Anyone else here deal with narcolepsy? I was diagnosed a little over a year ago, and its been great to finally be able to treat it.

 

i knew a kid in school with it. his was pretty bad. you would be talking to him and all of a sudden all the muscles in his body would relax and he would fall alseep yet still be concious. they also had a special on TLC about this. the girl they followed had the same signs as my friend.

 

I wish I had it for just a week, I've had insomnia for about 2 weeks. It's like someone laced my pillows with no-dose.

 

aint narcolepsy where you are askeard of drugs????
or is that narcofobia??

 

My dad has narcolepsy and cataplexy. He was diagnosed with it over thirty years ago. He's been through just about all of the treatments (and some of the old ones were pretty bad). He pretty much regulates it now with frequent naps-- he can tell when a spell is coming on so he doesn't just keel over. We don't let him drive, much, however

 

I was diagnosed with a mild form of it. Narcolepsy is just basically an overactive sleep drive. I was just always tired, and that made it hard to get up, function in school, take long road trips, etc. Most people think that its where people just all of the sudden fall asleep. Granted that does happen, but most of the time it just causese people to be really tired.

 

These symtoms also can be Sleep Apnea..

That is what I have. I use to fall asleep anytime I sat still. Also dozed off while driving. I had a sleep test and now I use a CPAP machine when I sleep. It has helped me get a more restfull sleep. I don't doze off while driving and feel much better.
If you snore alot then that may be your problem.

 

Correct, however sleep apnea is when you stop breathing at night. I had a sleep study done and a daytime nap test. The average person is supposed to take 10-15 minutes to fall asleep for a nap in the middle of the day. I was asleep in 30 seconds.

My dad has sleep apnea and narcolepsy, so I could very well develop sleep apnea. Its so relieving to finally get treated though.

 

big hoss 29, Strange that you mention not being able to sleep for the past two weeks.

Since about two weeks ago, I've been crashing at 2:00 a.m. and wide awake at 6:00 a.m.

I even tried once to hit the sack at 10:00 p.m., just to wake up at 2:00 a.m.

Not quite narcolepsy; just the opposite.

Saw a girl at the bar one time just went from sipping on her wine to dropping on the floor asleep.

My first thought was that she was drunk and passed out. Her friend said she had narcolepsy.

 

There are different degrees of narcolepsy, as is the case with many diseases. In my father's case, he has severe narcolepsy-- when he was diagnosed in the early 70's, he could be giving a speech and fall right asleep in the middle of it. It is like a switch is thrown in your brain, on and off, with no in-between. The episodes can last as short as microseconds, yet in that time frame your brain can have dreams. The end result is nothing short of hallucinations, because your eyes don't even close, yet your brain 'sees' something. One time the family was out for a ride, my mom driving and my dad in the passenger seat. All of a sudden my dad yells out "watch out for the train" and throws up his hands. Of course there was no train around, but he had a "micro-dream" about a train, and he swore he saw a train coming right at him.
Associated with narcolepsy is a condition called cataplexy, which is an involuntary loss of muscle tone, often associated with any strong emotions. As a kid, I could tell my dad a funny joke or tickle him and he would fall down like a heap of jelly.
He takes 5-6 naps a day, and gets a full nights sleep-- the naps don't affect his nightime sleep. The worst thing is that you can have exceedingly bad nightmares, which he does. Very real, very vivid nasty ones--the type that can wake you up in a cold sweat. I just hope it is not hereditary!

 

I have this problem too, but the doc diagnosed it as metabolic syndrome and says my thyroid gland doesn't work. Even if I got a full 8 hours or more of sleep, I was tired all the time and could sleep standing up. I thought that was just a neat trick I learned when I was on guard duty. I didn't know it was because I was sick!

 

A female friend born and raised in Fargo said "men up there all need a Little Oral Annie inflateable dolls to practice on". I didn't ask her any more questions.
.....=o&o>.....