These attacks can be anywhere from mildly inconvenient to severely disabling in those that suffer from narcolepsy. Narcolepsy often deems itself as an interference with work and daily living. Other sleep problems that are noted in narcolepsy are sleep paralysis and vivid hallucinations at the onset of sleep or on awakening. Thus, the term paralysis refers to the arousal state of the body during the night-time while one sleeps. Usually this occurs during the light-sleep stages and can also occur during the REM stages of sleep as well.
Sleep paralysis has a co-relationship with catalepsy as it deems itself a variation of it.
These episodes can occur once or many times during sleep. Those who suffer from sleep paralysis do eventually learn techniques on their own to cause their bodies to wake up. A rush of noradrenalin and adrenalin is essentially what wakes up the body when such a technique of self-induced fear is used. In TS, sleep paralysis can have an onset at a very early age as well as in adulthood. Like any symptom of TS, sleep paralysis can wax and wane as well as subside.