Possible help for Narcolepsy sufferers via nasal spray

[crazycatnapper]

A link to this article [link=http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/12/sleep_deprivation" target="_blank]http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/n...eep_deprivation[/link] was posted on a narcolepsy support site I am a member of. Scientists have been working on a way to replace Orexin, the chemical missing from the brains of people with narcolepsy and it looks like they are onto something.

This could be amazing, even if it's ten plus years away. Xyrem didn't work for me and I can't take stimulants, so to hear a new drug is even in existance excites me. Woo hoo. I seriously want to be a lab rat for this. I'll take my chances with freaky side effects because I doubt they could be worse than what I am living with now.

For those of you who enjoy such things, read the comments under the article. Some people are so fucking worried about drug abuse that they simply don't care if something would really help a lot of people. Of course, they probably don't suffer from a disabling disease either. Closed minded ignorance really pisses me off. *jumps off soapbox

[LikeMinded]

CCN--

I wonder if other causes of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) have anything to do with the hypocretin/orexin system. (The thought just crossed my head since I'd read about Provigil (modafinil)'s approval in daytime sleepiness secondary to sleep apnea causing said EDS, and I wonder how that can bork up your orexin system, if at all).

I am narcoleptic (98% in remission since 2005, when I started Provigil - now switched to an amphetamine stimulant due to AD/HD, and it works acceptably well on the narcolepsy), and my docs now think that sleep apnea is one of the major factors involved in my EDS issues. (They feel that I have neuromusclar obstructive apnea, where the muscles in my throat essentially lose tone and cause the airway to briefly collapse on occasion. Comes with the neuropathy/my brain being on fire territory).

That said, my #1 treatment for narcolepsy does involve the circadian clock: Keeping my classes (when I was in college) and work hours (in the 3 years thereafter before the rest of my brain caught fire) to reasonable hours. Nothing important before 10:30 AM when possible. It doesn't cure EDS (and certainly does nothing about the cataplexy!), but it really helped. I really do wonder if orexin-modifying treatments can help one get along with various circadian rhythms (especially in the view of Provigil being used in shift-work sleep disorder).

Also, sorry about the fact you can't take Xyrem or any of the stims. My mom is in the same boat as you are, so I'm excited as well for the new possibilities.