What is narcolepsy and what are some of its symptoms

What is narcolepsy and what are some of its symptoms

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Narcolepsy is a chronic disease of the central nervous system. Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is the main symptom. Other primary symptoms of narcolepsy: loss of muscle tone, distorted perceptions and inability to move or talk (sleep par…

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narcolepsy?

Q: My dad and I have narcolepsy. I take provigil for it, but it does not always work. There is no cure and no medication that helps all the time. I’m tired of people giving all this useless info about narcolepsy when doctors and scientists dont even know true facts about where it comes from and what causes it. I get about all the symptoms and it sucks. Not everyone has it to the same extent either. Some are worse than others. Sleep schedules are good for anyone but doesnt always help for us. Nothing is going to stop the sleepiness in the daytime. I take a 200mg pill in the morning and one in the afternoon. My doc wanted me to take 300mg pills but the gov. wont allow it. I can take my meds and fall asleep 5 min later with coffee in my hand. Excercise (which I love) makes me sleepy. For some people nothing will work. The fact is that it cannot be controled. Its just that some days are better than other.I speak from experience not education. Sorry so long and not a question.no im not asking a question just had a little fuss about all these people that think they know about narcolepsy but really dont.too much useless info in answers when its really different for every person. and nothing will work all the time. nothing.

A: i know exactly what you mean. my father, brother, nephew and myself have it…and though we are related, it affects each one of us very differently. even within just one person, it is different every day. some weeks, i’ll have a dozen cataplexies, then i might go six months without one at all. hallucinations & a paralysis? happen to me all the time, at least once a night. but my father has never had one episode of either at all. 3 of us have automatic behavior on a fairly regular basis, but not the fourth. every case is different, although many things will help all of us to some degree, and you never know what will work until trying it for a while.the thing i hate the most is when someone notices i’m sleepy & asks, “well, how much sleep did you get last night?” (and this will come from people who knows me very well, not just a stranger who only knows narcolepsy from deuce bigalow.) AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH! do they not understand that no matter how much sleep i get, i’m still not going to possess that little magic switch that turns sleepiness off?? as if being sleepy is my own fault. idiots.and why would people assume that just because we have a sleep disorder, we cannot drive? i usually get pretty fair warning when sleep attacks or cataplexies are going to occur, at least enough time to pull over and turn the car off. yes, it is a problem for some, but it’s not like i’d risk my own life and everyone else on the road if that were an issue at all for me. count yourself lucky that provigil works at all. i had reactions to it and can’t take it. i was on pemoline for 17 yrs, but that was yanked off the shelf a few yr ago. haven’t found another yet that i can take, so i just work part-time and take care of things as they come. i’ve old enough that it’s not likely to get any worse than it already is, so that’s some consolation.chin up…at least you can be assured that your chances are better than average that you’ll die in your sleep later in life. it may be behind the wheel while your passengers are shrieking in fear behind you, but hey, we can’t all be lucky enough to sleep thru our own death. 🙂

I can easily sleep for 12 hours a day or more?

Q: I do not know if its Narcolepsy or what but when I can fall asleep, I’m out usually for 12 hours (if I can manage to sleep-in that long). No matter what, I am always tired even after a long sleep (12 hours). And its pretty hard for me to get to sleep in the first place but when I do, I can sleep for that 12 hours or more. After that amount of rest, I am still tired during the day with absolutely no energy at all.I would love to see a sleep medicine specialist about this but unfortunately the closest specialist to me is 4-5 hours away (that’s covered by my health care). I really need some tips, suggestions on this because its killing me. I’m not lazy, it’s just something is draining my energy every day. When I first saw the symptoms of some sleeping disorder, I thought it was my depression (that has been treated) but even during treatment, I was still having major sleeping problems. I told my psychologist about it and he prescribed me with a sedative (lorazepam) that did not work at all.Also, I have been well lately, even exercising. I really do not believe its anything to do with my diet. I have steadily been getting healthier in the past year – lost tons of weight. I thought this would maybe improve my sleeping but it doesn’t.Whoops, I mean eating well (above).What is M.E.?

A: For me, it seems like the more sleep I get, the more I need. Trust me I could sleep at least 12 hours everyday if given the chance. It may sound weird but try sleeping less, like maybe 8 hours at most. Try it for at least a week, and do not take any naps during the day. The sleep you get might be more”satisfying” this way.It might also help if your get up and go to bed around the same time everyday, so your body clock can know when to expect sleep, and when to expect to be awake. Also what kind of exercise are you doing? I notice that when I do anything with weights I want to come home and go right to sleep, but if I do only cardio, I have much more energy.Good point Leah, hydration is very important. Try to drink more water.

Help would be helpful… and very welcome. Dunno what’s wrong with her?

Q: My friend has been feeling ill a lot lately- she’s 18, from the States (Unlike me, freezing my arse off in Canada) and asked me to check out some symptoms online for her (not necessarily yahoo, but hey.. here I am.). She hasn’t been feeling at all good for around a week, give or take.She fears that she’s pregnant.Or has cancer.Or narcolepsy.As you can see, this is causing her quite a bit of stress, so any help you can give me would be very appreciated. Her symptoms (the ones she told me, I know no more or less) are:Nausea, vomiting, achy bones, fatigue, cramps, swollen feet, and dizziness.When I asked further, she told me that she ALWAYS feels tired, and that the nausea sometimes shows when she has a cigarette- this isn’t the only time she feels this way, but I just want to tell everything I know.I asked her if she feels bloated, and she replied with: “When I lay down it feels like I’m laying on something, like its not hollow… I cant explain it, but I guess that can be some type of bloating. “Anyone know what’s going on? The pregnancy seems the most likely to me, but I’m hardly a doctor, or anything except ignorant when it comes to medical stuff. (Oh, and I’m pretty sure that the vomiting just came on recently- a few days ago, she was complaining of nausea with no throwing up.)…This is obnoxiously long, and I really hope someone can point us in the right direction- if I were in the country, I’d force her to see a doctor, but I think she just wants to know if it’s not some passing type of bug before wasting money and time in a place with no free health care. (Snicker.)And so, I ask you, dear strangers. Don’t let me down?(I really had no clue what category to put it under, though ‘woman’s health’ would be the obvious one… Bah. When in doubt, click randomly and see if it matches at all.)

A: With so much talk of the H1N1 virus being spread rapidly . She should not worry about the cost & seek emergency medical care. These symptoms cover a lot of things . So she truly needs medical care for a proper diagnosis. Anything anyone tells you on here would only be a guess & could be the wrong one & do more harm than good*