Symptoms of Narcolepsy involving the diagnosis and treatment of patientsIt is important to be able to stay awake. There are many tasks that will require a person to stay awake and alert. For example, a surgeon will need to stay focused so as not to harm the patient during surgery. Being awake while driving is essential if you do not want to risk injury or death. Some people may have trouble staying awake. A sleep disorder that affects sleep function and the ability to stay awake is called narcolepsy. People with this disorder may experience drowsiness which will result in sleeping during the day. This can last from a few seconds to a few minutes. Narcolepsy will affect a person's schedule, such as their school or work performance. Men and women all over the world can be affected by narcolepsy. Symptoms can appear in childhood or later over the years, between 10 and 25 years old. They can get worse in the early years and progress throughout life. The four main symptoms are excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hallucinations, and sleep paralysis. Excessive daytime sleepiness is the first symptom observed for narcolepsy; a person will fall asleep easily without getting weak. It can happen in relaxed situations and at the wrong time and place. Some examples would be people who fall asleep while watching TV, chatting, or attending a meeting. People may still experience excessive daytime sleepiness even after getting enough sleep. This can last from a few minutes to half an hour before waking up feeling great and continuing to sleep. “Patients may describe this symptom as feeling tired, tired, sleepy, sluggish, or lacking energy.” The symptom of cataplexy involves a mus...... middle of paper ...... multiple sleep latency test, or the MSLT. MSLT involves observing a person's habit of falling asleep and seeing if isolated elements of REM occur at unusual times during waking hours. It measures how long it takes for narcolepsy symptoms 7 for a person to fall asleep. A patient is told to take four to five naps, but each nap is two hours apart. Since sleep latency periods are typically twelve minutes or more, a sleep latency of eight minutes or less suggests excessive daytime sleepiness disorder. Heart rate and respiratory rate are measured by the MSLT. If a person goes through REM sleep at the beginning or after a few minutes of falling asleep for at least two of the required naps, it is considered a sign of narcolepsy..