Edit: More stuff is going on now...it's in my next couple of posts...and I've since been diagnosed with narcolepsy after sleep studies and stuff... ------ I think I might be narcoleptic. I haven't done a sleep study yet, but the doctor who's been helping with my depression/anxiety disorders/mental health agrees that it's not unlikely. My friend is narcoleptic, and what she describes is very similar to what's going on with me... I can't (and never have been able to) maintain a normal sleep schedule. At night, I often have non-stop intense, vivid dreams, and wake up frequently. During the day, I'm exhausted, and desperately feel the need to sleep. I can usually stay awake because I'm taking concerta and wellbutrin every day...but I do fall asleep for a moment at random times, without realizing it. Sometimes I can still keep doing whatever I'm doing if I'm asleep, but I won't remember it. My memory is full of gaps. Several times a week, I get sleep paralysis and hallucinations. I'll hallucinate conversations that never happened (and I mix up dreams with reality.) It's very hard to wake up to go to school, and I have to be woken up 10 times...I have no recollection of the first 9 times, even if I had a conversation at one of those times. All of this is making me very dysfunctional, more so than before.
I went and did a sleep study and got diagnosed with sleep apnea, so I'm using a CPAP breathing machine at night, which makes me sleep a lot better. It's helping somewhat with making me less tired...I'm still extremely sleepy, but my brain doesn't feel as lethargic. I'm still falling asleep randomly several times a day, and hallucinating sometimes. I also have really bad cataplexy. Pretty much, every time I laugh or feel too depressed/angry/happy/whatever, all my muscles get very weak and paralyzed and I fall to the ground. This happens at least 30 times a day Usually I can't move for about 5 seconds, but a few times, I was totally paralyzed for 2 or 3 minutes. . Cataplexy is the same muscle paralysis that people have during REM sleep, but it happens suddenly while I'm awake, triggered by laughter or strong emotion. It's really fucking frustrating. The doctor initially thought I just had severe sleep deprivation from sleep apnea, but now he thinks it's very likely I have narcolepsy, considering that I'm still sleepy after treating the apnea, and that cataplexy is unique to narcolepsy...so I need another test for narcolepsy, which the doctor said he'll have me do in about a month. It's really hard to deal with everything and it's all just getting worse. I can't function or do much of anything and I'm taking some time off school for a while, until I can get stuff under control. I don't know how I'm going to manage even for another month. Does anyone on here have narcolepsy/cataplexy? Or does anyone else experience this kind of stuff?
I did the test for narcolepsy, but I was so extremely anxious that I could hardly sleep, and it came out negative. The doctor is assuming it's a false negative because all the symptoms are there, and I've had several cataplexy attacks in his office, which he's seen. So the diagnosis is narcolepsy, despite the test, and he's putting me on narcolepsy and cataplexy meds, which I'm going to start tomorrow.
best of luck to you, i have hypnogognic jerks as i fall asleep...and sometimes when im awake, it feels like im electrocuted...but before that happens i hallucinate and my breathing slows to a crawl. I think mines got something to do with excessive tension over the years has kind of worn my nerves thin...esp unconscious breathing.
