Other, non specific, clinical signs include hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis, disturbed nocturnal sleep, and weight gain, especially in children. The average time between the age of appearance of the symptoms and the diagnosis is still very long, 10 years. The age of onset varies between 10 and 30 years old and symptoms are lifelong. Narcolepsy resulting from an identifiable underlying condition is called secondary narcolepsy.Narcolepsy type 1 prevalence is estimated between 1/2,000 and 1/5,000. Narcolepsy can sometimes be the result of an underlying condition that damages the areas of the brain that produce hypocretin.įor example, narcolepsy can develop after: You may also experience REM sleep much earlier than normal after falling asleep, and the effects of REM sleep, such as dreaming and paralysis, while you're still conscious. If you have narcolepsy, this pattern is much more fragmented and you may wake several times during the night.
During the latter part of the night, REM sleep is more prominent. NREM and REM sleep then alternates throughout the night. Normal sleep starts with 3 stages of NREM sleep at first, followed by a short period of REM sleep. Sleep is made up of cycles of different brain activity known as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM).ĭuring REM sleep, your brain activity increases and you may dream. The total time someone with narcolepsy spends sleeping is not necessarily different from that of people who do not have the condition.īut narcolepsy can significantly affect sleep cycles and decrease the quality of sleep. The risk is very small, with the chance of developing narcolepsy after having a dose of the vaccine estimated to be around 1 in 52,000.īut Pandemrix is no longer used in the UK for flu vaccination. Research carried out in 2013 found an association between the flu vaccine, Pandemrix, which was used during the swine flu epidemic of 2009-10, and narcolepsy in children. Research is yet to confirm whether all of these play a role in narcolepsy. an infection, such as swine flu or a streptococcal infection.hormonal changes, including those that take place during puberty or the menopause.Possible triggersĪ number of factors may increase a person's risk of narcolepsy or cause an autoimmune problem. These research results may help explain the cause of narcolepsy in many cases, but it does not explain why some people with the condition still produce near-normal levels of hypocretin. This results in a lack of hypocretin, which means the brain is less able to regulate sleep cycles. Trib 2 is produced by an area of the brain that also produces hypocretin. In 2010, scientists in Switzerland discovered that some people with narcolepsy produce antibodies against a protein called trib 2. When antibodies mistakenly attack healthy cells and tissue, it's known as an autoimmune response.
Normally, antibodies are released by the body to destroy disease-carrying organisms and toxins.
The deficiency is thought to be the result of the immune system mistakenly attacking parts of the brain that produce hypocretin.īut a lack of hypocretin is not the cause in all cases. Many cases of narcolepsy are thought to be caused by a lack of a brain chemical called hypocretin (also known as orexin), which regulates sleep.
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