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Uncontrollable ZZZZZs
Narcolepsy in Children
Part One
By Carma Haley
A child sitting in the principal's office suddenly falls asleep. He is not being rude or disrespectful, and he didn't stay up all night watching movies or doing homework. He has narcolepsy. Narcolepsy affects approximately 200,000 men, women and children in the United States alone, according to the National Institute of Sleep Disorders. However, these statistics may be too low, as many who suffer from narcolepsy are not getting diagnosed and are not being treated -- especially the children.
The Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary defines narcolepsy as "a chronic ailment consisting of recurrent attacks of drowsiness and sudden onset of sleep that are uncontrollable, irresistible and happen in unusual places and under unusual circumstances." Narcoleptic children are not children who need more sleep and they are not children who require more sleep. Narcoleptic children cannot control when and where they fall asleep and may do so at any time during the day or night. According to Dr. Stephen Sheldon, director of the sleep medicine center at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill., discovering that a child has narcolepsy can be quite difficult. "One of the reasons for misdiagnosed and undiagnosed children with narcolepsy is the lack of widespread knowledge that sleep related problems present with many symptoms often diagnosed as other things," says Sheldon. "We don't know how many children out there have it and are not either not being diagnosed or are being treated for something else and never have a proper diagnosis. We don't know what the true denominator is."
