Observations placeholder
Vaccines narcolepsy and hallucinations
Identifier
006404
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2012 Apr;12(2):175-81. doi: 10.1007/s11910-011-0246-3. Narcolepsy in the pediatric population. Viorritto EN, Kureshi SA, Owens JA. Department of Neurology, Children's National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20010, USA. eviorrit@childrensnational.org
Narcolepsy is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, with or without cataplexy. Associated features include sleep paralysis, hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations, and disturbed nocturnal sleep.
Narcolepsy is strongly associated with the HLA DQB1*0602 allele, and its symptoms stem from destruction of hypocretin-secreting neurons in the hypothalamus.
Recently identified autoantibodies to Tribbles homologue 2 in some patients, as well as cases associated with H1N1 vaccination, support an autoimmune mechanism.
There are many challenges in diagnosing and treating pediatric narcolepsy. Caution must also be used in interpreting polysomnography and multiple sleep latency test results in children. HLA testing is nonspecific, and no commercial test exists to measure cerebrospinal fluid hypocretin levels. Neuroimaging has not yet proven useful in primary narcolepsy.
Treatment of sleepiness and cataplexy in children requires extrapolating from adult studies. Hopefully, further insights into the pathophysiology of narcolepsy will allow for new therapeutics to manage the symptoms and modify the course of the disease.
PMID: 22213222