Thankyou, Jan, for your kind and helpful words.  Although I never had experienced any rise in blood pressure, because I could no longer endure the eternal "raciness" and the wasting of my body, I stopped taking it . . .not long after, blessed Provigil came into my life.  I literally burned rubber on the local highway of our sleepy town in eager anticipation to get to the drug store to fill my prescription.  I am one satisfied sleepy head!

 

Thanks again . . .I hope to hear from you again soon . ..

Janice

----- Original Message -----
From: Jan Saecker
Date: Friday, December 1, 2006 10:58 am
Subject: Re: [Narcolepsy-Chat] How wonderful Narcolepsy-chat exists!
To: Narcolepsy-Chat@yahoogroups.com

> You need to take a weekly break (like Sundays) from ritalin, so
> it doesn't do you in. It raises blood pressure dangerously, and
> once you begin taking it, you need more and more, unless you
> break the cycle for down-days, to get back to 2 pills a day.
> Ritalin usage is akin to cigarette smoking: the more you take,
> the more you need.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: AMI BICKFORD
> To: Narcolepsy-Chat@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 10:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [Narcolepsy-Chat] How wonderful Narcolepsy-chat exists!
>
>
>
> hi!!! I do already have a post but after reading
> yours.(linda).I believe I have almost met my twin when it comes
> to narcolepsy and its symptoms. I am glad to hear that there
> are employers out there that support you, as I am dealing with
> the ones who just dont quite understand. I am at the point
> where you were when you were taking ritalin and had to stand and
> walk around just to stay awake. I hold a "leadership" position
> at my place of employment but due to "restructureing" I will be
> doing a job more to that of an assembly line worker....very
> boring and repetative come December 18th. I am taking up to 15
> pills (ritalin) a day but unlike you has done nothing in the way
> of weight loss, which my doctor found "suspisious" which led to
> testing for apnea, which was positive.
> My in-laws also "get a kick out of" my cataplexy as mine is
> worse when I laugh....almost looks like I am having a seizure.
> Hypnogogic hallucinations are often. My worst one after
> discussing a tabloid story about gay males using gerbils for
> sexual pleasure....that night would of swore there were gerbils
> in my bed trying to crawl up my rear. LOL and yes i can laugh
> about it now but at the time was so real.
> I have had a couple of "close calls". Once when I fell asleep
> boiling water........smoke alarm woke me....and the second of
> which i fell asleep but not really asleep and having sleep
> paralysis knew my 3 yr old was standing in front of me but
> couldn't talk, move or do anything ....after what seemed to be
> eternity...was able to speak the words "throw water on momma's
> face" and that gave him much pleasure!!!
> Please god dont let him suffer with this.........as it is
> supposedly hereditery (not in my case though)
> Went through what I believe to be 2 years of doctor telling
> me change my diet, exercise, vitamins before sending me to a
> sleep clinic. I am told that narcolepsy is in the "genes" and a
> tramatic experience will bring the sympyoms to surface....which
> was in my case, I believe, was when I lent my father a
> motorcycle for a weekend in which I was going away and he got
> killed in an accident. Wether it be the grief of losing my
> father or the pure guilt of feeling like it was my fault...who
> knows.
> Now it is my turn to apologize for rambling............thanks
> for your story.......................AMI
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: remgal_ice
> To: Narcolepsy-Chat@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 9:11:19 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!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
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