Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on things. Congratulations!

Bob


----- Original Message -----
From: "remgal_ice" <lindsayskye@...>
To: <Narcolepsy-Chat@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 20:11 PM
Subject: [Narcolepsy-Chat] How wonderful Narcolepsy-chat exists!


> Greetings to everyone at Narcolepsy-Chat!
> This is my very first posting and I am delighted that you
> exist! I have attempted to post in past but, due to my persistent
> technological difficulties, I did not realize (until just now) that I
> had not yet become a member.
> This has been an ongoing theme in my life since I first
> manifested the classic symptoms of narcolepsy with cataplexy at age
> 13 which began with my sleep attacks which I dreaded almost as much
> as cataplexy and certainly more than migraines. (I somehow believe
> that they are all inter-related . . .) At age 13 I had seen a film
> about an Apollo space mission disaster that failed because the
> astronaut in charge was unable to stay awake due to persistant sleep
> attacks . . .at age 28 I managed to persuade my husband to divert
> out honeymoon to include the Johnson's Space Center in Houston so
> that I might then investigate this disaster with which I had long
> identified . . . I soon learned that this disaster never, in fact,
> occured. I had dreamed it in reasponse to my growing concern for the
> sleep attacks that I had begun to experience as a child in the 8th
> grade . . . my in-laws took perverse interest and even pleasure in my
> cataplexy which broke my heart. Because my husband was seriously ill
> with complications from the Vietnam War and later passed. My catapexy
> attacks were frequently triggered and my Dr., then a psycho-
> endocrinologist, placed me on low doses of Imipramine which curbed my
> cataplexy some what (I still must be guarded in order to avoid
> potential triggers . . .people consistently describe me as "Ms.
> Spock" like the character on Star Trek who doesn't show human
> emotions) and also the hypnogogic hallucinations which my younger
> sister dispised as my screams would inevitably wake her up at all
> hours of the night. Although I been placed on Ritalin for the sleep
> attacks I became extremely thin and resembled the then popular Karen
> Carpenter. Yet, I would do anything for blessed wakefulness!
> On the day after my 33rd birthday I actually fell asleep
> on an ice skating rink! I fell directly on my head --- fortunately
> without experiencing a fractured skull or blood clot --- although I
> felt no pain, I did have profound hypnogogic hallucinations, many of
> which featured male nurses dressed in purple scrubs who attempted to
> serve to me multi-colored pills on silver coctail trays! I was
> certainly glad to be discharged the next day although I wish that my
> neurological state had been evaluated in greater depth . . .
> I have always expereinced difficulty in discerning dreams
> from actual wakefulness -- waking dreams -- this happens also, when
> especially tired (I have two part time jobs) and attempt to serve
> customers long after our store has closed, my pharmacist boss,
> fortunately, understands . . . I nearly always cannot remember
> whether I have actually experienced a phenomenon or whether I have
> dreamed it (this is very annoying as well as confusing and
> embarrassing).
> I bless the day when my wonderful neurologist put me on
> Provigil as it all but completely knocks out my sleep attacks giving
> me more confidence in myself than ever. In addition to working as a
> chashier in the pharmaceutical section of a local drug store, I also
> work as a master tutor in a nearby university where I help students
> with anatomy and physiology, neuroscience, psychopharmacology and
> advanced pathophysiology. Prior to Provigil I had to stand up for
> the entire day and walk, if necessary, in order to remain
> wakeful . . .sometimes even resorting to exercise! I HATED THAT SO
> MUCH! I HATED MY SLEEP ATTACKS MORE THAN ANYTHING! My boss would
> frequently need to bang on the door to the bathroom stall and
> yell: "Janice, wake up! Your next study group is here!!" I wanted to
> die for being caught sleeping on the job --- again! Neverhteless,
> my kind boss stood by me and kept me in her employ for ten
> years . . . and then when I told her that she would never again catch
> me sleeping on the job because I am now on Provigil, my boss, who is
> also a biochemist, threw her arms around me because, even before
> sharing this with her, she knew that I had narcolepsy! What a
> wonderful boss!
> I also have been in graduate school . . for two years I
> studies molecular anthropology and earned a Master's degree from
> University of Alaska Fairbanks. I remained in Fairbanks for an
> additional three years in oder to teach as an adjunct at Eielson
> Airforce base and also at Ft. Wainwright. I, too, had longed to
> join the military but my narcoleptic/cataplexctic history
> disqualified me from both the navy and the marines. At least I was
> able to serve as a professor . . . .
> When I attemted doctoral studies at SUNY Albany I met with
> disaster. I fell asleep during a graduate osteology class and the
> professor branded me "brain damaged". My supervisor, under whose
> direction I would have written my dissertation, dumped me and I left
> for home, with my beloved cat, joining my mother in her senior
> citizen's condo. It has been two years since then and the loving
> support of my neurologist and two bosses have sustained me . . . I am
> seriously considering returning to doctoral studies . . .this time
> for chronobiology and the study of a possible relationship between
> narcolopsy with cataplexy and the mood disorders (especially bipolar
> I).
> I very much look forward to chatting with anyone who wishes
> to contact me . . .sorry for my rambling!
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.2/559 - Release Date: 11/30/2006
>
>