Do I Have Narcolepsy?
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Do I Have Narcolepsy?

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Posted by Pi_Devo on November 18, 2009 at 12:44:47:

Hi, I've suffered from weird sleep symptoms since I was 13; I'm now 22. I've been told by various doctors that they're the result of depression, A.D.D., and fibromyalgia, but I don't fully fit any of those diagnoses. I recently looked up sleep disorders and found "narcolepsy", which sounds almost like the problem! But I'm not quite sure. Here are the symptoms:

~Can get an infinite amount of sleep and still feel the need to take a nap several hours later.
~Extreme fatigue sometimes, though it's usually moderate.
~Poor concentration and feeling "in a fog"; memory problems. Everything feels like a dream sometimes.
~Trouble sleeping during "normal" hours; sometimes I'll get in that afternoon nap, so I can't sleep till 4AM. Then I sleep a good 8 hours, and still need: that afternoon nap. It's quite annoying.
~I never thought of it possibly being related to my sleep issues, but I also get spurts of weak/slack muscles in my legs, which has caused two dislocated knees and 10+ sprained ankles. Does that sound like cataplexy? I can't recall there being any emotional trigger though . . .
~I never thought it was weird, but I do tend to dream AS I'm falling asleep. Ironically, these dreams often include a very real sensation of "falling." Sometimes the dreams startle me awake a few seconds into sleeping.
~I also often am woken up by startlingly "lucid" dreams, or dreams within dreams, where I think I'm awake but I'm not.
~When I can't sleep till 4AM and I have an early class that day, I drink a lot of coffee and just don't sleep till after class. When I do this, I experience what I can only call waking dreams--I can still sense reality, but it's like half my mind is trying to dream, and I get very vivid visions.
~And of course, this has had a significant result on my social and work life. I suspect that's the cause of my on-again, off-again depression, not the other way around.

Any insight into this matter would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Pi

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