conducted in two-hour increments to allow the person to sleep and usually the polysonogram test does a continuous test of brain activity when it's in REM sleep mode when sleep happens at night.
Often in mild cases, people with this disorder can help themselves by a few lifestyle changes involving diet, exercise, taking nutritional supplements to supplement what they get from foods.
This sleep disorder symptom is manageable if you follow the doctor's instructions and taking medications when you're supposed to and following therapy plans that are designed for you to follow to the last detail.
This sleep disorder symptom is believed to be as prevalent as MS or Parkinson's disease, and often remains undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for several years.
If you or anyone you know can fall asleep easily no matter when or where you are, that is not normal and it is a sleep disorder symptom.


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