Many people will be familiar at least with the concept of Narcolepsy because it is often referred to for comical effect in stories and movies. The common image is that of a person in the middle of a conversation who suddenly drops to the ground going from a state of alertness to a state of complete sleep. The person concerned then wakes without realizing that he has been sleeping and carries on talking.



Of course, narcolepsy is not always as it is portrayed in the movies. Although in a few extremely rare cases of this sleep disorder people do fall asleep without any warning, most sufferers have difficulties with overwhelming sleepiness during the day and sometimes are forced to give in to the desire for a nap.

Just like other sleep disorders there are different degrees of narcolepsy. Some people for example may simply have a problem with becoming excessively sleepy during the day while other people may suffer from a whole variety of difficulties all of which indicate narcolepsy.

One example of narcolepsy is sleeping while you are working or engaged in conversation and not even appearing to be asleep to the people around you. While other people might think that your mind is merely wandering or you might start to believe that you have memory problems because you do not remember what people have told you, the simple truth is that you are actually sleeping during your interactions. You just do not appear to be asleep because your eyes are open and the people around you are unable to tell that you are asleep.

Other interesting characteristics of the rarer types of narcolepsy include brief periods of paralysis and hallucinations. Having hallucinations on waking might be a sign of narcolepsy but it is certainly not an absolute indicator although individuals with severe narcolepsy may well experience scary and dramatic hallucinations as a result of this quite rare sleep disorder. Sleep paralysis is actually relatively common and our bodies are to all intent and purpose 'paralyzed' while we sleep so that we are unable to act out our dreams. However for a person suffering from narcolepsy the paralysis goes beyond the normal sleep paralysis and a narcoleptic might be totally paralyzed on waking but be aware of the situation and understandably petrified.

There is of course medication which is designed to help people with narcolepsy and medication can frequently be quite effective in helping people to stay awake during the day and then to get a full night of sleep.

A few people find difficulty with medication because the stimulant effect which is designed to help them to stay awake during the day also makes them feel nervous or jittery. In the real world is a trade-off for a few narcoleptics who must either continue to suffer erratic and insufficient sleep or solve their sleeping difficulties and live with the side-effects of the medication.

However, some narcoleptics do not have a choice because the impulse to sleep during the day is so strong that they end up falling asleep while at the wheel of a car or at other clearly dangerous times. For these thankfully rare instances medication is quite literally a life-saver.