1. Excessive Daytime Sleepiness
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) is the chief identifiable symptom of narcolepsy, and typically the first to manifest. Almost 90 percent of all narcoleptics suffer from EDS. EDS can strike even if a person with narcolepsy got plenty of sleep the night before. With EDS comes clouded judgment, lethargy, lapses in memory, general confusion, depression and fits of tremendous exhaustion. The exhaustion aspect of EDS is perhaps the most striking, as it creates a feeling within the narcoleptic that he is simply going to fall asleep on a moment's notice. In some cases narcoleptics will, and it doesn't matter where they are or what time of day it is.
2. Cataplexy
Cataplexy is a loss of voluntary muscle control. People who are diagnosed with cataplexy will find their muscles falling limp, most often while they are in highly emotional states. Even a strong fit of laughter can bring about cataplexy. Cataplexy is often most easily diagnosed when the muscles of the face are affected, as slurred speech, slack jaw, sagging eyelids or any other tick that contributes to the distorting of facial expression. The cataplexy disorder affects roughly three in four people who have been diagnosed with narcolepsy.
3. Hallucinations
Anyone who has gone for too long without sleep knows that hallucinations are sometimes a result. For about one-third of all narcoleptics, hallucinations are a common occurrence. Visual hallucinations are the most common, although hallucinations involving the other senses are not uncommon. There are two dominant types of hallucinations: hypnagogic and hypnopompic. Hypnagogic hallucinations are those that occur when people are beginning to fall asleep, while hynopompic are hallucinations that occur as someone is rising from slumber.
4. Sleep Paralysis
Sleep paralysis is an accompanying disorder that causes a temporary inability to articulate the body. Involuntary movement like breathing is unaffected, so there is no danger of suffocation, but nearly all other movement, including speech, is affected. Episodes of sleep paralysis do not typically last long. The longest reported episodes of sleep paralysis last for only a few minutes. Once sleep paralysis wears off, full motion is restored to the body.
