Question 1

Here is the answer to question one.

1.) What specific symptoms of narcolepsy do you experience? For example, do you have to take two naps during the day, do you get cataplexy, do you begin to do things and then forget that you are doing them? Be as specific as you can. Tell me the exact length of your naps (if you need them), and tell me the exact details of a muscle weakness attack (if you get them).

* I have the kind of narcolepsy where I cannot fall asleep unless I am laying down perfectly flat and despite contemporary diagnosis I do not ever feel refreshed when I wake up. I have trouble falling asleep at night and do not fall asleep until the early morning. During the day I can fall asleep at any moment as long as I lay down perfectly flat and can remain that way for hours on end, even days at a time. I am prone to sleepiness all of the time and cannot feel comfortable in any position unless I lay down. I try and have one long nap (3-4 hours) during the afternoon but sometimes I do not wake up again till the next day.


* I have facial cataplexy and I lose complete control over my facial muscle tone and my ability to speak at the drop of a hat. I am in a complete stupor all day long and sometimes when I am shocked or startled I cannot move. For instance I cannot play sports to any degree of success at all because I am consistently in a stupor. If you ask me a sharp question or a series of questions rapidly I have facial cataplexy and cannot speak. My cataplexy lasts long enough that it is noticeable and sometimes I will go into a complete facial paralysis for as long as someone is speaking to me. I have absolutely no control over this at all. And, if I feel physically threatened I will fall down. I will buckle at the knees and collapse. I am incapable of physically defending myself.


* I have no consistent order in my life at all. I cannot remember from day to day what my overall long term goals are. I start projects and within 2 weeks I have forgotten them. I cannot remember other peoples names whenever I am introduced to new people until about the third or fourth visit consistently. I never remember other peoples important dates like their birthdays, fathers day, mothers day and I am always missing important dates of my own. During the day I can not remember one thing from the next. I have to consistently double check everything that I do in order for it to be accurate. And, I forget simple commands and misinterpret orders.

Additional symptoms:

I have an insatiable appetite. I have insatiable sexual desire and have abnormally high sexual relations with myself and others. I can not resist the urge to masturbate frequently.

I have sleep paralysis often. Sometimes I have dreams of either not being able to move some of my limbs in active physical dreamscape's or I have dreams of a loud screaming where I am paralysed while falling. During these episodes I am often terrified and though I try I cannot move wake up until they are over.

I have lucid dreaming states that can last from minutes to hours to even days. In my dreams I am often in control of all the dream facets. It is like another world where I am God.

I have active and present Hypnagogic hallucinations when I awake and when I fall asleep and sometimes even during the day. I can hear other people having conversations though they are not there. It is often so bizarre that I can engage these voices in actual conversation and the dialogue exchanged is not unintelligible. I am often shocked and surprised at the number of things I can learn from these invisible voices and the quantity of information they are willing to share with me and the quality and relevance of that information. (I can also tell you more or give you specific examples of some of these conversations. It is similar in nature to the divining of Edgar Cayce.)

I have automatic behaviour. I often drive for very long distances without being able to recall any of the events of the trip. I often read many chapters of a book without being able to recall any of what I have just read. (Though on an exam I am then able to recall the relevant facts and score quite well.) And, I often have to double check day to day tasks because I cannot remember what I have been doing over the last several minutes to hours.

The symptoms of narcolepsy have completely devastated my life. I have sever and serious social, personal, and professional problems because of my symptoms.

I have had narcolepsy since I was very young. As a result of the many international inoculations I had as a child travelling frequently between three different countries and a flu I caught at about the age of 5, I have never slept well again.

The symptoms of Narcolepsy run through my family in the classic maternal to son bond. My mother has excessive symptoms of narcolepsy. My younger brother also displays symptoms of a major sleep disorder. So, does one of my female cousins and my Grandmother now deceased on my maternal side displayed symptoms of Grand Mal Seizures, Megalomania and Narcolepsy as well.

To date none of us have ever been diagnosed nor treated succesfully.


Carloss