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What are the causes of narcolepsy? Well, no one really knows, but we do have some hypotheses. We know there may be a genetic predisposition. There is a protein complex on the chromosome six called HLA DQ B one zero six zero two. That is commonly found in people with narcolepsy, with cataplexy, but many people may have that gene and not have narcolepsy. So something else has happened. So what we think is there’s an auto-immune destruction of a protein called hypocretin. It’s also called Erekson in those people, with that gene and those hypo cretin proteins get attacked by the body as an auto-immune disease. And they dwindle a number and that controls our waking and sleeping cycle. What can cause that infection or that, uh, attack? It can be our own body’s confusion, but sometimes infections like H one N one flu or possibly streptococcus inflammation. Infection can cause it, there may be a consideration of a head injury or a trauma or a stroke to the brain, or even a brain tumor that may cause it. But nobody really knows. We just know there’s an association with this gene and also a deficiency of this protein called hypocretin.
