7 signs that you might have Narcolepsy

Afraid you might have Narcolepsy? Well, I'm no sleep doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Okay, that's a lie, but I am Narcoleptic, so here are 7 signs that you should go see a sleep doctor and you should do it quick!

7. You don't remember the last time you woke up feeling refreshed

The body uses sleep as a way to renew your energy supply. Try to remember the last time you woke up and felt refreshed? If you can't remember that is a major red flag. For me, it was the first indication that I had a problem. As it turns out, most Narcoleptics rarely, if ever, wake up feeling refreshed. This is because Narcolepsy is a condition in which the body is unable to regulate a healthy sleep cycle. 

6. You've fallen asleep doing something ridiculous ... like brushing your teeth!

It sounds ridiculous, but it's happened to me. If you wake up so groggy that you can complete tasks without remembering you did them (a symptom called Automatic Behavior), or you can't keep your eyes open while you're getting ready, you may just in fact suffer from Narcolepsy. Once again, it may not be Narcolepsy, but falling asleep while brushing your pearly whites is not something to brush off.

5. If your knees have ever buckled after feeling an exceptionally strong emotion (laughter, surprise, etc.)

One of the hallmark symptoms of Narcolepsy is Cataplexy, in which a person will suffer from temporary muscle weakness, most often occurring in the buckling of knees. People and animals with Cataplexy will actually fall to the ground in a split second without warning. This occurrence is usually associated with intense emotions, such as someone telling a joke, or being surprised. 

4. Your best friend in the morning is a full pot of black coffee

Once again, since a Narcoleptic's sleep cycle is out of whack, we don't wake up feeling refreshed. While many people often wake up in a groggy muddled haze, that feeling eventually fades. For the narcoleptic, this may not be true. In an effort to clear the haze and get going, non-diagnosed Narcoleptics often turn to pumping a stimulant in their body to wake up. I sure did! Before my diagnosis I would chug an entire pot of coffee in about ten minutes every single morning. Understandable, a person may not want to see a doctor based on their morning caffeine dependence alone, however it is another sign on the road to a diagnosis of Narcolepsy.

3. If you've ever woken up "paralyzed"

Another major symptom of Narcolepsy is sleep paralysis. In a normal sleep cycle, a person enters REM sleep, the deepest stage of sleep, after about 90 minutes. During REM sleep we dream, and to prevent us from acting out our dreams, we find ourselves unable to move during this time. Since Narcoleptics have an abnormal cycle we slip into REM almost as soon as we go to sleep and we often wake up from in the middle of a REM cycle. Waking up in the middle of a REM cycle can be scary if the effects of REM paralysis haven't subsided yet. 

2. You can fall asleep on command
During the day, if you feel like you are constantly trying to stay awake and alert, there's a good possibility you have some type of sleeping disorder. While many people stereotypically think Narcolepsy is when you fall asleep randomly, like mid-sentence, this is not really the truth. Narcolepsy is really characterized by feeling sleepy all day. A person won't necessarily fall asleep randomly, they will just fall asleep when they "let themselves". If this statement characterizes you, go see a doctor!

1. You dream during naps

This is actually how most Narcoleptics get officially diagnosed. As I stated earlier, REM sleep or dreaming normally doesn't occur until about 60-90 minutes into the sleep cycle. Thus dreaming during a10-20 minute nap is usually one of the tell-tale signs someone has Narcolepsy. 

If a doctor suspects Narcolepsy he/she will order a sleep study in which  he patient will visit a sleep clinic during the day. While at the clinic, and hooked up to a gazillion wires, they will be instructed to take a 20 minute nap every 90 minutes. During each nap they monitor if the patient fell asleep and what stages of the sleep cycle were experienced. This is done for a total of five naps.

After the whole process, my doctor told me how it worked, and I was shocked that not everyone dreams during their cat naps. I couldn't believe that wasn't normal.