From when symptoms first appear, it can take up to 10 years for a person living with narcolepsy to receive an official diagnosis. Prior to diagnosis, individuals may consult many specialists and narcolepsy can be missed or misdiagnosed. It is not uncommon for narcolepsy to be confused with other sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, chronic insomnia, and neurological disorders such as epilepsy.
However, if you suspect that you or a loved one may have narcolepsy, it is important to visit your doctor to discuss the symptoms you or your loved one is experiencing.
The doctor will likely ask for a detailed sleep history and may request that you fill out the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) is a tool that can be used to assess your degree of daytime sleepiness. If your doctor suspects narcolepsy, they will likely recommend two common sleep studies: the Polysomnogram (PSG), which is an overnight stay in a sleep laboratory, followed the next day by the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT).
