Male Speaker: 36 years old -- is a member of a ladies professional Golf Association and has been through 13 years. But concentration on here became more and more difficult then to Narcolepsy. Her condition where persons sleep and wake cycles are constantly interrupted.
Female Speaker: I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy in the height of my carrier. I was falling a sleep all the time and I go to doctors and try to figure out what was wrong with me and everybody kept saying that. I just let it crazy lifestyle.
Dr. Ridhard Bogan: In sleep it is controlled by an internal clock. The brain actually has a little pacemaker behind the eyes. We have neurotransmitters in that pacemaker that fire. It's almost like electrical circuit, that goes out relay stations and there is a relay stations have neurotransmitters where chemicals that relay the signal. And so the brain wakes up at a certain time that signal last for a certain number of hours. And than when it begins to wear off it shuts off another circuit and -- wake for us and for mode sleep.
Male speaker: Narcolepsy disrupts this function and excessive day time sleepiness is usually the first most obvious symptom. But there are other symptoms that can be disturbing and very frightening like cataplexies
Dr. Tood Swick: Cataplexy is the sudden lose of the muscle tone or the development of muscle weakness usually triggered by stronger emotional stimulus. More often then not been an emotional stimulus after happiness, joys, surprise. Sometimes it can be negative things like anger, fright. Loud noises but typically it's a good thing.
Female speaker: As I was playing a golf tournament in, whenever I'd hit a good shot I couldn't move afterwards and I would stand there and I was worried I was going to fall to the ground. And I was very worried because I thought there was we know a life threatening condition I wasn't sure what was wrong with me.
Male Speaker: While many Narcoleptics have Cataplexy not all of them do. Some have another symptom called Automatic behavior.
Dr. Ridhard Bogan: I call it living in the twilight zone if you going to stay up all night and try to function in the next day then your are tried and you are sleeping and sometimes that have automatic active, they may do something in non exactly remember that they did that even drive.
Female Speaker: I've walked into the men's - one time and when the guy said you are not supposed to be in here - so why not - in the men's room. Oh I was a sleep I had no idea what I was doing, so those where the thing that I used to do all the time.
Dr. Michael Thorpy: There are treatments available they can make living with Narcolepsy easier. The medications that we have tend to improve the limpness and stop the episodes of emotion - muscle weakness. The one side of the improve alertness tend to stimulate the - in the brain that were on the important with the keeping also awake. So that not actually correcting loses of the chemical by just adding arable remain or awake.
Male Speaker: Thanks to a combination of therapies. We call now has a Narcolepsy under control.
Female speaker: I'm now following a sleep when I drive I'm not following a sleep on the golf course ever never do that any more, I've learnt how to pay attention to my body and learned what keeps me more awake.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services