Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that often occurs in adolescents and young adults

The public welfare painting exhibition of "Rare Dreams" opened
in the Hongqiao Branch of the National Medical Center for Neurological Diseases and Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University.

Zhongxin Wanghai, September 22 (Reporter Chen Jing) During the day, he said that he would sleep when he slept, and at night he would have nightmares, suddenly collapsed when his emotions were intense, and when he woke up, he felt that he was in a dream.

22 September is World Narcolepsy Day
.

The exhibition contains more than 30 paintings
.
Photo courtesy of Huashan Hospital

Swimmers swimming in the mountains and rivers, beautiful big fish, airbuses, mothers in light and shadow, dreams of themselves, crescent moons on the water, rainbows on snowy mountains.
.
.
In the outpatient hall, elaborate paintings have attracted a lot of attention
.
In the eyes of ordinary people, each painting is full of creativity, bright colors, and unique
artistic conception.
Dai Ying, director of the Blue Whale Rare Disease Special Fund of the Shanghai Charity Foundation, said that many people said that they were "natural artists" after watching the exhibition, but in fact, the
dreams of patients with narcolepsy are mostly terrifying.
It is reported that unlike ordinary people dreaming, patients with narcolepsy can clearly remember and describe their dreams
.

"Although these works look colorful, if you look closely, you will find that there is a crisis
hidden in everyone's dreams.
" For example, Dai Ying introduced that in the work "Landscape", the sharp horns on the back of the big fish, the tears flowed from the broken abdominal fin of the fish, and the flame on the back of the mountain, all of which are dangers
that exist in the patient's subconscious.
"We hope that through the holding of this exhibition, more people will pay attention to this group of rare disease patients, and we also hope that the hospital will become a window to convey health knowledge and humanistic concepts
to the society through art.
" At the opening ceremony, Professor Zhao Chongbo, executive director of the Rare Disease Center of Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University (hereinafter referred to as Huashan Hospital) and vice president of Hongqiao Campus, said
.

In the outpatient hall, elaborate paintings have attracted a lot of attention
.
Photo courtesy of Huashan Hospital

Associate Professor Yu Huan of the Department of Neurology of Huashan Hospital told reporters in an interview on the 22nd that narcolepsy is a neurological disease
.
"This disease often occurs in adolescents and young people, and can cause learning difficulties, decreased work ability, etc.
, and even affect the future of
individuals.
" But because of the lack of sufficient understanding, patients are easily misunderstood, and those around them often do not pay enough attention
.
The expert said bluntly, including some doctors who also lack understanding
of the disease.

The expert told reporters that daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hallucinations during the fall asleep / waking turn, and sleep paralysis are typical symptoms
of narcolepsy.
Yu Huan explained that it was different
from the sleepiness that normal people feel when they are tired.
Drowsiness in patients with narcolepsy is difficult to control
.
During sleep/waking up, some patients will have hallucinations, such as seeing the devil, the beast approaching them, hearing terrifying sounds, or feeling the displacement of the body
.
Some unpleasant experiences can cause panic and even dare not sleep
alone.
Some patients will suddenly have a brief muscle weakness when the mood is high, which appears in an instant and disappears
in an instant.
In addition, some patients will have "sleep paralysis" when they have just fallen asleep, wake up in the middle of the night, or wake up in the morning, which is manifested as a clear mind and unable to move the limbs; Often accompanied by the feeling that the front chest is pressed and difficult to breathe, it is commonly known as "ghost pressing"
.

10 years ago, Xiao Liu, who was in his early 20s, often felt tired, and the drowsiness that struck him anytime and anywhere was completely uncontrolled, and he would sleep
in meetings and colleagues chatting.
But at night, he did not sleep well and was often awakened
by nightmares.
The "embarrassment" of sleeping on sleep has seriously affected Xiao Liu's work and life
.
In March this year, Xiao Liu came to Shanghai to be at Dr.
Yu Huan's clinic, where he was diagnosed with "narcolepsy"
.
Xiao Liu said, "I have been tortured by it for ten years, traveled to seven or eight cities, done many examinations, and have been diagnosed with neurasthenia, anxiety disorders, etc.
, and therefore taken various medicines, and the condition has become more and more serious
.
" After standardized treatment, Xiao Liu finally returned to a normal life
.

"Fortunately, there is already a treatment plan for this disease, and patients can control the disease
as long as they receive regular treatment.
" Yu Huan said that people with special sleepiness can use the international sleepiness scale to evaluate the severity of daytime sleepiness, and if they reach the warning line, they need to go to the hospital for treatment
.
"Through the exhibition, we also hope that more people will know about this disease, less misunderstanding and blame, more care and understanding, so that patients with narcolepsy can get timely and good treatment
.
" Yu Huan said
.

It is reported that this "rare" hospital painting exhibition will last until the end of the year at
Huashan Hospital.
In the future, the hospital will open more people-friendly display windows, so that more interesting and informative doctor-patient works and popular science content, to more people to convey the concept of
healthy life.

Epidemiological investigations show that the prevalence of sleep disorders in the general population is not low, but the overall level of correct identification, correct diagnosis and systematic standardized treatment of these "sleep disorders" diseases is low, and the number of patients receiving standardized and effective treatment is insufficient
.
As one of the earliest sleep disorder research centers established in China, the Sleep Disorder Research Center of Fudan University and the Sleep Medicine Center of Huashan Hospital have long been committed to the research and diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders, carrying out polysomnography monitoring and disease diagnosis, multidisciplinary one-stop comprehensive diagnosis and treatment, and receiving more than 5,000 patients with various types of sleep diseases every year
.

During the interview, the reporter learned that in addition to the episodic sleep sickness of central origin, sleep-related movement disorders such as adult acute and chronic insomnia, sleep-breathing disorders, dreamism, sleepwalking, and restless leg syndrome are all sleep disorders
.
"But what is more noteworthy is that sleep disorders are sometimes just an upstream disease, and many early manifestations of the disease are hidden in sleep, such as sleep apnea, and if left untreated, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure
may occur in a few years.
" For example, Yu Huan said, for example, if patients with dream activity disorder receive irregular treatment, they may develop Parkinson's disease and cognitive impairment
over time.
Early screening, timely detection, and timely treatment of sleep disorders can delay the subsequent course
of the disease.