I would not have fallen asleep while running, I would not have been able to stand up straight while asleep, and I would not have been that awake when I did wake up.

And, while where here, most media portrayals of narcolepsy are not accurate, but I am also not offended at my disorder being played as a joke. However, I’ve never actually watched the whole of Rat Race or Duce Biggalo or any other movies portraying narcoleptics so maybe that had something to do with it.

No, if I were actually having a “sleep attack” right now, my text would look like:

Great quennfcvlp cd pains jxpspjhmd

Being medicated has been enough to keep me functional. Except for when I’m stressed, didn’t get enough sleep (like coming home late from a recent trip and having to wake up for work in the morning), or when the conditions are just right, I am pretty much “sleep attack” free.

What lead you to seek diagnosis?

[I hope I don’t get too much hate for this, but I understand if it comes]

I had about a 40 minute commute on the highway, and I had an accident. No one else was involved, which was pure luck (people have often said I have a guardian angel watching over me about these things). But my car was 100% totaled and I was just fine (maybe a little sore) and I was fucking scared. When I was explaining it to my SO, I mentioned maybe it was narcolepsy (due to a video I saw that I wish I could find), and so we got an appointment with a sleep doctor.

Are you taking corrective meds?

Two kinds, an amphetamine for day time and a very strong sedative for nighttime.

How does or did it impact your everyday life?

The short answer, without getting into any stories:

• It was a struggle through high school and college (causing me to stay in college 11 years).
• I was spoken to by more than 3 supervisors (of my career job) about sleeping on the job.
• I should not have been driving for that long, but I was dropped from my insurance and got many tickets, paid lots of money, and never actually hurt (anyone except maybe a bunny, unconfirmed).
• I basically didn’t have a life after work. It was straight to sleep, either in the car or as soon as I got in the door.
• Above meant I was fat because when you have no energy, you eat fast food or easy to cook and you don’t have the energy to work out.
• It also meant I was pretty messy because cleaning also took energy.

So, much of life was a struggle. And I don’t have it as bad as some others (especially my cataplexy, which is a weakness in the knees and arms that comes with my type of narcolepsy).

I actually am at a level where, as long as I’m medicated, and I’ve gotten enough sleep, I’m fine to drive in most circumstances. I also know my triggers (what makes me feels sleepy), limits (how far can I go, etc), and tells (how I know the sleep attack is oncoming). I also have techniques for undoing my triggers (cold air, for example), and also ways to stimulate the part of my brain that controls that sleepy feeling.

However, when I was diagnosed, my doctor did not tell me that and he well should have because I was not safe and it was a fucking wonder I didn’t kill myself or others. People said I had a guardian angel, but I think it was really just my conscious mind keeping me me from crashing in between struggling against the sleep demon.

Most people with narcolepsy can still drive.

What do they prescribe for this? Stimulants?

Stimulants: amphetamines in the morning, and a strong sedative for night time. I am actually taking a lot less amphetamines since losing more weight and getting healthier. I recently started the sedative, which allows me to take even less by making me sleep longer. Narcoleptics go into REM too fast, which means their sleep cycle is over quick, and it goes quickly past the deep sleep stage, which is really beneficial to the body (and negative to get less of it like a narcoleptic does).

Edit: sorry I missed your second question!

Does something set you off? (e.g. getting excited)

I’m nervous talking to people I’m not close with (co-workers), and it happened a couple of times when I was talking to them, and a couple times laughing, but that is just the cataplexy (weakness in the limbs).

My sleep attacks aren’t triggered by emotions but amount of sleep, amount of stimulation, and environmental factors. These three are like a triangle chart and if any two of them are low (or too much in the case of environmental factors), or any one is extremely low without others compensating with high levels, that is what triggers me. And as I said in another comment, I can do things like manipulate my environment (colder temps, more stimulation) to compensate as well.

Not OP, but they prescribe stimulants to help you wake up and stay awake during the day and sleeping pills to help you sleep at night. Most people with narcolepsy also have some form of insomnia.

I’ve never fallen asleep while doing something truly stimulating. Boring to me tv show or movie while comfy, sleep at 10pm, TV show that has me gripped, binge until 2am. I have a memory from my teens of watching a good movie in the theaters, no issue, but a friend dragged me to see it a second time and I passed out.

Absolutely, me too. If my brain is stimulated, then I’m at no risk (unless other factors are against me).

It was crazy to see the EEG showing me hitting REM with 15 minutes. Sometimes I feel like I’m conscious and experience REM.

Mine was more like 2 minutes. My doctor once called me “extremely narcoleptic”.

Thanks for chiming in and sharing your experience! I used to have a really great narcolepsy community over on R*ddit, and that is one of the few things I miss about that place.

It probably is, and fixing my poor sleep hygiene would get me better sleep, but I am sleeping enough and medicated enough to get by. However, as it becomes winter where I am, I have to be more careful. I definitely have to get 8+ hours in bed, though.

Yes, and I’m not as narcoleptic as others I’ve heard because I can medicate and function. But I do have one of the smallest sleep latencies (how fast I enter REM sleep) of any narcoleptic I’ve encountered.