Breakthroughs Today

A recent study pointed to a vitamin as a factor that may result to or contribute to the appearance of narcolepsy. A RESEARCH report published last year, uncovered a drop of vitamin D level in patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy (NC). Bertrand Carlander and six colleagues from the National Reference Network for Narcolepsy (NRNN) noted that vitamin D level in the blood of patients with NC only have 59.45 nanomole per liter (nm/L) compared to healthy people who register 74.73 nmol/L. NRNN is a reference desk for narcolepsy of the Hopital Gui-de-Chauliac Department of Neurology in Montepellier, France. Vitamin D has been known for its role in... [ READ MORE ]  This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 18 January 2012.

Funny stories surround narcolepsy, both from those who watch narcoleptics fell into dreamland in the snap of a finger, and from the narcoleptics themselves if they happen to have a sense of humor themselves. “PATCH, have you heard of narcolepsy?”  "Would you take care of this one for me, please?"  Narcolepsy is a long-running sleep disorder resulting from problems in human nerves. It is technically called "Dyssomnia."  Narcoleptics have excessive urge to sleep when they should not sleep, such as while at work or at school. Imagine what chaos will result when a teacher in kindergarten slept standing before her pupils.  That would be less noisy with college students who, having noticed their professor in his “turn-off” mode, would simply sneak out of the classroom with as much silence as possible.  Indeed the pull toward slumber is very strong among narcoleptics. While most people take 90 minutes to get into rapid eye movement (REM) when asl