< b>EDS (excessive daytime sleepiness): A neurological disorder marked by
a sudden recurrent uncontrollable compulsion to sleep. Also known as narcolepsy.
It is often associated with cataplexy (a sudden loss of muscle tone and paralysis
of voluntary muscles associated with a strong emotion), sleep paralysis (immobility
of the body that occurs in the transition from sleep to wakefulness), what are called
hypnagogic hallucinations (pre-sleep dreams) and automatic behaviors (such as doing
something "automatically" and not remembering afterwards how one did it).
125,000 Americans are estimated to have narcolepsy. It strikes males and females
and all races. Symptoms most commonly appear in a person's teens and early twenties.
The disease can vary in severity. Some persons with it have mild sleepiness or rare
cataplexy (less than one episode per week). Other persons may have moderate sleepiness
or infrequent cataplexy (less than one episode a day). Still other persons with
narcolepsy may experience severe sleepiness or have severe cataplexy (with one or
more episodes of cataplexy per day).
The cause(s) of narcolepsy are unknown. It is not a fatal disorder in itself
but it can lead to fatalities. For example, a narcoleptic may fall asleep while
driving.
Narcolepsy is usually treated with a medication to improve alertness and an anti-depressant
that helps control cataplexy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1998
approved Provigil (modafinil), a non-amphetamine drug for treating the excessive
sleepiness of narcolepsy.
Other names for narcolepsy include hypnolepsy, sleeping disease, paroxysmal sleep,
and Gelineau syndrome.
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