Michael J. Thorpy, MD, ChB, Director of the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at the Montefiore Medical Center, discusses what physicians ought to know about narcolepsy that they typically do not.
Narcolepsy is a rare neurological disorder characterized by excessive sleepiness during the day, often with periods of brief involuntary sleep and/or cataplexy.
According to Dr. Thorpy, any physician faced with a patient complaining of extreme tiredness or fatigue during the day should at least consider narcolepsy as a possibility, even if this patient has other sleep disorders. As Dr. Thorpy explains, fatigue is often not taken seriously or is overlooked since it is a symptom of many common disorders. It is estimated that 50% of narcolepsy patients are undiagnosed and there is a long delay between onset of symptoms (which can be as early as 15 years of age) and diagnosis. Therefore, according to Dr. Thorpy, physicians have to improve their ability to detect narcolepsy in young adults especially.
To learn more about narcolepsy and other rare neurological conditions, go to checkrare.com/diseases/neurology
