What Is Narcolepsy?
It is A chronic sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime drowsiness and unexpected sleep attacks. People with Narcolepsy frequently struggle to stay awake for extended periods, regardless of the circumstances. Narcolepsy can seriously disrupt your daily routine.
Narcolepsy is sometimes accompanied by a sudden loss of muscle tone (cataplexy), triggered by intense emotion. Narcolepsy associated with cataplexy is referred to as type 1 narcolepsy. The absence knows the Type 2 narcolepsy of cataplexy.
What causes Narcolepsy?
Narcolepsy’s exact cause is unknown. Low levels of the chemical hypocretin are found in people with type 1 narcolepsy (hi-Poe-KREE-tin). Hypocretin is a neurochemical found in the brain that helps regulate wakefulness and REM sleep.
Cataplexy patients have particularly low hypocretin levels. The exact cause of the loss of hypocretin-producing cells in the brain is unknown, but experts believe it results from an autoimmune reaction.
Genetics is also likely to play a role in the development of the disease. But the risk of the child inheriting the disease from parents is very low.
Research also suggests a possible link between swine flu (H1N1 flu) virus exposure and a type of H1N1 vaccine currently used in Europe, though the reason for this is unknown.
