Two Cases of Narcoleptic Patients with Sleep Paralysis as a Chief Complaint
Yong Won Choi, Ji Hyun Song, Tae Won Kim, Sung Min Kim, In Hee Cho, Seung Chul Hong
Sleep Medicine Research January 11, 2019 DOI: 10.17241/smr.2018.00311 (opens in new tab) via DOAJ
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractSleep paralysis is a dissociated state where REM-sleep muscle atonia occurs while awake. Two men aged 22 and 19 diagnosed with narcolepsy presented with sleep paralysis. Clinicians should consider stress, trauma, hereditary factors, physical health, sleep disorders, and psychiatric conditions. Prevalence of sleep paralysis in narcolepsy patients is 20–50%. When patients present with sleep paralysis, clinicians should examine for narcoleptic symptoms and, if needed, conduct multiple sleep latency tests to confirm narcolepsy.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 2 |
| Population | Men diagnosed with narcolepsy presenting with sleep paralysis |
| Keywords | Narcolepsy Sleep paralysis Polysomnography |
| Key finding | Sleep paralysis in narcolepsy patients has a prevalence of 20–50%, and clinicians should evaluate for narcolepsy using multiple sleep latency tests when patients present with sleep paralysis. |
Abstract
Sleep paralysis is considered as a dissociated state during which rapid eye movement sleep related muscle atonia appears while a subject is fully awake. We present a 22-year-old man and a 19-year-old man diagnosed with narcolepsy who previously visited our clinic with phenomenon of sleep paralysis. When a patient is brought to the clinic with sleep paralysis, various physiologic and medical conditions such as stress, trauma, hereditary factors, physical health, sleep disorders and other psychiatric disorders are taken into consideration. Prevalence of sleep paralysis in narcolepsy patients is known to be 20–50%. Therefore, it is necessary that clinicians should carefully examine the presence or absence of narcoleptic symptoms when dealing with patients with sleep paralysis and should conduct the multiple sleep latency tests confirm the diagnosis of narcolepsy if necessary.