Narcolepsy

[Nacartalla]

My dad is 84 and has pd. Is narcolepsy associated with pd? Not officially diagnosed.

[park_bear]

Something very much like narcolepsy is a symptom of PD. That is, day-night sleep reversal coupled with involuntary sleep attacks during the day. I did suffer from that at one time. It resolved with Sinemet CR.

[lempa_nik]

An exhaustive list of PD-related symptoms was created by David A. Bunch and is available by sending an email to

David A. Bunch - [e-mail] - 949 - 933-3198 - April 2016

Narcolepsy does not appear on his list. Connected with sleep, he lists only insomnia, and sleep apnea. Also, as mentioned by Park_Bear, some PD meds can give rise to sudden sleep attacks.

[park_bear in reply to lempa_nik]

The sleep attacks are actually a feature of PD itself, related to day-night sleep reversal. Very glad that is not happening anymore.

[lempa_nik in reply to park_bear]

Well, insomnia can be a predisposing factor, but PD meds, in particular, Dopamine agonists, have also been fingered as a contributing factor:

1) "Three patients with Parkinson's disease had so-called sleep attacks at the wheel while taking bromocryptine, lisuride pergolide, or piribedil. We believe that all dopamine agonists can induce sleep attacks."

ref.: The Lancet, Research Letters Volume 355, Issue 9212, 15 April 2000, Pages 1333-1334

"Sleep attacks and Parkinson's disease treatment"

sciencedirect.com/science/a...

2) "Drug-induced EDS [excessive daytime sleepiness] is a particular problem as many dopamine agonists used for the treatment of Parkinson's disease have EDS as an adverse effect. Dopaminergic treatment may also render a subset of Parkinson's disease patients at risk for sudden-onset sleep attacks that occur without warning and can be particularly hazardous if the patient is driving."

ref.: CNS Drugs. 2011 Mar.

"Excessive daytime sleepiness in patients with Parkinson's disease."

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/213...

[park_bear in reply to lempa_nik]

Well okay then, you have proved your point.

In my case, this went on without any meds. Glad I knew better than to be behind the wheel.