Narcolepsy research: Researchers find Narcolepsy ‘trigger’

A few days ago, Swiss scientists announced that they found a ‘trigger’ for Narcolepsy, that could lead to new treatments.  The researchers concluded that Narcolepsy is a result of an attack by the body on its own immune system, identifying antibodies that proved this.

To learn more, here is a very short article detailing the findings.  I had might as well send you there to read about it, otherwise I will just be copying from the article.

It always makes me feel good to hear about new Narcolepsy research findings.  Although it might seem to us that progress is so very slow, researchers are constantly making new advances, which in turn sometimes lead to new medicines.  17 years ago, when I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy, we did not have Provigil, Nuvigil, or Xyrem.  We also did not have some of the newer anti-depressants used to treat cataplexy. 

Progress is slow, but steady.

I do remember my sleep doctor saying many years ago that by the time I would be the age where I would want to have children, there might very well be a Narcolepsy medication that would be safe to take while I was pregnant.  Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened and I have resigned myself to the fact that in a number of years I will have to go off my medication while I am pregnant and breastfeeding (as I’m not willing to take any risks as far as to my baby’s health).  But there has indeed been a lot of progress, and I think we can expect more of that in the future.