Hi Jennifer, I'm Tasha and I'm 28 adn was offically diagnosed last
year with N (narcolepsy),but have had it all my life. As a child I
would have 'night terrors' as they called them, would wake up
sometimes sleepwalking. In college, I would schedule my classes, so
take a long nap in the afternoon, all the while thinking, i'm just a
sleepy person. I'm married with two children, but it was not until
after the birth of my second child that I began to think there was
more to my sleepiness. My N had caused problems in my relationship
and family life before, but had I known earlier about my disease, we
could have avoided some of those issues.

I would suggest an immediate sleep study for your official diagnosis,
because it sounds like you defiently have N. Please, PLEASE be
careful and conscience while driving (if not stopping it all together
until you are able to control it perhaps with medication), you are
putting your life at risk. N is tricky and is a little different for
each person, but there are some common traits.

I too can fall asleep anywhere and anytime, and my dreams start off
as my soundings, its almost as if i'm awake and am aware of whats
being said, but really i'm sleeping. I fall into REM immediatly as
well. I also suffer hypnogogic hallucinations, and severe EDS.

I finished school with a BS and have completed multiple accredidation
courses, so you can achieve. I now control me EDS with provigal, but
would like to know what a good nights sleep feels like and have been
prescribed xyrem, which I have not yet tried.

N has other effects, like for me, forgetfullnessn and automatic
behavior. For example, I will open to the fridge to get something
out, and forget what I'm looking for, or walk into a room to do
something and cant remember why i came into the room. I have to make
myself focus..anway...i hope some of this has helped, feel free to
email me if you would like to talk/write more.


--- In Narcolepsy-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "Jennifer/Guinevere"
<Chillin0016@c...> wrote:
> Hi, my name is Jennifer. I'm almost 20 and I think I might have
> narcolepsy. I was wondering if I could get some personal accounts
to
> see if the "symptoms" I am having are in fact symptoms of
narcolepsy,
> or are just coincidence or things that normal people experience.
>
> First, I do suffer from eds; I have been for about a year-and-a-
half.
> I doze and fall asleep doing all sorts of things, mostly while
> studying and while driving. I've also fallen asleep while talking
to
> my therapist or on the phone, while eating, while taking notes in
> class, and (of course) while laying down in the afternoon. I tend,
> though, to not even be able to sleep when it gets late at night, no
> matter how hard I try, and even if I've managed to stay awake most
of
> the day. This confuses me.
>
> Second, I've read some about cataplexy, and the only way I can
relate
> it to myself is that it's a "brief loss of muscle tone stimulated
by
> intense emotions." This happens to me in my legs quite frequently,
> usually when I get stressed and anxious, though I don't think I've
> ever collapsed from it. On the other hand, I'm usually sitting down
> when it happens. Also, when I laugh really hard (say, a six or
higher
> on a scale from one to ten), my knees can and often do buckle from
> laughing and I can't get up until I calm down. Does everyone do
that
> or is that cataplexy?
>
> Thirdly, I go into REM sleep almost as soon as I fall asleep. I can
> take a ten-minute nap or fall asleep in class and have the most
> bizarre dream or dreams. Also, they're usually related to what's
> going on in the room; at least, they'll start out that way, and
then
> become something else entirely.
>
> Fourth and finally, I *have* had hypnogogic hallucinations in the
> past year-and-a-half. At least, I think I have. I'll wake up about
> half-way in the middle of the night, or have an incredibly vivid
> dream, and then the next day I honestly *cannot* distinguish
whether
> it was real or a dream.
>
> The only one of these "symptoms"--and I put it in quotations
because
> I have not yet been diagnosed--that bother me is the daytime
> sleepiness and falling asleep. It's quite a hazard, and I'm worried
> it will disrupt my education (I'm a full-time college student) or
> that I'll get into a serious accident while driving.
>
> Thanks for any help or advice anyone can offer me,
> Jennifer e.h.