The role of the school nurse

School nurses are pivotal to a successful school program designed to identify students with uncontrollable sleepiness and ensure they are properly evaluated. School nurses are needed to educate teachers, psychologists, special education personnel and other school administrators about narcolepsy and its effect on a student’s ability to learn. Individualized accommodations can be made. School nurses…

Tips for Teens with Narcolepsy: Improving Alertness

The sleepiness brought on by narcolepsy can be debilitating and overwhelming. However, many teens have learned to work with their narcolepsy and found simple things they can do to improve alertness. SOME STRATEGIES  Work with a doctor to optimize the timing and doses of medications. This can help improve alertness across the school day and while studying later. Talk with…

Courtesy of Citizen TV: Dealing With Sleeping Disorder, Narcolepsy

Have you ever heard of narcolepsy? Well, that condition has become part and parcel of the life of one Edward Karungu. The life of the form four student at Kirimara High School in Karatina continues to be characterized by a permanent and overwhelming feeling of sleepiness and fatigue, two years on. Edward was diagnosed with narcolepsy … a chronic disorder of the central nervous system, characterized by the brain’s inability to control the sleep – wake cycle. It is a cycle that our reporter Sally Mbilu reports on after spending a day with Edward, a teenager who in his own words says “great men are known in times of crisis”

Anne Nduati – The startup story of a Kenyan social entrepreneur looking to raise greater awareness of the sleep disorder Narcolepsy

Anne Nduati

Anne Nduati is a woman on a mission, working to make more people in her country, Kenya, and indeed across the African continent, aware of the sleep disorder Narcolepsy, a condition that her daughter was diagnosed with when young. The organisation she founded, Narcolepsy Awareness Kenya, aims to empower those who suffer from the condition…

Hallucinations

Some individuals with narcolepsy may experience hallucinations that may occur at the beginning or at the end of a sleep period. These are often vivid and frightening. Examples of hallucinations may include hearing a phone ring or a person walking nearby, seeing people or animals that aren’t there, or having an out of body experience….

Disrupted Nighttime Sleep (DNS)

Narcolepsy can also disrupt nighttime sleeping patterns. Affected individuals may frequently awaken during the night and may be wide awake for significant periods during the night. Despite disrupted sleep patterns, the total sleep time for people with narcolepsy in every 24 hour period is generally normal because they sleep repeatedly for short periods during the…

Cataplexy

Many individuals with narcolepsy experience weakness and the sudden loss of voluntary muscle tone (cataplexy). This often occurs during times of intense emotions such as laughter, anger, elation, and/or surprise. Episodes of cataplexy may occur as short periods of partial muscle weakness and can vary in duration and severity. In some cases, a cataplectic attack…