Hypersomnia is excessive sleepiness. There are many causes of excessive sleepiness, including insufficient or inadequate sleep, sleep disorders, medications and medical or psychiatric illnesses. The characteristics of hypersomnia vary from one person to the next depending on age, lifestyle and underlying causes.
Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that makes people very drowsy during the day. People with narcolepsy find it hard to stay awake for long periods of time.
There are 5 main symptoms of narcolepsy, referred to by the acronym CHESS (Cataplexy, Hallucinations, Excessive daytime sleepiness, Sleep paralysis, Sleep disruption). While all patients with narcolepsy experience excessive daytime sleepiness, they may not experience all 5 symptoms.
Things that have been suggested as possible triggers of narcolepsy include: hormonal changes, which can occur during puberty or the menopause. major psychological stress. an infection, such as swine flu, or the medicine used to vaccinate against it (Pandemrix)
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders, such as panic attacks and social phobias, have been reported in as many as 53% of patients with narcolepsy [6]. The time course of development for specific anxiety disorders has been suggested to vary by type.
People with narcolepsy may feel rested after waking, but then feel very sleepy throughout much of the day. Many individuals with narcolepsy also experience uneven and interrupted sleep that can involve waking up frequently during the night.
There's no specific cure for narcolepsy, but you can manage the symptoms and minimise their impact on your daily life. Making some simple changes to your sleeping habits can sometimes help. If your symptoms are more severe, you'll usually need to take medicine.
Excessive daytime sleepiness is usually the first sign of narcolepsy. It can have a significant impact on everyday life. Feeling drowsy throughout the day and struggling to stay awake makes it difficult to concentrate at work or school. People with narcolepsy may be misjudged as being lazy or rude.
Whatever the age of onset, patients find that the symptoms tend to get worse over the two to three decades after the first symptoms appear. Many older patients find that some daytime symptoms decrease in severity after age 60.
Narcolepsy is characterized by uncontrollable excessive daytime sleepiness, paroxysmal cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hallucinations. It is often misdiagnosed as psychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia, resulting from the overlap in symptoms and a lack of understanding of narcolepsy.
The most common causes of excessive sleepiness are sleep deprivation and disorders like sleep apnea and insomnia. Depression and other mental health conditions, certain medications, and medical conditions affecting the brain and body can cause daytime drowsiness as well.
Physical causes of tiredness
iron deficiency anaemia. underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) sleep apnoea.
Mignot, whose research is funded in part by Wake Up Narcolepsy, discusses Autosomal Dominant Cerebellar Ataxia, Deafness and Narcolepsy, or ADCA-DN. This terrible disease is characterized by narcolepsy evolving into neuropsychiatric problems and dementia.
However, narcolepsy can be associated also with introversion, sorrowfulness, feelings of inferiority, impaired affectivity modulation, emotional lability, irritability, aggressiveness, and poor attention, that have been pooled by some authors under a definition of “narcoleptic personality.” Some aspects of this “ ...
To be crystal clear, all the bread, pasta, cereal, potatoes, rice, fruit, dessert, candy, and sodas we consume will raise your blood glucose levels and turn your orexin OFF. Eat carbs and go nighty night.
When sleepiness is under good control, many people with narcolepsy are safe to drive. However, they must know their limits. Some individuals may be safe driving around town for 30 minutes but not on a four-hour, boring highway drive.
In addition to any of the typical narcolepsy symptoms, people with secondary narcolepsy also have severe neurological problems and require large amounts (>10 hours) of sleep. To understand the symptoms of narcolepsy, it helps to first understand how sleep happens normally.
Because narcolepsy is a rare condition, in normal life many people with narcolepsy may never meet anyone else with the condition. That does not mean that you are alone. Narcolepsy UK encourages people with narcolepsy to interact with each other and to share their experiences.
Your family history or environment can raise your risk of narcolepsy. Narcolepsy may also occur after an upper airway infection or, rarely, because of a head injury, sarcoidosis, a stroke, or another medical condition.
Narcolepsy, as the syndrome is currently understood, was first described by the French physician Gelineau (1880). Major symptoms associated with narcolepsy include somnolence, cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations, and sleep paralysis.
Most of the time, when you wake up someone with narcolepsy, you're pulling them out of a very vivid dream. For Mike, those are usually nightmares. He gets incredibly startled and seems ready to fight, regardless of how long he's been asleep.
People with narcolepsy sleep a lot during the day. As a result, narcolepsy can be disabling and increases the risk of motor vehicle and other accidents. Narcolepsy persists throughout life but does not affect life expectancy.