A rare case of paediatric narcolepsy in Malta

Abstract

Narcolepsy is a lifelong disorder that is usually diagnosed in early adulthood, however most often symptoms begin in the childhood years.It is characterized by excessive day time sleepiness (EDS) and features of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. It is under diagnosed in both children and adults due to the clinical heterogeneity. We report a case of a child presenting with excessive day time sleepiness, who was diagnosed with narcolepsy, which although is a rare disease, is very treatable, and early intervention will reduce its psychosocial impact.