Narcolepsy is one of the sleeping disorders which are not commonly present among the population. Narcolepsy includes episodes of hallucinations, sleep paralysis, total or partial loss of muscle control, excessive sleepiness and cataplexy. There is equal ratio of men and women who suffer from the sleeping disorder of narcolepsy and according to the research studies almost 1 in every 2000 people suffer from narcolepsy. The signs or symptoms of narcolepsy starts appearing from the childhood or adolescence, but the actual treatment begin only after a proper diagnosis of the sleeping disorder. The people suffering the disorder of narcolepsy might also go through paralysis as they start falling asleep and experience day-dreaming or hallucinations. There is also a possibility of having vivid nightmares and disruption of nighttime sleep, which ultimately affects the quality of life of a person.
The most common symptom of narcolepsy disorder is that the people experience excessive sleepiness almost all the day and start falling asleep involuntarily during the day while performing the normal activities of their routine. In the patients with narcolepsy there is blurring of a normal boundary between wakening up and falling sleep and for this reason there is a possibility of sleeping while a person is awake. Moreover, when the narcolepsy relates to cataplexy or even arises due to cataplexy then there is sudden loss of muscle control and tone which might lead to weakness of arms, trunk or legs. Cataplexy is the condition in which there is paralysis of the muscles which usually occurs during the waking hours of the patient.