Posted by Linda on May 14, 1998 at 09:57:48:

In Reply to: Re: Extreme difficulty in waking up in the morning posted by JoAnn on May 14, 1998 at 04:50:37:

Hi again,
Definitely! (In my opinion, according to my experience.) Thinking back to when I was a teenager and early 20's, I don't recall falling asleep randomly during the day. The only time during high school I remember "napping" was during exams. In college, I occasionally had to sleep when I got home because I was exhausted. (I was working a job too.) I've thought back trying to figure out how I handled it. Then I remembered there was a period of time in college that I took NoDoz or Vivarin, (which I don't recommend). It must have helped me get through. Then when I got a job teaching school, I came home every day exhausted, had to take a 3 hour nap. As the week wore on the more tired I got, until Saturday, I slept most of the day. I do remember always going to bed around midnight, with or without the nap, because I didn't feel sleepy until then. So that sort of goes along with your son taking awhile to get to sleep. Getting up in the morning was and is always hard. I hope I'm not boring you. I just feel like you never know what info will be of help.
Remember narcolepsy can be a very individual thing. I never thought narcolepsy was my problem because I never fell asleep in a public place or driving the car etc. I've only had a vivid dream once and that was upon awakening rather than upon going to sleep. I had 2 episodes of sleep paralysis as a teenager. I awoke from a nap and could hear and sense what was going on even see around the room, but I couldn't move or speak really. It was brief but strange. I've never had the cataplexy, muscles weakening, collapsing etc. from emotional responses. So everyone is different as to the degree and symptoms they display. You can see a sleep test is definitely needed to really prove it. But I strongly feel your son has some sort of sleep problem, whether it's narcolepsy or even a circadian rhythm type problem. It doesn't really sound so much like sleep apnea to me. I still think he'd benefit from a sleep evaluation. I wish someone else reading this forum would respond to you with their opinion too. I don't want you to go on just what I've said. But you might explore the archives to see if anything helps, if you haven't already. Good luck and God bless!

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