Narcolepsy | Riley at IU Health

Narcolepsy is a lifelong condition of excessive daytime sleepiness and compulsive urges to sleep. Many adults with narcolepsy recall the onset of their symptoms during childhood. A child with narcolepsy may suddenly fall asleep several times during the day or have excessive unrelenting sleepiness. Children with narcolepsy may be perceived as lazy, resulting in problems with their self-esteem.

Symptoms of narcolepsy include:

Sleepiness
Irritability
Depression
Poor concentration
Hallucinations just before or after sleep
Cataplexy (sudden loss of muscle control caused by emotions or actions such as pleasure, anger or laughter)

Narcolepsy can affect a child’s quality of life. It impairs or limits school performance, job choices and free-time activities. Children may also experience behavior and personality changes. Young children may show inattentiveness, emotional instability and hyperactive behavior. Narcolepsy can also affect activities of daily living such as driving or operating machinery and could impact career choices for your child.

Diagnosis of Narcolepsy

If your child shows symptoms of narcolepsy, a pediatric sleep medicine specialist will make a detailed evaluation using the following tools and tests:

Sleep evaluation questionnaire. This questionnaire will ask you to provide a detailed history of your family's and your child's sleep habits.
Sleep diary. You or your child will keep a daily log of sleep and wake times over a specified period of time.
Actigraphy. Your child may wear a wristband like device called an actigraph that makes 24/7 measurements of sleep and wake times over a period of one or three weeks.
Sleep study. To diagnose narcolepsy, your child may need to undergo an overnight sleep study followed by a multiple sleep latency test. In the multiple sleep latency test, your child takes four to five naps (one every two hours) on the day after the overnight sleep study. The sleep medicine specialist will then measure the average time for going to sleep during these naps.

Treatments

Although narcolepsy has no cure, its symptoms may be treated with:

Medicines. These may include stimulants to relieve daytime sleepiness. Medications to treat cataplexy symptoms (loss of muscle control) may also be required.
Scheduled naps. These may help reduce sleepiness at inappropriate times.
Sleep training. This may help establish or strengthen a regular sleep-wake cycle as well as behavioral adaptions to improve safety and quality of life.

Key Points to Remember

Narcolepsy is a lifelong condition with no cure.
A child with narcolepsy may suddenly fall asleep several times a day or have unrelenting sleepiness.
Symptoms may include irritability, hallucinations around sleep or wake up time and cataplexy (loss of muscle control).
Narcolepsy can affect a child’s quality of life, including grades and job choices.
Treatment includes medicines, scheduled naps and sleep training.

Support Services & Resources

Visit the trusted websites below to learn more about narcolepsy.

Riley at IU Health offers a broad range of supportive services to make life better for families who choose us for their children's care.

Learn More About Riley Support Services

Narcolepsy Network

Narcolepsy Network is a nonprofit organization with a mission to educate and inform the public about narcolepsy, provide support for patients and their families and increase public awareness of the condition. The organization's website includes frequently asked questions about narcolepsy, support groups and free educational materials.

Locations

In addition to our primary hospital location at the Academic Health Center in Indianapolis, IN, we have convenient locations to better serve our communities throughout the state.

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Departments Treating This Condition

Sleep Medicine