Symptoms of Narcolepsy

Symptoms of narcolepsy usually start during the teen or young-adult years. Very few patients are younger than age 5 or older than age 50 when symptoms first occur. If you have narcolepsy, symptoms occur even if you have gotten an appropriate amount of sleep. Some people notice that their symptoms grow worse as they age. Some women notice improvement of their symptoms after menopause .

If you have narcolepsy, you may notice any or all of the following symptoms:

• Overwhelming daytime sleepiness
• Uncontrollable sleep attacks—These involuntary episodes tend to last between 3–30 minutes. They may occur periodically throughout every day, but may also be brought on by certain triggers, such as:
  • Warm environment
  • Heavy meals
  • Boring and/or sedentary occupations
• Cataplexy—A sudden and complete loss of muscle tone and strength. Cataplexy is often brought on by:
  • Intense emotion, such as anger or laughter
  • Stress
  • Being tickled
  • Orgasm
  • Eating a heavy meal
• Sleep paralysis—A complete or partial inability to move or speak just as sleep or a sleep attack is beginning or ending
• Hallucinations—Visual images that you see vividly, though they don’t really exist. They can be very disturbing. These hallucinations may occur as sleep begins or as it ends and you are waking.
• Memory problems
• Blurry vision
• Frequent nighttime waking

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Revision Information

• Reviewer: Rimas Lukas, MD; Michael Woods, MD
• Review Date: 09/2012
• Update Date: 00/91/2012