What are the symptoms of sleeping sickness

Sleeping sickness is a common disease in daily life, also known as sleeping sickness. If it is not treated in time after the onset of the disease, it will be very harmful to the growth of the human body. Therefore, understanding the symptoms of sleeping sickness is very helpful for timely detection and treatment. So what are the symptoms of sleeping sickness? In fact, it has four symptoms, the first symptom is paroxysmal narcolepsy.

1. Narcolepsy

When patients are awake, they are generally in a state of frequent and fluctuating low alertness, which is more obvious in the afternoon. As sleepiness increases, short sleep occurs.

Most patients feel increased sleepiness before an attack, but only a few patients suddenly fall asleep from a relatively awake state.

A monotonous environment, such as reading and listening to lectures, can easily induce it. Typical cases can occur in various activities, such as eating, speaking, operating machines, driving vehicles, etc.

Each attack lasts from a few seconds to a few hours, and most last for tens of minutes. The sleep level is usually not deep and is easy to wake up. After waking up, you generally feel temporarily clear-headed. It may occur several times a day.

2. Cataplexy

Cataplexy is a brief, fully reversible episode of motor inhibition characterized by a sudden loss or decrease in voluntary muscle strength. It may occur in 50% to 70% of patients. It is often triggered by laughter, anger, excitement, tension, fatigue or fullness.

The typical attack is a slack jaw, head dropped forward, arms dropped to the side, and knees spread apart. Complete loss of muscle strength can lead to trauma or even fractures. However, the severity of the attacks is not always so severe. It may also simply manifest as a short-term, local or systemic feeling of weakness.

The patient may experience blurred vision, interrupted speech, irregular breathing, slight bending of the knees, or sudden dropping of objects. It may be accompanied by involuntary movements, such as tremors of the head and eyelids, facial spasms, and may also be accompanied by autonomic nervous system symptoms such as palpitations and pallor. These atypical attacks are often overlooked by doctors and should be given special attention.

Symptoms often disappear once the emotions return to normal or the body is touched. Cataplexy is accompanied by inhibition of tendon reflexes, but the patient remains conscious throughout. The frequency of attacks can be as soon as every few days or months, and some may have 4 to 5 attacks a day. An attack can last from a few seconds to 30 minutes.

The relationship between cataplexy and other symptoms is that 50% occur at the same time, 25% occur 1 to 5 years after the onset of narcolepsy, and 15% occur 10 years after the onset of narcolepsy. It is extremely rare for cataplexy to occur before narcolepsy.

3. Sleep paralysis

Sleep paralysis occurs in approximately 20% to 30% of patients with sleeping sickness, and may also occur alone. Flaccid quadriplegia occurs occasionally after waking up or while falling asleep (either during a nap or during nighttime sleep).

The patient is conscious but unable to make any sound or move, and is often accompanied by anxiety and hallucinations. The symptoms usually resolve within seconds to minutes, but occasionally last for hours. An attack can often be stopped by someone touching the patient or talking to him or her, but it may recur if no action is taken.

4. Hallucinations during sleep

Hallucinations during sleep onset may occur in about 30% of patients. It often occurs together with sleep paralysis. Hallucinations mainly occur during the sleep phase, and are mainly visual and auditory hallucinations, but may also be somatosensory hallucinations such as touch and pain. The content is mostly vivid and mostly reflects the daily experiences of patients.