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Home › Articles › Sleep Issues › Uncontrollable ZZZZZs

Uncontrollable ZZZZZs

Narcolepsy in Children

Part One

By Carma Haley

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

According to Sheldon, the first symptom -- excessive daytime sleepiness -- is the most significant of the four but should not be confused with a child who is need of sleep or who is sleep deprived. "Narcoleptic children tend not to have hypersomnia -- sleeping for long lengths of time," says Sheldon. "They just fall asleep uncontrollably. They don't know that they're sleepy yet they are very sleepy and sleep sneaks up on them at times when they don't expect that they would fall asleep -- like talking on the telephone; at the dinner table; during a conversation; at a party; whenever they sit still; driving in a car. They don't realize they are sleepy then all of the sudden they are asleep. This is referred to as 'excessive sleepiness during the day.'"

"My father was narcoleptic," says Kristina Powers, a mother of two from Petersburg, Va. "I would be talking to him and he would fall asleep -- out of no where. He would fall asleep when talking on the phone, when taking a shower -- any where at any time. He didn't drive because he never knew when it was going to happen."

Cataplexy is the second of the tetrad of symptoms. During normal sleep, the brain paralyzes the muscles of the body with the exception of the eyes and the diaphragm, resulting in a "floppy-rag-doll" like state, similar to when a father carries a young, sleeping child to bed. This cataplexy is a normal occurrence during sleep. However, for a narcoleptic child, this normal occurrence happens at abnormal times.

"In children with narcolepsy, the 'floppy-rag-doll' behavior can occur at any time during the day when they're awake -- not when they're sleeping," says Sheldon. "Narcoleptic children often exhibit symptoms of fainting. The problem is, nobody bothers to ask the child if they were awake after they fainted. If a child is experiencing cataplexy, they are aware of everything that is going on and will be able to offer details as to what was being said, who said it and what happened, but they can't move. This symptom is often precipitated by emotion. Laughter is probably the most common so if they laugh, they fall, become clumsy or weak or feel as if they have to sit down as a result of their muscles being paralyzed."


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