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Consideration of narcolepsy in the differential diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome
Author(s) -
Ambrogetti Antonio,
Olson Leslie G
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1994.tb138269.x
Subject(s) - narcolepsy , chronic fatigue syndrome , differential diagnosis , medicine , differential (mechanical device) , physical medicine and rehabilitation , psychiatry , pediatrics , pathology , neurology , engineering , aerospace engineering
Objective To justify the inclusion of narcolepsy in the differential diagnosis of patients with chronic fatigue. Clinical features We report three patients aged 17 (two women and one man) and one woman aged 45 who had been diagnosed as having chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). They had no psychiatric illness. Their main problem was severe daytime sleepiness, presenting as “tiredness and fatigue”. The history, sleep study and multiple sleep latency test suggested a diagnosis of narcolepsy. Intervention Treatment with methyiphenidate resulted in complete resolution of symptoms in two patients and significant improvement in the other two. Conclusions The differential diagnosis of CFS requires the exclusion of other conditions. If daytime sleepiness is a major complaint, other symptoms of narcolepsy should be sought and the diagnosis confirmed with sleep study and a multiple sleep latency test.