I am pretty sure that most of you are pretty unacquainted with the condition known as narcolepsy. Well, I can let you in on a few things, all from personal experience. First of all, it usually occurs sometime in adolescence. For me, it was a bit different than that. Namely, I was almost thirty when I discovered I had narcolepsy. Another piece of information – it affects more people than you would think. Or at least as many as some much more publicized conditions like multiple sclerosis affects.
Another strange fact is that the scientists still do not know what causes narcolepsy. There are a number of suggestions, but there is still no consensus on what it is that actually causes narcolepsy.
As I already said, I was almost thirty when I started experiencing first signs of narcolepsy that I didn’t even dream could be signs of narcolepsy. It all started with me becoming unable to sleep properly. I fell asleep like a log, immediately. Not like usually, when you first have that half sleep and then you actually go out. I also started dreaming the moment I fall asleep. And all of that I could have ignored. However, I started waking up all the time during night. It was really a nuisance.
And then the nuisance became a real problem when I started being unable to stay awake during the day. I would fall asleep at my desk at work. Of course, my boss had no patience for this and he thought that I was drinking or taking drugs, something like that. I myself didn’t think it was an illness or anything. I thought I was just exhausted and that it is a phase.
However, when it continued for more than a month, I decided to talk to someone. My doctor sent me to a sleep specialist who ran some tests, monitoring me during sleep. He also asked me if I experienced loss of muscle tone, or cataplexy as it is also known, when you suddenly feel certain muscles going limp and everything. I said that it never happened and that made him doubt his diagnosis that was up to that point narcolepsy.
However, when the results of the test were in, he had no more doubts about the fact I am suffering from narcolepsy.
I told him that I want a solution as soon as possible and he told me I should start taking Ritalin, a great medication for narcolepsy. So, I started taking Ritalin and it really worked like a charm for me. During the day I stopped feeling sleepy and my nighttime sleep became much better. I was also able to explain to my doctor what had been happening and he even apologized. So, an apology from the boss and a treatment for an illness. All Ritalin’s doing. Not bad at all.
