History Of Narcolepsy 
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History Of Narcolepsy
The first time that narcolepsy was mentioned in medical records was way back in the 17th century.
A physician in Oxford, England, named Thomas Willis suggested that caffeine should be used to treat narcolepsy. Surprisingly, in the history of narcolepsy, stimulants have been used to treat the disease. However, Willis did not mention any cause for the disease.However, the early theories on why narcolepsy occurs were quite outrageous. Most of the early theories on the cause of narcolepsy were based on patient named von Zastow. He was a convicted rapist in the 19th century. Doctors believed that due to too much of masturbation and suppressed homosexuality, von Zastow suffered from excessive day time sleepiness.
However, another doctor named Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal did not agree with this theory. In fact, Westphal was the first doctor who described narcolepsy clinically. He described it as a physical disorder that occurred most often with cataplexy and loss of muscle tone even while the person was awake. The term cataplexy was coined by Dr. Loewenfeld in 1902
The disease itself got its name in 1880. The doctor who named the disease was Dr. Jean-Baptiste Edouard Gelineau. He has also been given the credit for figuring out that excessive day time sleepiness and sleep paralysis were part and parcel of a single disease. However, at that time, all disorders that caused day time sleepiness were under the umbrella of narcolepsy, including diseases that were not sleep disorders.
Finally in 1907, it was Dr. William Gower who separated narcolepsy as a completely different disorder from other disorders and diseases that also caused excessive day time sleepiness.More Articles :
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