NARCOLEPSY - things you need to know and help your child who is suffering from it.
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I can across this topic and i feel incline to write about. Narcolepsy is a sleeping disorder. For some of those people affected by it can sleep at any point in time in a day. Ranging from few seconds to a minutes.
Narcolepsy is a disorder, characterised by sudden and uncontrollable acttacks of deep sleep, often brief, sometimes accompained by paralysis and hallucination _ dictionary definition
The causal agent of this narcolepsy is not yet fully known. It is not something a child is born with but it due surface before the child early adulthood. It maybe diagnosed to a child even as young as three years old.
The concentration of orexin-A neuropeptides in the cerebrospinal fluid of narcoleptic individuals is usually very low
about 70% of those affected experiences episodes of sudden loss of muscle strength known as cataplexy
warning signs of Narcolepsy
According to the division of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School it includes the following
- Cataplexy : This is an abrupt loss of muscle tone and nearly half of peple affected with Narcolopsy experiences it. Cataplexy occurance varies from individual. To some, it happens many tima a day while other, few timea per year. It may also trigger by intense emotion like excitement, laughter,fear etc.
- Hallucinations : This may be termed "the wandering of the mind". It is alao a sensory perceptions of something that is not into existance. Dreaming being part of the Rem Sleep, it is lufelike that it wull be difficult to tell them in real life.
- Sleep Paralysis : This is a sign that occurs when the pwrson feels inadequate to move or speak in the process of sleeping (i.e. falling asleep, sleeping or waking). This may at timea looks frightening because the person will seems not to breath well.
How to help your Child with Narcolepsy
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According to the children's hospital of Philadelphia it includes
- When your child engages in any activities like Swimming, riding a bike that may indanger them, keep a watchful eyes over him/her
- Do not allow your child to engage in any activity when he/she is tired.
- Any activities that make keep the child in the state of boredom, should discontinue and not be repeated.
- With the help of your Pediatrician, schedule short nap for your child. It will be of immense help etc.
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