Narcolepsy / Hypersomnia

What is narcolepsy?

Narcolepsy is a serious sleep disorder related to excessive daily daytime sleepiness — sometimes expressed as tiredness, lack of energy, and/or irresistible sleepiness.  Narcolepsy is a lifelong sleep disorder that makes you feel overwhelmingly tired, and in severe cases, have sudden uncontrollable sleep attacks. Narcolepsy can impact nearly every aspect of your life. It is dangerous because you can have excessive sleepiness or a sleep attack at any time of the day, in the middle of any activity including eating, walking or driving. Operating a vehicle with untreated narcolepsy can be very dangerous and some states even have laws against it.

Many people with narcolepsy do not know they have the sleep disorder. About one in 2,000 people have some form of narcolepsy. Narcolepsy may run in some families, but most cases are not genetic. The disorder is extremely rare in children.

What causes narcolepsy?

The cause of narcolepsy is still unknown, but recent research suggests that many people with narcolepsy with cataplexy have low levels of the neurotransmitter hypocretin, a chemical that regulates arousal, wakefulness and appetite.

Two types of narcolepsy

• Narcolepsy Type 1 – This type of narcolepsy involves a combination of excessive daytime sleepiness and one or both of the following:
  1. Cataplexy is when you have attacks that cause a sudden loss of muscle tone while you are awake. It may lead to slurred speech and buckling knees, or in more severe cases complete paralysis. These events are usually triggered by strong emotions such as joy, surprise, laughter or anger.
  2. Low or absent CSF hypocretin-1 levels. Narcolepsy type 1 is caused by a deficiency of hypocretin (orexin). A patient with low hypocretin has narcolepsy type 1, even if they don’t exhibit cataplexy.