faced The citizen Mashael, whose story was published by the Government Communications Center, is a rare condition called “compulsive sleep disorder.” This caused her to sleep disturbances over 23 years, which prompted her to sleep a lot in different situations and places, such as the car, while sitting with her family, or during a class.
Narcolepsy is one of the strangest diseases in the world, not only because of the health problems that accompany it, but because the patient’s brain lacks the lowest levels of ability to regulate sleep and wake cycles naturally, which is at the heart of the brain’s tasks.
The report reviews the symptoms of narcolepsy and how to treat it:
What is narcolepsy?
Narcolepsy results from the inability of the brain to regulate the cycles of sleep and wakefulness, which makes the patient feel tired and numb, and is usually associated with sudden sleep, insomnia and hallucinations, in addition to the patient feeling a state of sleep paralysis.
Narcolepsy affects both males and females, and it develops with age. Symptoms may remain unnoticed as they gradually worsen.
narcolepsy symptoms
Symptoms of the disease begin to appear between the ages of 10 and 20 years, and the most prominent of them remains the feeling of excessive sleepiness during the day, even if they get a full night’s sleep.
Drowsiness can occur during many different activities, including talking to others, driving a car, or eating. This feeling cannot be prevented or resisted. The patient feels awake after taking a small nap, but soon falls asleep again.
In addition to severe drowsiness, the patient also suffers from some other symptoms such as drowsy hallucinations, where he has frightening dream-like experiences, and the scenes are often from his real environment, and he also suffers from a temporary stopping of movement during his transition from sleep to wakefulness, what is known as paralysis sleep.
Disease causes and diagnosis
A genetic link to narcolepsy is rare, but a combination of genetic and environmental factors may combine to cause a sleep disorder, as recent studies confirm that people who suffer from narcolepsy with narcolepsy.
Usually, the doctor asks the narcolepsy patient to provide him with his family medical history in order to determine the injury, and then the patient’s sleep state and intensity are tracked over a period of at least a week or two.
narcolepsy treatment
Although there is no approved treatment for the disease so far, symptoms can be relieved through some methods, among them behavioral therapy that helps control symptoms, including taking 3 or more scheduled and scheduled naps during the day.
Therapeutic methods also include psychological counseling for people suffering from the disease, which is one of the most important means of relieving symptoms, especially since the disease causes a state of unease and depression.
These treatments are often combined with the use of stimulants to improve levels of alertness and reduce excessive daytime sleepiness, and antidepressants are often used to treat numbness, hallucinations, and sleep paralysis.