What is Narcolepsy?

• It affects about one person in 2000. Both men and women get narcolepsy. It can occur at any age but is usually first noted between the ages of 10 and 30.  
• Experts have also begun to recognise that narcolepsy sometimes contributes to certain childhood behavioral problems, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and must be addressed before the behavioral problem can be resolved.  
• If narcolepsy is left undiagnosed and untreated, it can pose problems for children and adolescents, interfering with their psychological, social, and cognitive development and undermining their ability to succeed at school.

In addition to daytime drowsiness, three other major symptoms frequently characterize narcolepsy: 

• brief episodes of total paralysis at the beginning or end of sleep 
• cataplexy, or the sudden loss of voluntary muscle tone 
• vivid hallucinations during sleep onset or upon awakening 

References:

Understanding Narcolepsy
Sleep Foundation