A Surprising Reason You or
Your Kids May Be Tired all the Time
Article by Dr. Raj Dasgupta
Your Heart Health
(BPT) - Do you struggle to stay awake during the day? Is your child falling asleep in school? Does your teenager seem to be napping more than normal? If so, it may be due to excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). EDS means that you get overcome by an irresistible need to sleep during the day, and you can feel tired all the time. It's the essential symptom of narcolepsy, and EDS is usually the first symptom that people notice.
Narcolepsy is not as uncommon as you might think. About 1 in 2,000 people in the U.S. is estimated to have narcolepsy. Often thought of as an adult sleep disorder, symptoms of narcolepsy most commonly start in childhood or adolescence. In fact, more than 50 percent of people with narcolepsy say their symptoms started before they turned 18. Misdiagnosis is common, and it can take as long as 10 or more years to get an accurate diagnosis after the onset of symptoms.
According to Dr. Raj Dasgupta, pulmonary and sleep specialist at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, "Delays in diagnosis can impact the lives of children and adults alike. That's why it's so important to be aware of the symptoms of narcolepsy and how they can look and feel differently in adults and children."
There are five major symptoms of narcolepsy. You don't need to have them all to have narcolepsy.
1. Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is an irresistible need to sleep during the day. EDS has been described by some as feeling fatigued or irritable, having difficulty concentrating, or having poor memory or mood changes. In children, EDS may appear as hyperactivity, problems paying attention, variable emotions, aggression or behavioral changes, which can lead to a mis-