My symptoms started to develop around the age of 14 and gradually became stronger and fully manifested. Self diagnosed through an online sleep quiz A year or two after the symptoms started I began to search the internet for sleep disorders because somehow I knew something was not right. At the same time, I did not know how to talk about or explain what I was experiencing and feeling. I stumbled upon a sleep quiz that had few and simple questions, but it addressed sleep and cataplexy. The results said “Narcolepsy – very rare”, and I felt it was right. But the “very rare” part made me think there was…
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First experiences of Sleep paralysis and Hallucinations
Dreams have been a big part of my life, even before I started having Narcolepsy symptoms. Hallucinations and sleep paralysis were not new to me, but at around the age of 15, I began to have particularly interesting experiences. In retrospect, these were episodes of sleep paralysis and hallucinations, but I never thought of them as such. Sleep paralysis When laying in bed and going to sleep, I started to feel something I could only describe as an invisible body laying on top of my body. It did not happen every night, but it happened often. I felt my body was being pushed down into the mattress and it was…
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First experiences of Cataplexy
Around the age of 14, my sleepiness was developing, but I also started to notice muscle weakness when laughing. In the beginning, like with the sleep, I did not pay much attention to it and not knowing any different I started thinking that it was just normal to feel weak when you laugh. These symptoms soon progressed and started to be more severe. I disliked these sudden onsets of paralysis and not being able to do anything about them. Laughing is my weakness My first memory of a cataplexy attack happened in our family kitchen. My father likes to joke around, and as kids, we were always laughing but for…
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First experiences of Excessive Daytime Sleepines (EDS)
I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy in 2007 at the age of 21, but when I look back my first memories of the symptoms start around the age of 14. I can recall these memories easily because the transition from no narcolepsy to narcolepsy happened in a house we lived in for about five years. Only during the last year in that house, the symptoms started to show. An irresistible urge to sleep I remember a time when I could study all day or read a book in my room without falling asleep. I also remember the first time I fell asleep in the middle of an exam and how strange…
