Posted by Hypersomnia Foundation on October 6, 2015 Part 2: Understanding 504 vs. IEP By Kate Pece, M. Ed. In this series of four articles, you will learn how to navigate the public school system for accommodations under a 504 plan. When it comes to helping students with sleep disorders, it is easy for the…
Does Excessive Daytime Sleepiness Affect Children’s Pedestrian Safety?
Posted by Hypersomnia Foundation on September 29, 2015 Background Each year, approximately 30,000 children are unintentionally killed or injured while walking outside (typically within a half mile of their homes). Many factors—including children’s thinking and reasoning abilities, attention spans, reaction times, impulsiveness, and willingness to take risks—likely play a role. Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), whether…
Crash Course: Public School Accommodations for Children with Hypersomnia
Posted by Hypersomnia Foundation on September 15, 2015 Crash Course: Public School Accommodations for Children with Hypersomnia By Kate Pece, M. Ed. In this series of 4 articles, you will learn how to navigate the public school system for accommodations under a 504 plan. This first article gives a broad overview of initiating the process…
Raising Awareness of the Underpinnings of Hypersomnia
Posted by Hypersomnia Foundation on September 8, 2015 Awareness of disease means different things to different people. One’s awareness takes origin in experiences and goals, both personal and professional. Diversity in awareness therefore comprises our community of people who have hypersomnia, their significant others, healthcare professionals, and research scientists. People who have hypersomnia need to…
I Will Not Go Gentle Into That Night
Posted by Hypersomnia Foundation on September 2, 2015 At what moment does one admit to themselves, family, and the world that they have more than a passing penchant for sleep as well as have cognitive issues? To be sleepy or “getting caught” napping evokes societal stigmas, e.g., “lazy,” “unproductive,” “disinterested.” Impaired cognition attracts its own…
GABA and Histamine Work Together to Control Wakefulness
Posted by Hypersomnia Foundation on August 18, 2015 New research on genetically altered mice helps to untangle the complex interactions of GABA with brain systems necessary for sustaining wakefulness. BACKGROUND Histamine Nerve cells (also known as neurons) in a specific part of the brain, called the tuberomammilary nucleus or TMN, produce histamine. Histamine is a…
Wellsprings of Hope
Posted by Hypersomnia Foundation on August 14, 2015 …. if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods Just shy of a month ago, our…
Why Do I Fool Myself?
Posted by Hypersomnia Foundation on August 4, 2015 Every night as I head to bed, there’s this moment of joy and comfort I experience, which I assume most people experience at least every now and again—that feeling after a long day of work or maybe travel, that you will finally get to lie down and…
Antibiotic May Decrease EDS in GABA-related Hypersomnia
Posted by Hypersomnia Foundation on July 28, 2015A study of clarithromycin in the treatment of GABA-related hypersomnia indicates that this drug may be effective in some patients with idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), narcolepsy without cataplexy, and subjective hypersomnia.BackgroundThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved any drugs for the treatment of IH. Therefore, current treatments…
Flumazenil – An Antidote For Hypersomnia
Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered that dozens of adults with an elevated need for sleep have a substance in their cerebrospinal fluid that acts like a sleeping pill. The results are scheduled for publication online by the journal Science Translational Medicine. Some members of this patient population appear to have a…