Narcolepsy Essay

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Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that inhibits a person's ability to function normally in society. Narcolepsy causes a person to fall asleep, almost spontaneously, regardless of the situation they are in. The sufferer could be at school, work, or a grocery store, and suddenly experience an intense haze of drowsiness. Suddenly the sensation overcomes the narcoleptic, and they fall victim to sleep. Usually this sleep state lasts for only a few moments, with the narcoleptic waking almost as quickly as they had fallen asleep. In other instances, the sleep state lasts for minutes; the narcoleptic waking up is not aware they had fallen asleep, they may also become frightened, or confused about events that happened prior to their "sleep attack." About 200,000 people in the United States have narcolepsy, making it a serious mental illness (narcolepsynetwork.org). Despite the number of people who have this disorder, however, only a small amount of information is available on narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a fascinating disease that is looked over by society, if narcolepsy awareness becomes more wide-spread, then people will have a reason to pay attention to how serious this sleep-disorder really is. …show more content…

Orexin is a hormone that regulates appetite and plays an especially vital role in sleep (Schenck, 2007). An Orexin deficiency usually is the result of some abnormality in the gene HLA-DQB1*06:02.

that Narcolepsy is possible to pass down to one's offspring (EIF3G is associated with narcolepsy across ethnicities Anja Holm et.

Falling Asleep on the Job: The Story of Narcolepsy
2394 Words | 5 Pages
Imagine you are in a boring lecture and you start to drift to sleep, usually you can manage to force yourself to wake up. This may be common occurrence but try to imagine falling asleep while driving or walking. These situations seem more rare. A narcoleptic’s body doesn’t care what it is doing when it goes into these paralyzed sleeping episodes. The sudden overwhelming feeling drives the narcoleptic person to fall asleep. One type of episode that they experience is called cataplexy, which is usually caused by some stressful situation or other common activities such as laughing or running (6). During these periods the person suffers from muscle weakness and paralysis. Although the person appears to be sleeping, they are still conscious, but unable to move. They can hear and feel but cannot react to stimulation. For this reason narcolepsy is a very dangerous condition to have without receiving treatment because serious vehicle accidents can result as well as an general inability to succeed in school (6).
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Analysis of Article Narcolepsy by Jerome M. Siegel
876 Words | 2 Pages
... helps to peak one’s interest in the topic of narcolepsy. Furthermore, Siegel did not make the article to be overly scientifically based so that understanding the concepts was uncomplicated. Siegels’ information, on the other hand, does not entirely match that found in the Carlson text as it states that narcolepsy is a genetic disorder. Additionally Carlson states that a study showed that many narcoleptic patients lacked orexin in their cerebral spinal fluid. This lack of correspondence causes each source to be put into question. Both sources provide evidence to back their claims, however, so it is obvious that further research is essential to our understanding of narcolepsy.
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Insomnia
1936 Words | 4 Pages
Millions of people suffer from the same tossing and turning every which way, getting their sheets all disarranged and their minds abundantly worse. Patients often report indications of insomnia while sitting in the family health clinic. Insomnia traits include hindrance, falling asleep, continuing to awaken, and rejuvenating before wanted. One may suffer from insomnia if one shows signs of an increased difficulty in attentiveness, decreased communal or scholastic skills, and a diminished mood or enthusiasm. Foldvary-Schaefer 111.
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Essay On Narcolepsy
636 Words | 2 Pages
The symptoms they studied long ago are the symptoms of narcolepsy that we now know today. Westphal was the first doctor who clinically described narcolepsy as a physical disorder due to loss of muscle control. The term “narcolepsy” was first discovered in 1880 by Jean Baptiste E. Gelineau, a neuropsychiatrist in France, who recognized a group of patients who had irresistible sleep triggered by strong emotions (Khran, 2001). To create the name of this sleep disorder, he combined the Greek words, narke (numbness, stupor) and lepsis (an attack, seizure). In 1902, the term “cataplexy”, was created by a physician named Loëwenfeld.
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Narcolepsy Essay
1654 Words | 4 Pages
Narcolepsy has been above looked for years beforehand knowing a patient has the illness, it is a quickly producing awareness and is continually altering people and their families lives. With nap materializing to be not merely the ultimate pastime, but additionally a survival imperative, the earth of nap scutiny is quite large, bragging countless disparate spans of study. By scrutinizing phenomena like nap disorders neurobiologists can yearn to comprehend the mechanisms of normative nap, in supplement to perfecting treatment for suffers. Narcolepsy is one such disorder that affects an approximated 250, 000 or 1 in 2000 Americans; comparable numbers are approximated for Parkinson's or countless sclerosis (mayo-foundation). An comprehensive, nevertheless oftentimes misdiagnosed illness (fewer than 50, 000 are cognizant of their condition), narcolepsy can be delineated by chronic daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, nap paralysis, and hypanogic hallucinations (rare-disease). The last three of the tetrad of symptoms additionally transpire in non-narcoleptic individuals; nap episodes are the main determinant in diagnosis. Merely 20 to 25 percent of narcoleptics tolerate from all four symptoms (mayo-foundation). This paper has countless goals, all of that involve elucidating the illness and its symptoms in disparate contexts. In order to do this nap will main be elucidated in a slight detail, pursued by a biological and psychological treatment of narcolepsy. Scutiny of narcolepsy and its implications for the upcoming displays steps to be grabbed in order to garner a larger understanding this particular brain/behavior relationship.
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Narcolepsy Informative Speech
673 Words | 2 Pages
THESIS STATEMENT: Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that has a specific medical definition, life-changing symptoms, and there are ways in how people treat it.
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The Origin Of Sleep Paralysis
873 Words | 2 Pages
According to the history, Sleep Paralysis was classified as nightmare, a term that evolved into our modern definition by Samuel Johnson. It was widely considered to be the work of the demons, which were thought to sit on the chest of the sleeper. Various forms of magic and spiritual possession were also advanced as causes. But Sleep Paralysis can occur in the state between REM sleep, where dreaming occurs, and waking up. During REM sleep, the brain paralyses the body in order to keep us away from carrying out our dream-actions that could harm ourselves somehow. At times, our brain does not put off these dreams or the paralysis that comes along with them, resulting in a potentially terrifying experience. Sleep paralysis had been linked to disorders such as migraines, anxiety disorders, and obstructive sleep apnea. But when linked to another disorder, sleep paralysis commonly occurs together with the neurological sleep disorder called Narcolepsy. David McCarty, a sleep researcher at Louisiana State Health University, explained that in sleep paralysis, two of the key REM sleep components are presen...
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Narcolepsy Or Gelineau Syndrome: A Case Study
1444 Words | 3 Pages
Thus Narcolepsy is a disorder whose symptoms are quite significant from the point of view of an outside observer (Akintomide & Rickards, 2011). Because of that, the narcoleptic victoms may be misdiagnosed by family or social group around him like a lazy person, or an illness
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Sleep Paralysis
2228 Words | 5 Pages
There are three forms of sleep paralysis. Ramsawh (2005) found that when it occurs in non-narcoleptic individuals it is known to as isolated sleep paralysis (ISP). Another form is referred to as familial sleep paralysis, in which it is similar to ISP, but genetically transmitted (Levitt, 2009). The final form of sleep paralysis is narcoleptic sleep paralysis, which occurs as a symptom of Narcolepsy (Levitt, 2009). Isolated sleep paralysis episodes are characteristic with “infrequent attacks and a negative family history”, and familial sleep paralysis with “more frequent attacks and a positive family history” (Powell, 1998, p. 239). Each form of sleep paralysis is unique and different in the causes and symptoms they possess.
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The State Of Mind: The Three Major States Of The Minds
705 Words | 2 Pages
REM is rapid eye movement which in sleep stage characterized by eye rapid movement and increased dreaming. Nom-REM is non rapid eye movement stages of sleep that alternate with REM stages during sleep cycles. Going to sleep means losing awareness and falling to respond to a stimulus that would produce a response in the waking state. At least 50 million Americans suffer from chronic, long term sleeping disorders and 20 million other Americans have regular sleep problems. The scientific study of typical sleep patterns has yielded further insights into several sleep disorders such as; sleep talking, sleepwalking, nightmares, night terrors, insomnia, apnea, and narcolepsy. Nightmares are frightening dreams that occur during REM sleep stage and usually are remembered. Night terrors are frightening and terrifying dreams that occur during NREM sleep state that which a person is difficult to awaken and doesn 't remember the content. Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized or remaining asleep throughout the night. Apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by breathing difficulty during the night and feelings of exhaustion during the day. Narcolepsy is a hereditary disorder by suddenly nodding off during the day and sudden loss of muscle toe following movements of emotional
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Sleep is a Vital Part of Life
630 Words | 2 Pages
Another more serious form of dyssomnia is narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is when a person feels the unexpected need to sleep throughout the normal times to be awake during the day. People that suffer from narcolepsy normally experience falling asleep suddenly while being active while like walking or driving, extreme muscle weakness or the inability to move at all during an attack. The exact causes or treatments for narcolepsy are unknown, except that taking a long nap during the day or taking antidepressants could lessen the occurrences of sudden attacks.
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Narcolepsy Informative Speech
623 Words | 2 Pages
To begin I’d like to describe what Narcolepsy actually is, and if you are like me you haven’t the slightest idea. Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that causes, “excessive sleepiness, sleep paralysis, hallucinations, and in some cases episodes of cataplexy (partial or total loss of muscle control, often triggered by a strong emotion such as laughter).” Which means that you cannot control when or where you fall asleep, you are delusional, have very vivid nightmares, or sudden muscle twinges. While many people are diagnosed at early ages, some don’t recognize the symptoms until adulthood. “ Narcolepsy is diagnosed
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Sleep Paralysis
1343 Words | 3 Pages
Sleep paralysis is a condition that occurs at either the onset or upon awakening of sleep. The medical terms for the two forms of sleep paralysis are hypnogogic and hypnopompic (1). When a person falls asleep, the body secretes hormones that relax certain muscles within the body, causing it to go into paralysis. Doing this prevents the body from acting out a person's dream, which could result in an injury. Sleep paralysis generally runs within one's family or in those who suffer from narcolepsy (2), but there is currently no explanation for why some people get it while others do not.
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Essay On Lack Of Sleep
1137 Words | 3 Pages
Sleep is a very important factor in the human function. Our body and brain is able to reset itself and rejuvenate while we sleep. When we do not get the required amount of sleep, we start to feel lethargic and foggy minded, because our mind and body wasn’t able to replenish itself. Sleep is imperative that an insignificant rest deficiency or lack of sleep can affect our ability to remember things; decisions and can affect our temperament. Chronic sleep deficiency can get the body to feel agitated and it could lead to serious health problems such as, heart problems, stress, acne, and obesity.
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Living an Abundant Life: Loving Oneself
1662 Words | 4 Pages
Wells, M., & Vaughn, B. V. (2012). Poor Sleep Challenging the Health of a Nation. Neurodiagnostic Journal,52(3), 233-249.
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