A lot of people will be familiar at least with the concept of Narcolepsy as it has frequently been used for comical effect in stories and films. The common image is that of an individual in mid-conversation who suddenly falls to the ground going from a state of alertness to a state of complete sleep. The person then wakes without realizing that she has been sleeping and continues on with their conversation.



Unsurprisingly, narcolepsy is not normally as it is shown in the movies. Although in some very rare cases of this sleep disorder people do suddenly fall asleep with no warning whatsoever, the majority of people with narcolepsy have problems with overwhelming sleepiness throughout the day and from time to time are forced to give in to the desire for a nap.

Like many other sleep disorders there are varying degrees of narcolepsy. Some people for example might simply have a problem with becoming very sleepy during the day while others might have a wide variety of issues all of which point to narcolepsy.

One example is sleeping while you are engaged in conversation or working and not even appearing to be asleep to others around you. While other people might think that your mind is elsewhere or you might start to believe that you have memory problems because you do not remember things people tell you, the fact is that you are really sleeping during your interactions. You just do not appear to be sleeping because your eyes are open and the people around you cannot tell that you are sleeping.

Other characteristics of some rarer forms of narcolepsy include hallucinations and paralysis. Experiencing hallucinations on waking could be a sign of narcolepsy but it is not an absolute indicator although people with severe narcolepsy might well experience scary and dramatic hallucinations because of this quite rare sleep disorder. Sleep paralysis is in fact quite common and our bodies are to all intent and purpose 'paralyzed' during sleep so that we are unable to act out all the actions in our dreams. But for an individual with narcolepsy the paralysis goes beyond the usual sleep paralysis and a narcoleptic person might be totally paralyzed on waking but be aware of the situation and understandably petrified.

There is medication that is designed to help people who have varying degrees of narcolepsy and medication can frequently be quite effective in helping people to keep awake during the day and then to get a full night of sleep.

A few people find a problem with medication because the stimulant effect which is designed to keep them awake during the day also makes them feel jittery or nervous. It is a trade-off for some narcoleptics who must either continue to have erratic sleep or solve their sleeping difficulties and put up with the side-effects of the medication.

Some narcoleptics do not have a choice however because for them the desire to sleep during the day is so strong that they wind up falling asleep while driving a car or at other obviously dangerous times. For these luckily rare instances medication is quite literally a life-saver.