{"id":16895,"date":"2016-02-14T03:47:18","date_gmt":"2016-02-14T03:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/?p=16895"},"modified":"2016-02-14T03:50:10","modified_gmt":"2016-02-14T03:50:10","slug":"narcolepsy-has-a-huge-impact-on-everyday-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/narcolepsy-has-a-huge-impact-on-everyday-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Narcolepsy has a huge impact on everyday life"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The National | Jennifer Bell | February 7, 2016<\/em><\/p>\n

DUBAI \/\/ Maitha has dozed off in class, in front of friends and at family events.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Emirati, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, has narcolepsy, meaning she experiences periods of extreme daytime sleepiness and sudden, irresistible bouts of sleep that can strike at any time. Many sufferers never know when a \u201csleep attack\u201d – usually lasting a few seconds to several minutes – may strike.<\/p>\n

She cannot recall many of her sleeping episodes and many times her friends have had to remind her of when she has fallen into such a deep sleep that she cannot be roused – even in public places.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be embarrassing,\u201d she said. \u201cI am this person who is very active, both in my personality and socially, and the person who likes to be involved and in the front row.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you don\u2019t want to be in the front row anymore in case you fall asleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is frustrating as it is obvious I am not in control of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said attacks are often triggered by emotion – so when she is happy, excited or sad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is scary,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause it limits your joy and emotions in some ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maitha feel narcoleptics are misunderstood and sleeping episodes are often brushed off as a person being lazy.<\/p>\n

\u201cNarcolepsy is not visible, like any physical disabilities. Your heart goes out to someone sitting in a wheelchair or someone who cannot speak or cannot hear. But you don\u2019t feel bad for someone who is sleeping,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Doctors say narcolepsy has a huge impact on everyday life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttacks often cannot be controlled and they can happen in all kinds of situations,\u201d said Prof Dr Derk Krieger, professor of neurology and cerebrovascular diseases at German Neuroscience Center in Dubai.<\/h2>\n

Worldwide, about 30 to 50 people in every 100,000 suffer from narcolepsy.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”16899″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The prevalence in the UAE, said Dr Krieger, is likely to be similar.<\/p>\n

However, the doctor believes the condition is not well known in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one side it is not a common disease and on the other it is not a very obvious one,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom the outside, a patient may seem absolutely fine and healthy except in situations of an attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, sufferers like to hide the disease, as it can be embarrassing.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The National | Jennifer Bell | February 7, 2016 DUBAI \/\/ Maitha has dozed off in class, in front of friends and at family events. The 26-year-old Emirati, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, has narcolepsy, meaning she experiences periods of extreme daytime sleepiness and sudden, irresistible bouts of sleep that can<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gncdubai.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}