by Joyce Ann Mallare

Created on: May 28, 2010

Sleep is very important to human beings. It helps recharge the body if it’s tired. Sleep restores rundown bodies from physical and mental stress. Some people experience sleep disorders. These sleep disorders includes the following insomnia, REM- sleep behavior disorder, sleep apnea,  sleepwalking, nightmares and night terrors and of course narcolepsy. What we are about to discuss is narcolepsy.

Some people experience narcolepsy when driving, eating, sitting and any other verbs you may think of. Narcolepsy is a chronic disease which triggers the central nervous system.  This condition is associated with HLA or human leukocyte antigen, it’s a type of genetically determine proteins on the surface of white blood cells. These are part of the immunity system of the body. This condition is undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years due to the fact that experts are not having the answers they want on how to cure it. Narcolepsy is not a problem in sleeping but it’s the trouble in staying awake and this usually begins in young adults. Narcolepsy involves extreme sleepiness in the daytime. It is uncontrollable sleep attacks. It is sudden that you may not feel that you are asleep. It will last to a minute or an hour. Narcoleptics will go right into REM (Random Eye Movement) stage. They experience intense, dreamlike, visual images and sound or this is what the experts call hypnagogic hallucinations. These are dream-like experiences but it occurs from a transition of wakefulness to sleep. They may experience involving hearing, vision, movement, touch and hearing. These hallucinations are mostly horrifying, bizarre, and disturbing for some. Narcoleptics also experiences cataplexy. This refers to the sudden loss of muscle control and contraption which triggers our laughter, excitement, aggression and other strong emotions. Cataplexy is the abnormal version of the normal paralysis that occurs during night sleep.

Narcolepsy can be dangerous and can affect one’s life. This may cause accidents to some while others may have a hard time finding a job, they maybe mistaken lazy at work. According to some researchers and experts narcolepsy is associated with genetics and also with unknown environmental factor. As of today there is no known cure except that some uses of anti-depressant drugs that can decrease cataplexy. Narcoleptics may have a different way of living if it’s not understood by others. They are humans who want to live a normal life. People should help them and not to discriminate them.

http://www.medicinenet.com/narcolepsy/article.htm#wh at

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