what? narcolepsy

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the control of sleep and wakefulness.People with narcolepsy experience excessive daytime sleepiness and intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of sleep during the day. These sudden sleep attacks can occur during any type of activity at any time of day.
In a typical sleep cycle, we have the early stages of sleep followed by periods of deep sleep and eventually (after about 90 minutes) of rapid eye movements enter (REM) sleep. For people with narcolepsy, REM sleep is almost immediately in the sleep cycle, and from time to time during waking hours. This is REM sleep that we dream and paralysis of the muscles that explains some of the symptoms of narcolepsy can be made.
Narcolepsy usually begins between the ages of 15 and 25, but at any age. In many cases undiagnosed narcolepsy and therefore untreated.
What causes narcolepsy?The cause of narcolepsy is unknown, but scientists have made progress in identifying genes strongly associated with the disease. These genes control the production of chemicals in the brain that is a sign of sleep and sleep cycles are. Some experts believe that narcolepsy may be caused by a deficiency in the production of a chemical called hypocretin in the brain. In addition, researchers found abnormalities in several brain regions involved in the regulation of REM sleep. These abnormalities appear to contribute to the development of symptoms. According to experts, it is likely narcolepsy involves multiple factors interacting neurological disorders and diseases of REM sleep causes.
What are the symptoms of narcolepsy?The symptoms of narcolepsy include:
Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS): In general, EDS interferes with normal activities on a daily basis, whether or not a person with narcolepsy have enough sleep at night.People with EDS report mental turbidity, lack of energy and concentration, memory loss, depressed mood and / or exhaustion.Cataplexy: This symptom consists of a sudden loss of muscle tone that leads to feelings of weakness and loss of voluntary muscle control. This can cause symptoms ranging from slurred speech to total body collapse as the muscles involved and are often caused by intense emotions, surprise, for example, laughing or anger.Hallucinations: Usually, these delusional experiences are vivid and often frightening. The content is primarily visual, but none of the other senses can be involved. They are called hypnagogic hallucinations that accompany the onset of sleep and hallucinations hypnopompic when occurring during awakening.Sleep paralysis: This problem involves the temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or awake. These episodes are usually brief few seconds to several minutes. After the end of the episode, people rapidly recover their full capacity to move and talk.How is narcolepsy diagnosed?A thorough physical examination and medical history is necessary for a diagnosis of narcolepsy. But none of the major symptoms is exclusive to narcolepsy. Several specialized tests in a clinical laboratory, sleep disorders or sleep is performed, is generally required before a diagnosis can be confirmed. Two tests which are deemed essential to a diagnosis of narcolepsy to confirm the polysomnography (PSG) and the testing of multiple sleep latency 
(MSLT).