Nothing as exciting as a bloody nose (sadly the highlight of my week) but if you have trouble staying awake during the day and think your brain may be defective like mine, read on.
From a letter to a co-worker who is having sleepy issues:
1. Get a neurologist. This may take a referral from your family doctor. There are many out there but you may have to go through a couple to find one that works for you. I fired my first neurologist because he didn’t really listen to me.
2. Have neurologist do a genetic blood test – doesn’t prove you have it, just that you are a possible candidate for it.
3. Have neurologist set up a sleep study (did mine at Covenant in Saginaw). They will put goop in your hair, plug in wires all over you and then tell you to “sleep normally” – worth it for the experience alone. Again, if you don’t show apnea (which if you do is very correctable), they will keep you for a series of twenty minute naps – which is also fun, like constantly shifting from fifth gear to first all day. You will then be diagnosed one way or the other based on your REM patterns.
Also, one other symptom I forgot about. Sleep paralysis – I didn’t even know this was a symptom until a couple years after I was diagnosed, but I have had it happen ever since I was a child. At the beginning or end of your sleep cycle, have you ever felt like you were trying to wake up but you can’t and you can’t move? You’ll know because it’s a terrifying experience – basically feels like drowning. Being aware of it does help a little though.
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* Didn’t mention this in the letter, but important to clear up something often confused:
Narcoleptic – someone who constantly needs to sleep
Necropheliac – someone who constantly needs to sleep with dead people
One is a neurological disorder while the other is more of a hobby.