A question that ran through my mind while reading this section was how can people always be sleepy or not have energy to stay awake during the day? Is the sleep they get at night not restful enough? I was glad to find more information about my questions which will be discussed shortly. The dangers that are involved in this sleep disorder include sleep paralysis, hallucinations, and cataplexy. Experiencing sleep paralysis is when the patient is literally paralyzed and cannot move at all. Some narcoleptic patients also claim to have auditory and visual hallucinations which vary from each patient. The symptom of cataplexy is when a patient looses all muscle control or experiences muscle weakness while awake. Imagine trying to go about your day and all of a sudden your muscles give out and you fall asleep. That is what Anthony has to go through every day of his life. This CNN video about a narcoleptic boy named Anthony tells his story and explains the symptoms of his case of narcolepsy and how he must make changes that suit his sleep disorder in order to function in daily routines. Although no medication has been found to cure this disorder, scientist have discovered other ways to control the episodes and the disorder itself.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Narcolepsy
As I was reading section 9.2, the most prominent sleep disorder that seemed most interesting to me was the section about narcolepsy. I have heard about this disorder but wanted to learn more about the way these people suffering from this disorder live. Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that does not deprive the person of sleep but is the opposite. A narcoleptic experiences an enormous amount of sleepiness during the day accompanied by other dangerous characteristics or symptoms. This may sound nice to those people who have problems falling asleep or sleeping through the night, but this disorder is worse, and dangerous than it sounds.
A question that ran through my mind while reading this section was how can people always be sleepy or not have energy to stay awake during the day? Is the sleep they get at night not restful enough? I was glad to find more information about my questions which will be discussed shortly. The dangers that are involved in this sleep disorder include sleep paralysis, hallucinations, and cataplexy. Experiencing sleep paralysis is when the patient is literally paralyzed and cannot move at all. Some narcoleptic patients also claim to have auditory and visual hallucinations which vary from each patient. The symptom of cataplexy is when a patient looses all muscle control or experiences muscle weakness while awake. Imagine trying to go about your day and all of a sudden your muscles give out and you fall asleep. That is what Anthony has to go through every day of his life. This CNN video about a narcoleptic boy named Anthony tells his story and explains the symptoms of his case of narcolepsy and how he must make changes that suit his sleep disorder in order to function in daily routines. Although no medication has been found to cure this disorder, scientist have discovered other ways to control the episodes and the disorder itself.
A question that ran through my mind while reading this section was how can people always be sleepy or not have energy to stay awake during the day? Is the sleep they get at night not restful enough? I was glad to find more information about my questions which will be discussed shortly. The dangers that are involved in this sleep disorder include sleep paralysis, hallucinations, and cataplexy. Experiencing sleep paralysis is when the patient is literally paralyzed and cannot move at all. Some narcoleptic patients also claim to have auditory and visual hallucinations which vary from each patient. The symptom of cataplexy is when a patient looses all muscle control or experiences muscle weakness while awake. Imagine trying to go about your day and all of a sudden your muscles give out and you fall asleep. That is what Anthony has to go through every day of his life. This CNN video about a narcoleptic boy named Anthony tells his story and explains the symptoms of his case of narcolepsy and how he must make changes that suit his sleep disorder in order to function in daily routines. Although no medication has been found to cure this disorder, scientist have discovered other ways to control the episodes and the disorder itself.
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I was also curious about narcolepsy I have heard of it before but I have never really understood the symptoms the individual experiences. The video you posted about Anthony really helped to clarify what a person goes through with this disorder
ReplyDeleteI read about narcolepsy but I could never imagine or see the effects in real life experiences. seeing this video really opened my eyes to how bad narcolepsy is and how it impacts ones life, from dating to working.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it can progress to adults, even though they say it mostly affects adolescents. Especially since I see people who are in their mid-twenties, who are constantly asleep, or maybe it is just that they are lazy. Now that I really think about it, I've never seen them drop to the ground, so perhaps it is just laziness that makes them to be asleep all the time.
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