Posted by apryl on June 20, 2008 at 10:07:27:In Reply to: Re: How could I fail the MSLT :-( posted by herman on June 13, 2008 at 11:58:28:
I have high anxiety and for 2 weeks before the sleep test, I had to get off of all my anxiety meds. When I took the test, it took me awhile to fall asleep and I woke up several time during the night with my weird dreams and my heart would start pounding when I realized where I was.
During the daytime test, I fell asleep 3 out of the 5 times but just right before the 15 minute mark. Because I wasn't taking any meds for my anxiety, my body was in "high gear" and when I feel like that, I have a harder time with falling asleep quickly. If the doctor just went off the sleep study, he said I'd be on the fence as to the diagnosis of narcolepsy. (What really brought me in to him was my Cataplexy was getting out of control more than the narcolepsy.) The test that was conclusive to diagnosis me with narcolepsy was a blood test that showed I tested positive for one of the narcolepsy genes. Ask your doctor to order you this blood test:HLA - Narcolepsy Evaluation # 34399
I know how anxiety affects the body. In fact, my anxiety is what triggers my Cataplexy most of the time. When I treat my anxiety (Buspar, Xanax, and Seroquel), it helps lessens cataplectic attacks. I hope you find a good doctor.