The symptoms and the severity of narcolepsy differ among individuals. Excessive daytime sleepiness is experienced by all patients. Narcolepsy symptoms include:
Sudden uncontrollable urge to sleep, multiple times a day.
Brief, sudden loss of muscle tone (with retained awareness), most often caused by strong emotion (laughter, excitement, joy, surprise, anger, etc.).
Often frightening, when falling asleep or waking up.
Feeling unable to move or speak when falling asleep or waking up.
Poor quality sleep at night. Sleep disruption due to frequently waking up, resulting in poor quality sleep.
There are resources available in Canada to help you and your loved ones living with narcolepsy.
Uncovering Narcolepsy aims to share information about narcolepsy and resources available to Canadians living with this disorder. The content on this site is meant to raise awareness about narcolepsy. A sleep specialist can assess your symptoms and make a diagnosis.
