WEBVTT - Selects: How Narcolepsy Works 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:03.560 Hey, guys, it's me Josh, and for this week's select, 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:08.000 I'm going with our May twenty episode on narcolepsy. It's 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:13.119 one of those sysk esque episodes that covers something we've 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.800 all heard of but really know nothing about. And it's 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:20.080 deeply satisfying because it all makes sense and it fits 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.720 together once you understand it. Good stuff. I hope you 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:24.240 enjoy it. 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:37.560 Welcome to Stuff you should know a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.559 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:47.320 there's Charles w Chuck Bryan over there and still have 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:52.680 Jerry Chuck wake up huh and we're going to get 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:53.400 some mail for that. 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.280 Right off of the bath, I feel quite refreshed. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.560 So, Chuck, you might have narcolepsy? Then if you just 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.440 fell asleep, were you able to resist that urge to 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:04.280 sleep just now? 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:04.959 No. 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.640 As soon as I heard Hey, welcome to the podcast, 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:08.720 I went lights out. 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:11.720 I think that happens to a lot of people. 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:15.040 Have you ever known anyone with narcolepsy? 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:18.880 I haven't. The closest I've I've come to that is 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:20.800 watching my own private Idaho. 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:26.480 Do you find that sleep inducing? 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.920 No? No, there's a I think Oh, it's River Phoenix 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:32.039 or Keanu Reeves has. 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.039 No, that's right, I forgot about that. I thought you 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:35.680 were saying it's so boring you can't stay awake. 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.120 No, no, No, that's Cats. 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:41.200 Did you see that? 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:44.600 No, don't you remember that? I tried to make myself 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:46.080 go to sleep in Cats in the Middle. 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:46.640 Oh that's right. 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:48.400 No, I've not seen the movie. 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:50.400 Now, yeah, that's what I was wondering about. 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.920 After having been on movie crush. Now I can't tell 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:57.040 what's what anymore? What I said where? Uh? 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:02.920 So my great aunt Laura had narcolepsy, which is my 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.680 paternal grandmother's sister, and I only met her a few times. 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:10.680 This is from my dad's side of the like the 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.600 Mississippi clan. So I think I only I only remember 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:16.440 going to Mississippi like once when I was a kid 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.240 and visiting her, and I just remember my brother and I. 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:21.959 This is my only memory of the visit is Scott 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.040 and I sitting in a room talking with her and 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.639 her being in the middle of a sentence and then 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:31.480 her head falling down and then ten seconds later she 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:33.840 would pick her head up and continue that sentence. 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.160 Wow, like like without missing a beat or was there 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.840 like a oh, you know, was she aware that she 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:41.480 had just fallen asleep and woken up? 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.440 In my memory from being like ten years old, she 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:47.920 didn't miss a beat and just finished her sentence like 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:50.480 right in the middle of a sentence and didn't mention it. 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:52.200 And my brother and I were just like, what is 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:52.960 going on here? 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:55.639 But your dad didn't prepare you for it. 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.760 I don't remember. I blocked out, you know, purposely blocked 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:01.400 out a lot of my childhood. 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.360 Right right, So I don't know, but that got pulled 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:05.200 it into the shuffle. 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.360 That's the only thing I remember. It may be a 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.799 child's memory that is a little trumped up, but that's 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:14.600 how I remember it. 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:18.640 Wow. Man, Well, yeah, I've never known anybody with narcolepsy, 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:24.560 and based on that going into this whole episode, like 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:26.679 I was just basically going in like I'm sure most 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:28.480 of our listeners are where it's just like, yeah, just 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.120 somebody falls asleep in the middle of the day, they 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:32.960 can't help it, and then they wake back up and 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.680 who cares basically, you know. But the more that I've 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.760 researched this some more, I'm like, you know, if it 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:44.560 even if it were just that alone, it would be 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.840 pretty disruptive to your normal life, depending on how often 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.400 it happened to you, you know, every day. But the 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:53.760 fact is it's not just that alone, and there's a 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.720 lot of extra symptoms to it that make it frightening 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:00.320 or terrifying or depressing or just completely disruptive, or make 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.480 it so that you are maybe unable to hold down 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.960 a job or go to school. There's a it's actually 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:10.480 a much it's a much sadder condition than I think 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.520 most people think of because it seems innocuous. It's just like, hey, 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.000 you fall asleep here there, It's fine, you know, and 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:17.919 it's not There's a lot more to it than that. 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:19.080 Yeah, for sure. 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.839 I should also mention too that something that should not 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:27.160 be confused with narcolepsy is something that Emily's family has. 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:29.640 And I saw this when we would go to visit 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:31.680 when they lived in Ohio, when he would stay at 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:36.560 her parents' house in Bears, Well, you know, eating, drinking 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.799 during the day, such that by seven to eight o'clock 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:43.040 at night every night I would Emily and I would 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:48.040 look around, We're watching TV and there are four usually 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:52.000 three sleeping adults. And I dubbed it the gas leak, 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.160 which everyone in their family thought was hysterical. 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.240 Right now, that's just played old funny. 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.280 Yeah, that's that's not urcalepsy at all. That's just you know, 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:04.800 at what age does that start happening? 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:06.440 Is what I want to know. Because I'm creeping up. 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:10.840 There twenty one, because I can still jam laid into 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.760 the night. I'm still you know, I might be sleepy 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.560 the next day, but that's my only time when I 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.680 don't have a five year old m so I use 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.040 that time. I can stay up still till midnight one 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.440 in the morning. If I am doing something. 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.400 That's really neat, you must have a lot of testosterone left. 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.360 I don't think so well. 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:36.200 I mean well, no, I mean like to have energy 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:40.000 after you know, a certain time of day is I 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.360 think I think you have a lot of testosterone chuck. 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:43.839 I would bet we're going to take you in for 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:44.720 a test after this. 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.800 Well, I feel like it's money. I feel like it 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.360 kicks back in. Like I'm sleepy sometimes during the day, 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.760 but then when the night comes and my daughter's asleep, 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:55.520 I'm like, all right, this is my this is my 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:56.280 time to shine. 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:58.680 No, that's very fortunate man, that you're not just like, 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:00.680 this is my time to Netflix and chill like you're 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:02.960 getting stuff done. I'm envious of you for that because 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:05.760 I get a little tired. But I definitely don't have narcolepsy. 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.840 I'm just kind of like I'm somewhere between you and 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.600 Emily's family. They guess correct. 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:19.440 Yeah, So narcolepsy is it's a chronic disorder. 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:20.560 It's a sleep disorder. 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:22.880 And I know we've talked a little bit about this 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.480 in some of our other sleep disorder episodes, so much 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:28.200 so that I thought we might have actually covered this, 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:32.920 but I quadruple checked and we have not. But it's 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.880 characterized by a few things. One of the main tenants 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:40.279 that basically everybody that has narcolepsy has what's called excessive 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:41.560 daytime sleepiness. 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:45.320 Right, that's what everybody thinks about when you think of narcolepsy. 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:47.360 Somebody just falling asleep. They can't help it, they're just 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:48.320 suddenly out. 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:48.839 That's right. 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:54.960 Yeah. They also call those sleep attacks, which is pretty cute. 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:59.240 And no matter what variation of narcolepsy you have, you 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.760 have excessive daytime sleepiness dys right. 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.560 That's right. And this is not you know, this is 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:07.040 nothing new. 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.080 We're just now sort of figuring it out a little 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:12.400 bit since the nineties, which we'll get to. But obviously 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:16.720 this has been happening since there have been people. They've 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.920 probably been suffering from narcolepsy, you know, a small percentage 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:23.680 of people. But it was first described in eighteen eighty 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:31.760 by a French physician named Jean Baptiste Edouard Guileneo not pair, 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:33.000 how would you have. 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:38.560 Said it, Jean Baptiste dudoir jeleno is? That? Is it 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.320 a skipt to put that little uptick on the end. 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:43.680 I think that's called an extant algou. 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.040 Right, right, So yeah, that's how I would have said it. 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:50.360 But either way, I think we basically got it across. 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.600 He was a French physician from eighteen eighty. 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.720 That's the that's right, yeah. And the origin of the 0:07:55.760 --> 0:08:00.960 actual term is from Greek narca, which is or stupor. 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:02.520 Stupor is one of my favorite. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:06.560 Words, and lepsis to attack or to seize. 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:10.320 Right, So it's an attack of stupor basically is what 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.840 they what he meant when he coined that term. And 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:19.080 the reason Jean Baptiste dead war Jellineu came up with 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.640 this is because a thirty six year old wine cask 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:25.280 maker came to him and said, Hey, I think there 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:29.080 might be something wrong with me. I fall asleep suddenly 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.560 out of nowhere for one to five minutes two hundred 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:37.280 times a day, every day. What do you think? And 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.480 Jeleno said, I think I'm gonna make my career on you, buddy. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:42.160 I did the math there. 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:45.280 If you average about two and a half minutes between 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.880 the one to five, that's about eight hours of dozing. 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:51.520 Okay, I'm really glad you said that, Chuck, because this 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:55.680 was something that I had no idea about. But if 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:59.000 you take over a twenty four hour period somebody with 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:04.040 narcolepsy and put their amount of sleep next to somebody 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:07.160 without an ecolepsy over twenty four hours, it's going to 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.600 wash out roughly the same. Did you know that? 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:11.120 I didn't know that. 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.280 But does that mean that this guy dozed eight hours 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:16.319 a day and then stayed up all night or did 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.560 he sleep another five hours at night and just slept alit. 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:22.800 No. So that's one of the one of the key 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.679 reasons that there is such a thing as excessive daytime 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.440 sleepiness as part of narcolepsy. It's that your sleep is 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:32.240 so disrupted that it's basically spread out over twenty four 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:37.040 hours rather than concentrated over eight hours at night. So 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.520 they're up and awake in the middle of the night 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:43.040 for very long periods, just like they fall asleep suddenly 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.480 during the day. But if you put all those bouts 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.440 of sleep together, even when they're trying at night and 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:50.480 then when they can't help it during the day, it 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.760 adds up to about the same that a person without 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.240 narcolepsy will sleep. That's my understanding. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:58.760 Now that's pretty remarkable. 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.400 It is like the brain's like I'm getting sleep, whether 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.520 whether you like it or not. We're making this happen. 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.000 At least by twenty four hours, we're going to have 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:08.520 had enough. 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.760 And of course, you know, since this has been you know, 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:14.400 we're talking about the eighteen eighties, there have been a 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:18.240 lot of explanations over the years, everyone from Freud to 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:20.839 you know, I was about to say legitimate doctors that 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.480 probably would offend certain people like I like Freud too, 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:24.760 but I. 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.920 Meant, like, you know, never mind. 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:33.600 Sure, but Freud of course said that sleep is an escape, 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.559 and he said, you know, narcolepsy is a lot of 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:39.160 times triggered by really intense emotions. 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:40.760 So here's what I think. 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.840 It's just an extreme defense mechanism that lets you escape 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:45.920 from those emotions. 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:51.000 I love it. It's pretty Freudian. It's about as Freudian 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.199 an explanation for anything as I've heard. It's just classic. Right, 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.800 of course, it's just utterly wrong, but I love I 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.520 just think Freud's at ten that explaining the world were 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:05.800 great and valuable in the way that like preserving classic 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:06.440 art is. 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:08.120 Yeah, I've been to his house. 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:11.720 What where in Texas? Now? 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.840 Yeah, the Sigmund Freud house in Tyler, Texas. 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.080 There are a lot of Germans in Texas, although I 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:19.040 know he was Austrian. 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:21.319 Yeah, I mean I believe I saw it in Vienna 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:22.200 if I'm not mistaken. 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:24.839 That's neat, That is very neat. Was this when you 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:25.600 were backpacking? 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:27.440 Yeah, of course, Chuck. 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:29.800 You need to do a memoir of that time in 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.600 your life and call it backpacking to Freud's house. 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.400 Okay, okay, So in the book could just be shaped 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:39.040 like a penis. 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:42.520 Sometimes a book is just a book, Chuck. 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:43.280 That's right. 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:45.920 So Freud missed the mark a little bit, but still 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:50.400 again it's worth mentioning, just like appreciating art. It wasn't 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:53.280 until the sixties where they're like, okay, I think we're 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:55.720 starting to get some real clues here. And that was 0:11:55.760 --> 0:12:01.599 when they first established that people with narcolepsy enter r 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:05.880 EM sleep during these bouts of narcolepsy, which you are 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.520 not supposed to do under normal sleep patterns, which we 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.160 talked about many many times before. Like you said, when 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.040 you fall asleep, it should take you a little while 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:17.920 to enter r EM sleep. That's a deeper phase of 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:23.160 your sleep pattern. Right with narcolepsy, they're out and into 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.719 r EM sleep so quickly that A different way to 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.360 characterize it that narcolepsy researchers put it is that ore 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:37.640 em activity it intrudes into wakefulness. The line between being 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.800 awake and being in deep RAM sleep is that blurred 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:43.319 for people with narcolepsy. 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:47.560 Yeah, And I feel like I've occasionally, in a really 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:51.720 intense power nap had a dream, but that's only when 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:53.959 it's and I don't get to nap anymore. But that's 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.280 when I've just been so tired that I just nap 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:58.920 and fall asleep like immediately. 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:01.839 That's neat. How about you? Do you feel refreshed when 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:02.400 you wake up. 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.360 I tend to nap longer when I would nap, so 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.040 I wouldn't do the When I say power nap, I 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:10.600 don't mean the twenty minute disco nap. 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:13.280 I mean you really power through for a couple of hours. 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:16.680 Right, I thought you were recounting some of your cocaine 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:17.360 using days. 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:19.079 No, no, no, I gotcha. 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.040 So that was in the sixties. So they say, okay, 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:26.920 rim and narcolepsy they go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Right, 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.680 we're onto something here. But finally in the nineties they're like, 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.920 really have started to figure it out, and they've zeroed 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:38.200 in on the hypothalamus and specifically a small cluster of 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.960 cells in the rear of the hypothalamus that we'll talk 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:45.400 about later. And if you learn about that, and as 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.720 far as narcolepsy goes, you can find it pretty convincing 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:52.000 that we have begun at least to finally truly understand 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:53.280 the cause of narcolepsy. 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:56.880 Yeah, I totally agree. It's they make a great case. 0:13:57.080 --> 0:13:58.800 Yeah, So if you want to talk to. 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:03.600 Some initial stats, it occurs in all ethnic groups, It 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.959 has equal incidents on the gender spectrum. 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:07.520 Evidently. 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:08.760 Yeah, that's interesting. 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.480 And yeah, because usually you would see it tilted one 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:13.080 way or the other. 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:14.560 Yeah, for sure. 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.559 And then as far as how often you're going to 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:22.400 see this, it's in about zero point three two point 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.680 one six percent of gen pop or about one in 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:26.560 two thousand people. 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.280 Yeah, which makes it which classifies it as a rare disease, which, 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:35.080 by the way, shout out to, among several others, Rare 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:39.400 Diseases dot org for their take on narcolepsy, It was 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:40.360 very instructive. 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:43.600 Is it a disease or a disorder or is it 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:44.200 a fine line? 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:49.360 Geez? I think because there's a brain dysfunction that it 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:51.760 would be characterized as a disease, wouldn't you. 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:52.720 I don't know. 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:54.920 I still don't know the difference after all these years. 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.880 So it was I mean, when it was considered an 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.640 ram sleep disor maybe it still is. It was considered 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:05.080 a parasomnia like sleepwalking or whatever, so that would have 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:10.760 been considered a disorder them. But I think it's a disease. Now, Okay, okay, 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:12.680 you want to take a break and come back and 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:17.120 talk about what narcolepsy is. Yes, okay, well we'll be 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:49.480 right back, everybody. Okay, we're back, and it turns out, Chuck, 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:53.160 that there are two types of narcolepsy, And just from 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.240 all of the research that we've done over the years 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:59.360 on interesting health stuff, this smells a lot to me 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.120 like something that's going to be broken out into its 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:03.240 own thing over time. 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.120 Yeah, I agree, because we've seen that happen time and 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:10.800 time again. We have narcolepsy Type two, which is what 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.200 we were talking about, the sort of the more like 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.840 when you think of narcolepsy, this is probably what you're 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.240 thinking of Aunt Laura falling asleep during the middle of 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:20.160 a sentence. 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:25.240 Right, And it's type two because it's by far less 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:30.200 prevalent than type one. And type one is narcolepsy like 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:34.920 you'd think of with the daytime excessive daytime sleepiness. But 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.240 on top of that, there's something called cataplexy too, and 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:42.160 cataplexy can exist on its own. It's the just sudden 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.240 loss of voluntary muscle function, like you can't keep your 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.280 head up because your neck muscles just went limp, or 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:52.320 your arms go limp, or something like that. And cataplexy 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.240 can exist on its own. It can exist in conjunction 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:59.960 with other diseases to or disorders, but It very frequently 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:04.439 coexists with narcolepsy, and one of the hallmarks of it 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.440 from what I understand, because it gets kind of confusing 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.600 and I couldn't fully find this out, Chuck, but I 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:17.160 think that it can exist in a person with narcolepsy 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:22.600 in conjunction with a sleep attack or separately to where 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.760 you just suddenly like can't hold your head up anymore. 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:29.560 The key is you're still conscious. Conscious. Oh my god, 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:34.720 I just turned into an illiterate seventh grader. You're still conscious. 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.320 You might look like you have just fainted or something 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:41.600 like that, depending on the severity of the cataplexic attack. 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.040 Yeah, it's almost like a fainting goat, right. 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:48.159 Yes, very much like that, Almost exactly like that, because 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:52.440 remember with the fainting goats, they would basically just fall 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:53.880 over because they were startled. 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:54.360 Yeah. 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.960 I think pretty much the same thing with cataplexy in humans, 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.720 although it seems to be more associated with positive emotions. 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.840 That's so interesting. Yeah, we're going to get into that. 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:07.080 There are four symptoms of narcolepsy, which we're going to 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:11.720 break down in a second. But they are excessive daytime sleepiness, 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:16.080 like we've talked about, there is the cataplexy, their sleep 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:25.040 sleep paralysis, and then hypnagogic hallucinations, and if you have narcolepsy, 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.280 you well, there's about a twenty to twenty five percent 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.240 chance that you have all four. And I don't think 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:33.960 there's any rhyme or reason which ones you do have. 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:38.920 But like we said, everybody has the excessive daytime sleepiness. 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.399 And they're also talking about a fifth beetle. 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.840 I was going to say that too, Clarence was that 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:50.159 his name? Yeah? Or a Pooh said he was too. 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:55.640 The fifth symptom, which is disturbed nocturnal sleep, which about 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:57.800 fifty percent of the patients have, but they haven't. 0:18:57.880 --> 0:18:59.480 I think that'll end up in there at some point. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.160 And technically there may be a sixth one too, which 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:06.000 is called automatic behavior. Where have you ever been like 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:10.040 driving and you're suddenly like five exits further than you 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:12.680 thought you were and you realize you just zoned out 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:15.360 and were just driving just fine, but you were you're 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:17.800 you're basically on autopilot. 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:20.160 I don't know, I mean, is that like the same 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:21.280 as just daydreaming? 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:25.480 Or maybe I think so. But there's like no recollection 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.520 of anything. You didn't note any landmarks that you just passed. 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:30.560 Or let's say you're gardening or something like that, you 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.960 don't you don't remember finishing digging the hole with a trowel. 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:38.199 It's it's you've just completed a task that you have 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:40.960 no memory of undertaking. 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:42.800 I don't think that happens. 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:46.040 Okay, so that's that's happened to me before. But that's 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.879 a symptom of It's an additional symptom. It's not a 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:51.879 classic symptom. But they're starting to figure out that it 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:53.880 is a symptom of narcolepsy. 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:55.720 Yes, so you're like, I just I went in my 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.440 garage one day and I had built a penny farthing, right, 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.400 no memory of that how it got there. So it 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:06.439 usually starts out in adolescence, which surprised me. 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:07.560 I did not know. 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.800 That, just maybe because my aunt Laura characterized it as 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.479 something you got later in life. But they do worsen 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:16.680 with age, so maybe that does make sense after all. 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:21.199 And sometimes your symptoms can be very steady. Sometimes it 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:24.439 can be months or years in between changes, and sometimes 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:26.760 the symptoms change a lot very quickly. 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:31.840 Right, But the symptom that again, one hundred percent of 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:37.280 people with narcolepsy have is excessive daytime sleepiness. In almost 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.879 every case of narcolepsy, that is the first symptom that starts. 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:44.199 You almost never start with the other ones. It's that 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:47.760 one first. And that's exactly what you think of where 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.640 somebody just falls asleep and they're out for a few 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.760 seconds to a few minutes, depending And it's not going 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:57.240 to be the same amount of time every time. They're 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:00.000 not going to have the same number of sleep attacks 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:02.320 every time. A lot of it has to do with 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:05.399 just how tired they are, like how poorly they slept 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:07.400 the night before. Yeah, that's going to make them more 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:10.280 susceptible to sleep attacks during the day. And this is 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.640 not the same as hitting the wall at three o'clock 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.000 because you ate lunch and all of your coffee from 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:18.360