In the Article, “Sounding the alarm for narcolepsy”, Terrilynn Fox Quillen argues that narcolepsy can be hazardous to a person’s health because it is commonly diagnosed after a person falls asleep while driving and has had an accident. She claims that, “the average delay between symptom onset and diagnosis is 10 to 15 years.” Some children have been diagnosed with narcolepsy, but usually symptoms occur during puberty or young adulthood.

Quillen develops this claim by first examining past research at the Stanford University School of Medicine Center for narcolepsy. During Quillen’s research she explores what effects narcolepsy can have on someone, the cause of narcolepsy, and how narcolepsy can be diagnosed.
Lastly, the author gives choices on how to treat narcolepsy, because there is not a cure. The author also gives information on how to cope with narcolepsy. Terrilynn Fox Quillen’s purpose of writing this article is to imform people of narcolepsy and how to search for proper diagnosis and treatment in order to keep people who are unaware that they have narcolepsy away from harm.

This work is significant because someone who has the symptoms of narcolepsy can be treated to prevent having Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) or microsleep that interferes with their lives which is hazardous to themselves and others.

 

Work Cited:

Quillen, Terrilynn Fox. "Sounding The Alarm For Narcolepsy." Nursing 35.6 (2005): 74-75. MEDLINE. Web. 5 Oct. 2012.