Diagnosing Narcolepsy
You experience excessive daytime sleepiness that seriously
disrupts your personal or professional life? You suddenly collapse
or have your neck muscles too weak to hold up your head when you
laugh or are angry or amused?
You suspect you might suffer from narcolepsy?
You should then consult your doctor.
• After an initial diagnosis based on your history of daytime sleep
episodes and cataplexy attacks, he will probably refer you to a
sleep specialist for additional tests and evaluation. To facilitate
the discussion with your doctor, the European Diagnostic Screener
was recently developed by four experts in sleep disorders. Its
purpose is be used as a starting point to help you and your
physician recognize the signs/symptoms of a sleep condition
(narcolepsy but also hypersomnia, sleep apnea, etc.).
• Another well-known and self-administered questionnaire is the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. It rates the severity of excessive daytime sleepiness. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale makes up the first part of the above mentioned European Diagnostic Screener.
• To validate his diagnosis, your doctor or the sleep specialist to
whom you will be referred will ask you to have a series of tests.
These tests may require staying overnight at a sleep
center.
• A polysomnogram continuously records brain waves as well as nerve and muscle activity during nighttime sleep. This test is also helpful in detecting other sleep disorders that cause daytime sleepiness
• In the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), the time taken to reach each phase of sleep is noted while the person being tested is given a chance to sleep every 2 hours during normal wake times. The purpose of this test is to determine how soon REM (rapid eye movement) sleep begins
• A maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT) is a polysomnographic test given during the daytime and is used to determine a person’s ability to stay awake while resting in a nonstimulating environment.
