Who Should Be on Your Narcolepsy Healthcare Team?

Additional Healthcare Professionals Your Doctor May Recommend

Narcolepsy may be connected to a number of other health problems, including depression and high blood pressure, and your doctor may suggest that you incorporate other health professionals on your team to treat these related conditions. “The sleep specialist is, in most cases, the best individual to make the decision as to whether these conditions are directly or indirectly related to narcolepsy,” says Dr. Kushida.

Here are some of the health specialists your doctor may recommend:

“Many symptoms of narcolepsy overlap with those of mood disorders, including fatigue, social isolation, and difficulty interacting with peers and family members — all of which can contribute to depressive feelings,” says Dr. Thorpy. These symptoms, coupled with neurochemical changes and the disruption narcolepsy can have on your daily life, may also increase risk for depression or anxiety.

And mental health issues like depression may worsen your narcolepsy symptoms: Depression is frequent in people with narcolepsy, especially those who aren’t being treated for it, and research has shown that depressive symptoms were associated with narcolepsy severity.

What’s more, medications that treat narcolepsy can interact with depression and anxiety medications; they can also worsen your mental health condition, says Kushida. For that reason, your sleep specialist and psychiatrist should also regularly communicate.

Registered Dietitian or Exercise Specialist When people develop narcolepsy, they often experience rapid weight gain, says Thorpy. Children can gain 10 to 40 pounds in a matter of months, and adults can become overweight or obese. This could be because narcolepsy may alter the metabolism. You may be referred to a registered dietitian, who can help you plan healthy, energizing meals, or to a certified personal trainer, who can help you add more physical activity into your day, which can help boost your energy levels and ward off weight gain.

Cardiologist People with narcolepsy are predisposed to developing hypertension, says Thorpy. Some of the medications that treat narcolepsy are stimulants that work to help you stay awake during the day; these can raise blood pressure. When combined with other factors, such as weight gain, this can exacerbate potential heart problems.

If your doctor suspects you have sleep apnea, you’ll likely participate in a sleep study (polysomnography), which is a test that diagnoses sleep disorders. From there, your doctor can advise on the best course of treatment, which might be a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, a referral to a dentist for an oral appliance to help keep your airway open, or a referral to a surgeon for upper airway surgery, says Kushida.