english: sleep disturbances in neurologic disorders Please also note our topic psychologically caused sleep disturbances
Definition
The sleep disorder is divided into three areas:
- Sleep disorders of falling asleep and staying asleep
- Disorders of the sleep-wake rhythm
- Increased inclination to sleep
Sleep disorder without organic or psychiatric cause is defined as primary sleep disorder. In contrast, sleep disorders with a demonstrable organic or psychiatric cause are called secondary sleep disorders. Neurological sleep disorders are primarily caused by a neurological disorder such as : Nevertheless, there are only a few neurological diseases that are directly defined by the sleep disorder or whose immediate consequence is a sleep disorder.
- Morbus Parkinson
- Stroke
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Muscular diseases
- Brain tumor
- Coma
- Epilepsy
- Headache
- Chronic pain
Narcolepsy – Sleep addiction
Narcolepsy manifests itself in daytime sleepiness, sudden loss of muscle tone (cataplexy), sleep paralysis (sleep paralysis) and hallucinations that occur shortly before falling asleep (hypnagogic hallucinations). In about 50 percent, the cause of narcolepsy appears to be genetic. But narcolepsy also occurs in tumors, brain stem infarctions and brain stem/thalamus lesions.
The cause is generally assumed to be a disorder of the central nervous system, i.e. a disorder of those regions responsible for the sleep/wake rhythm. In about 40 percent of those affected, the disease does not occur in the form of a seizure, but rather there is reduced attention and memory gaps (amnesia) due to the enormous daytime tiredness. If narcolepsy occurs in attacks, it is characterized by sudden loss of muscle tone (cataplexy).
Emotional movements (e.g. laughing) can trigger such “cataplectic” attacks, in which the affected person can even fall to the ground in a flash under a severe manifestation of the narcolepsy-cataplexy syndrome. The patients are very restricted in their sleep period, i.e. especially at the beginning of the night they sleep very badly and suffer from hallucinations especially then. In the diagnosis of narcolepsy, electroencephalography is the method of choice among other important laboratory tests.
In addition to drug therapy to reduce the symptoms, e.g. L-dopa, antiepileptic drugs and imipramine or clomipramine to suppress cataplectic seizures, behavioral therapy measures are particularly effective (sleep hygiene, dealing with the disease). It is important that the social environment of the person affected receives information about the disease in order to prevent misunderstandings and, if necessary, provide assistance in the event of a narcoleptic attack. Narcoleptics should avoid alcohol and sedative (sedative) drugs and should not drive a car.
