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Narcolepsy and alopecia areata
So far, it's been quite a journey. It started out when my daughter developed GERD in the 4th Grade, then she developed AA in the 6th, now she has Narcolepsy in the 9th and not just the narcolepsy but the catalepsy along with it. If she even feels high anxiety during a test or with a teacher, she's out for around 20 mins. and there is nothing anybody can do to wake her up. The doctor misdiagnosed the sleeping disorder suggesting that my daughter was depressed because of her AA. Well she wasn't depressed, she was fine with it. It bothers her, but it doesn't bother enough to prevent her from going out with friends or have a relationship, she's at once both introverted, introspective and outgoing, but she doesn't have chronic depression.
According to Lloyd King, Jr, MD paper I can't access, but someone told me about,both AA and Narcolepsy (also an autoimmune disease) can occur in the same person. (Vanderbilt University Dermatology in Archives of Dermatology (Arch Derm)2010(June), 146(6):677-9.)
Has this happened to anybody else, the general fatigue and tiredness thorough out the day with sudden urge to sleep at a moments notice, the Excessive daytime sleepiness. What do you do to cope? to help yourself through the day? what strategies do you use to work around this sleeping disorder?
According to Lloyd King, Jr, MD paper I can't access, but someone told me about,both AA and Narcolepsy (also an autoimmune disease) can occur in the same person. (Vanderbilt University Dermatology in Archives of Dermatology (Arch Derm)2010(June), 146(6):677-9.)
Has this happened to anybody else, the general fatigue and tiredness thorough out the day with sudden urge to sleep at a moments notice, the Excessive daytime sleepiness. What do you do to cope? to help yourself through the day? what strategies do you use to work around this sleeping disorder?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by cathy clark on
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I would certainly want to also rule out Mono or Epstein Barr Virus-I developed AU after having a prolonged and unusual bout of Epstein Barr that lasted over 2 and a half years, and certainly some doctors did not want to believe that "was possible " except that the university clinic I had been going to had done the blood tests so there was the proof (that it wasn't all in my head)
So I can certainly say that I have never ever got past the part of having some days when I am so tired and can easily fall asleep, even though I went on to a normal life, had a family and career etc. I realize that the pattern you are talking about is much more sudden onset-I would at least wait until I could find my bed-but still I would want to rule that out.
I have not had another person hwo had the onset of AU with this illness, and no specialst I have been to can say that they have any case info or stats, but....
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I'll bring up Mono and Epstein Barr Virus with my daughter's doctor. She had, what I call an episode at school the other day, her friends and the school nurse sort of freaked out because they couldn't not get her to respond. When she has a sleep attack it only last between 10-25 mins, a cataplexy state, then she's already to go. She was having an episode every time she had some anxiety about a teacher or test, and so it didn't happen to often, but in the last couple of days she had several a day.
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Autoimmune diseases tend to cluster. I did not know that narcolepsy was autoimmune. My daughter's au developed after mono.
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Narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease at the moment. From what I understand, the hypothalamus produces the hypocretin protein and the hypocretin protein is involved with the sleep cycle. The immune system kills the cells that produce the hypocretin protein for whatever reason. We did believe our daughter was depressed about her AA at first, sleeping in more, taking frequent naps, but looking back, we may have missed her narcolepsy in the 8th grade.
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