If you take medicines for other health problems, ask your health care provider how they may interact with narcolepsy medicines.Ĭertain medicines that you can buy without a prescription can cause drowsiness. Taking them together with other sleeping tablets, narcotic pain relievers or alcohol can lead to trouble breathing, coma and death.

These medicines can have side effects, such as nausea, bed-wetting and sleepwalking. Xywav is a newer formulation with less sodium. It's taken in two doses, one at bedtime and one up to four hours later. They also may help control daytime sleepiness. They help improve nighttime sleep, which is often poor in narcolepsy. These medicines work well at relieving cataplexy. Sodium oxybate (Xyrem) and oxybate salts (Xywav). These medicines include protriptyline, imipramine (Tofranil) and clomipramine (Anafranil). But they can cause side effects such as dry mouth and lightheadedness. These older antidepressants can treat cataplexy. Side effects can include weight gain, insomnia and digestive problems. They include venlafaxine (Effexor XR), fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft). Health care providers prescribe these medicines to help ease the symptoms of cataplexy, hallucinations and sleep paralysis. Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). They may cause side effects such as nervousness and a fast heartbeat. These medicines are effective but can be habit-forming. Some people need treatment with methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta, others) or amphetamines (Adderall XR 10, Dexedrine, others). Pitolisant also may be helpful for cataplexy. Solriamfetol (Sunosi) and pitolisant (Wakix) are newer stimulants used for narcolepsy. Side effects are uncommon but may include headache, nausea or anxiety. They also don't produce the highs and lows associated with older stimulants. These medicines aren't as habit-forming as older stimulants. Your health care provider may recommend modafinil (Provigil) or armodafinil (Nuvigil). Drugs that stimulate the central nervous system are the primary treatment to help people with narcolepsy stay awake during the day. There is no cure for narcolepsy, but medicines and lifestyle changes can help you manage the symptoms. Excessive daytime sleepiness could also be caused by sleep deprivation, the use of sedating medicines and sleep apnea. These tests also can help rule out other possible causes of your symptoms. This test is only done in specialized centers. If so, your sleep specialist may recommend a lumbar puncture to check the level of hypocretin in your spinal fluid. Occasionally, a genetic test may be performed to see if you're at risk of type 1 narcolepsy.

Genetic tests and a lumbar puncture, known as a spinal tap.

People who have narcolepsy fall asleep easily and enter into rapid eye movement (REM) sleep quickly. Specialists will observe your sleep patterns. You'll be asked to take four or five naps at a sleep center.

This test measures how long it takes you to fall asleep during the day. It also records your leg and eye movements. The test measures your brain waves, heart rate and breathing. For this test, you must spend a night at a medical facility.

This test measures signals during sleep using flat metal discs called electrodes placed on your scalp. A sleep study, known as polysomnography.It provides an indirect measure of how and when you sleep. It measures periods of activity and rest. Your health care provider also may ask you to wear an actigraph. This allows your provider to compare how your sleep pattern may relate to how alert you feel. You may be asked to write down your sleep pattern for a week or two. You'll answer how likely it is that you would fall asleep in certain times, such as sitting down after lunch. The scale uses short questions to measure your degree of sleepiness. You'll likely fill out the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. A detailed sleep history can help with a diagnosis. A sleep specialist will likely diagnose narcolepsy and determine how severe it is based on:

Narcolepsy with cataplexy type 1