What It Feels Like to Have Narcolepsy

by Jimmy Kimmel, 35, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live | Aug 01 '03 Esquire

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Truth be told, I'd rather have narcolepsy than not have it. When I get
on a flight to Vegas, I'll fall asleep before the plane takes off and
wake up after it's landed. I'm always very close to sleep. [Yawns.]

I had no idea I had it until recently. All I knew about narcolepsy was
a character on Hill Street Blues, Vic Hitler the Narcoleptic Comic,
who would fall asleep in the middle of his act. But I did know that
every afternoon between about three and six, I would get very tired
for no reason. I would doze off in meetings, watching TV, even
driving. You know how when you're regular tired, your whole body is
tired? With narcolepsy, just the inside of your head is tired. It's
like somebody's gently sitting on your brain. You have almost no
focus. All you're thinking about is not falling asleep.

When I was emceeing Win Ben Stein's Money, I actually fell asleep
during the show a few times. I would sit on the safe over to the side
and just sort of doze off. But that was probably a combination of the
narcolepsy and Ben's voice. Another time I was on the freeway in
bumper-to-bumper traffic. My head was diving, then jerking back up.
All of a sudden, this loud voice over a megaphone says, "Are you awake
enough to drive that vehicle?" And I practically jumped out of my
skin. It was the police, one lane over.

Anyway, I just always figured I wasn't getting enough sleep, so I
would drink gallons of iced tea to get me through the afternoon.
Finally I went to a doctor. When I told him how much iced tea I drank,
he said, "What?!" He decided I was self-medicating, and he prescribed
these pills called Provigil.

I have a pretty mild case with no other symptoms. Some narcoleptics
experience cataplexy, which is a limpness in the arms and legs. I
don't have that. I'd like to, though. It sounds great. I've never used
my narcolepsy in my work, though I do have a dream to someday use up
an entire hour of television time by sleeping. Have I been approached
to be the public face of narcolepsy? No, nobody wants me associated
with their groups. I hope that changes, though. I would like to be to
narcolepsy what Camille Grammer is to irritable-bowel syndrome.


- As told to Brendan Vaughan
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