What Is Narolepsy

Awesome Toast! | What it feels like to have Narcolepsy

I promised a post soon that was health-related. This isn’t part of my Journey to the Jeans (which is doing better BTW), but it is something that’s been on my mind lately.

I have a sleep disorder. I was diagnosed in 2009 with narcolepsy. Since my diagnosis, I’ve kinda stayed quiet about it, for a variety of reasons, I guess mostly because sleep disorders are seen generally as a joke. But lately I feel more passionate about sharing- so I’m putting myself out there. A little. I really think more people have sleep disorders than realize. If any of this sounds familiar, don’t be afraid to ask your doctor!

What is Narcolepsy?

“Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the control of sleep and wakefulness. People with narcolepsy experience excessive daytime sleepiness and intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during the daytime. These sudden sleep attacks may occur during any type of activity at any time of the day.”  From www.webmd.com.

As my doctor explained it to me, my brain doesn’t regulate sleep cycles appropriately. My analogy goes somewhat like this: Imagine your brain has a sleep switch. It’s right next to the stress switch, laughter switch, crying switch, and a whole bunch of other switches. In a regular brain, you can switch things on and off independent of each other. In my brain, any one of the switches can trigger my sleep switch. I have no control over when, where, and how intense the reaction will be.

I should also explain here that narcolepsy can accompanied by cataplexy, the sudden loss of muscle control, or episodes sleep paralysis, instances where the person looks to be asleep but is actually aware of all that is going on but cannot wake up. People with cataplexy may experience fainting after laughing, loss of limb control in times of high emotion, or other muscle problems. I have not shown signs of cataplexy. This doesn’t mean I never will, I just don’t for now. (And I’m ok with that!) I have experienced sleep paralysis several times and it is awful.

Narcolepsy usually manifests between ages 15 and 25. Researchers are studying genetic predispositions and possible hormonal causes.

How did I get here?

When I was in college, I had ridiculous hours. (Who didn’t?) I stayed up until really late and then I slept in irregular, crazy patterns. Naturally, I was tired a lot of the time. I figured it was my own fault, no biggie. I drank a LOT of caffeine and dealt with it. What I didn’t think strange was that I could drink a Diet Coke before bed and have no trouble sleeping. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times in my life I’ve had a hard time falling asleep at night.

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