I’m sharing this because I have suffered from narcolepsy since high school or even before then, and while sleeping is often seen as desirable, for me it has forever been a huge problem, as described in this interview. When I was first tested for narcolepsy they did not have the more sophisticated tests they use now, but in one short “sleep EEG” I experienced every one if the narcolepsy symptoms except cataplexy. Oddly enough, or perhaps not so, I only “melt” to the floor when I belly laugh… but it’s also a “reliable” or at least predictable occurrence. In medical school, when we were joking around and I burst out laughing, I would literally find myself in a heap on the floor, while everyone else remained standing. I did not at the time understand why everyone did not collapse when laughing…It gives literal meaning to the acronym, ROFL, except that I cannot roll, only lie there in sudden weakness.
I have experienced so much of what ”Claire” describes in this interview, like dreaming before I fall asleep and confusing my dreams with reality. In fact, I frequently have to ask myself, was such and such real, a memory of something that really happened, or did I just dream it? But I have no way of knowing, except by virtue of having to ask myself that question, which usually means that whatever it is was in fact only a dream. Anyhow, this is a long preface to an informative if casual interview. I hope you read it. Please feel free to ask me questions as there is not an ability to comment on the article itself. The second article is about a newer narcolepsy drug, which I have also taken.
WAGblog: Dum Spiro Spero 