Is narcolepsy a disease or a disorder?

our med teacher wants us to pick a disease and im thinking about doing narcolepsy. does narcolepsy not caount as a "disease" but a "mental disorder"? or can i still do that topic?

because if not, i'll probably pick toxoplasmosis because i know for sure that its a disease.

I don't think narcolepsy is a disease, because I'm pretty sure it won' kill you. It seems more like a mental disorder, like turret's syndrome. I could definitely be wrong though. and what is Toxoplasmosis?

I feel a little under qualified answering this question, but from what I know Narcolepsy is more of a neurological disorder...

it is a disorder not a disease.

Narcolepsy is not a mental disorder. It is the result of disease processes that affect the brain's physiological mechanisms that regulate REM sleep. Personally, I think the only difference between a disease and a disorder is the way they are used. To me, the term "disease" seems to convey that the condition is more severe, but in reality, both "disease" and "disorder" are used interchangeability. There seems to be a socio-political implication of this, as well. STDs are a great example of this. We all know that pubic lice "crabs" are considered one of the sexually transmitted diseases, but having another organism living on your skin is hardly a disease state. Likewise, another name for epilepsy is seizure disorder. .. You see where I'm going with this.

I think your teacher doesn't want you to pick conditions that are mainly considered psychological (or sociocultural) in nature--like obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), alcoholism, or anorexia nervosa. These manifestations do not have solid physiological explanation and the best treatment for such disorders is therapy.

Then again, there are some that would argue that a disease results in an immune response and is often infectious (classic examples being viral or bacterial) and is not the result of abnormal body functioning. But then how would you explain Alzheimer's disease, Lou Gehrig's Disease, Tay-Sach's Disease, etc?

Instead of guessing what your teacher wants and risk completing the assignment wrong, why don't you ask your teacher for a clarification of what s/he wants? It couldn't hurt.

For the record, I think narcolepsy is a disease, but then again I could be biased...