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Help, Scared to be diagnosed with N

Posted by aembree on August 22, 2005 at 08:43:59:

I am a 30yr old woman and I have been having problems with falling asleep uncontrollably for the past few years. It has progressively gotten worse in the last 6-8 months. I am falling asleep at work while at my desk and during meetings way more often. I have tried everything that I can think of to prevent it, but to no avail. I drink Boost, Red Bull, coffee, tea, Mountain Dew and anything else that I can get my hands on that contains caffeine to try and keep myself from falling asleep. I had to quit taking NoDoz because it upset my stomach. The other night I went to a heavy metal concert and fell asleep at the concert while sitting in my seat. It was so loud in there and I could not believe that I did it. My girlfriend got a little worried but I claimed lack of sleep at night and it was late. This is really becoming a big problem.

I am terrified to get diagnosed with N for fear that I would loose my drivers license. I have no one to drive me around if I loose my license and I refuse to ride the bus to work every morning since it would take me about 2 ½ to 3 hours just to get to work every morning and the same after work. I have not fallen asleep driving yet but I do have that fear that one day it might happen. I have often driven to work on my days off not knowing why I went there when I was going to the grocery store or somewhere else. I do tend to kind of drive on autopilot sometimes too. I sometimes pass through and light and about 200 yards past the light I think to myself…did I look to see if the light was green??

I do have a little bit of warning when I am about to fall asleep. I get very tired feeling as if I become very weak and my strength goes away and I start to have this weird daydream type feeling that feels like I am dreaming while awake. This really creeps me out and I try to stop it by getting up and walking around but sometimes I can’t get up. When this happens I am unsure if it is because I literally cannot stand up or that I convince myself that I am too tired to get up. I also fight the falling asleep thing the best I can. I will try and “shake it off” by literally shaking my head. Right before I fall asleep my face feels like I have lost control of all the muscles in it and I cannot hold my own eyes open then I will fall asleep. As far as I can tell the naps do not last long. Some are a few minutes and some are a few seconds but I am really unsure exactly since I have never really timed it.

Now for the most embarrassing part…sex. I fall asleep while having sex! How ridiculous. I cannot control it and it happens almost every time that I have sex. No matter how good or bad the experience is I will fall asleep at the worst times.

At night I have NO problem falling asleep. I can lie down in my bed and I am asleep within 5 minutes and I will sleep all night long. I never get up during the night but my dreams do wake me up occasionally. I go to bed about 10pm and get up every morning about 6:30am. I have really vivid dreams that make me think about them for hours after I wake up. I sometimes will spend a few days thinking about the same dream. When I feel like I am about to fall asleep at work in front of my computer I get this weird day dream thing happen and I will recall dreams from years ago.

My other issues that have developed in the last few months include crying for no reason and memory loss. The memory loss is really weird. I will forget the name of my own dog for a few hours or I will get up and walk to the kitchen and forget why I got up. I have never had issues with depression and as far as I know I am not depressed right now. Life is pretty good with my relationship, work, and financially. My family history is pretty clear other than breast cancer in my grandmother and heart attacks in my grandfather. But to my knowledge no one in my family has ever had N or depression.

If anyone has any advice or direction it would be greatly appreciated. I am really leery of telling any of my friends, family, or doctor that I think that I may be narcoleptic so I am really looking for advice about what I should do, will this get worse, and am I putting myself in danger by not being diagnosed.

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  • Sleep Deprivation due to Sleep Apnea and insufficient sleep are common and can present as insomnia, narcolepsy, or idiopathic hypersomnia. In infants and children sleep problems commonly present themselves as ADD or ADHD.


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