First-line options include Modafinil/Armodafinil (for excessive daytime sleepiness, EDS), Sodium Oxybate (for EDS and/with cataplexy. In about 10 percent of cases, narcolepsy runs in families. Expert opinion: Concise evaluation of symptoms and type of narcolepsy, coexisting co-morbidities and patients´ distinct needs is mandatory in order to identify a suitable, individual pharmacological treatment. Narcolepsy is rare, and Wakix was designated an orphan medicine (a medicine used in rare diseases) on. Less often, the cause of narcolepsy is an injury that damages the brain. Wakix is used in patients with or without cataplexy. Their immune system mistakenly turns against their body and attacks the brain cells that produce hypocretin. Some people experience hallucinations and sleep paralysis when they’re falling asleep or waking up.Ĭertain people with autoimmune disorders are more likely to get narcolepsy with cataplexy. The lack of hypocretin makes it hard for someone to stay awake during the day, blurring the line between wakefulness and sleep. A person receives a diagnosis of type 1 narcolepsy if they have cataplexy episodes or. Although it has not been approved by the. The former type is where cataplexy comes into play. Sodium oxybate has also been identified as the best available medication for improving quality of nighttime sleep18. However, only sodium oxybate have been proven effective in pediatric patients through randomized placebo-controlled studies. There are two primary forms of narcolepsy, types 1 and 2.

That loss of muscle tone causes you to lose control over your body when you’re awake. Medications approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for pediatric narcolepsy including methylphenidate and amphetamine for EDS and sodium oxybate for EDS and cataplexy. Narcolepsy is a chronic neurologic disorder that affects the stability of sleep and wakefulness.1 All individuals with narcolepsy have excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), and most experience sleep paralysis, hypnogogic and/or hypnopompic hallucinations, and/or disrupted sleep at night.

It’s the same loss of muscle tone that naturally happens during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The loss of muscle tone, cataplexy, happens because sleep and wakefulness overlap in narcolepsy. When it’s in short supply, your brain has trouble regulating your sleep-wake cycles. This chemical, which is produced in a brain region called the hypothalamus, controls sleep and wakefulness. Low levels of the chemical hypocretin cause narcolepsy with cataplexy.

Failure of complete symptom resolution several weeks after medication cessation and the requirement of a mood stabilizer strongly suggest underlying bipolar 1 disorder. Narcolepsy affects signals in your brain that are supposed to keep you awake. In summary, we report the case of a patient who developed severe mania after taking medications commonly prescribed for treatment of narcolepsy with cataplexy.

Narcolepsy with cataplexy medications