Wikipedia describes narcolepsy as "...a chronic neurological disorder caused by autoimmune destruction of hypocretin-producing neurons inhibiting the brain's ability to regulate sleep-wake cycles normal"
When I hear this, all I can imagine is some weird little brain-robot chasing these spindly nerve-critters around my brain and shooting them with lasers. I like the idea that Wikipedia is editable, but I somehow don't think that they'd allow my description over theirs. Even if I did draw a little picture to go along with it.
WebMD describes it as "...a neurological disorder that affects the control of sleep and wakefulness. People with narcolepsy experience excessive daytime sleepiness and intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during the daytime. These sudden sleep attacks may occur during any type of activity at any time of the day."
It's a more people-friendly definition, which is probably why most people who go to WebMD find it so easy to diagnose themselves with this, that or the other thing. I probably did the same when I finally realized that I was sleepier than the average bear- including the months they spend in hibernation.
I haven't really found a definition of narcolepsy that I feel comfortable using. Generally, whenever I have to explain myself, I get flustered which of course triggers a bit of slurring and stammering- the most recent developments of my affliction- and I end up massacring my definition of it. It's been four years since I was first (somewhat) diagnosed with narcolepsy and have found that it's a lot more complex than you might think- and it's very easily misrepresented when you're trying to describe it and you don't exactly know what to say.
"...My brain's wonky and just wants me to sleep all the time. I'm Jess van Winkle. I can sleep for 16 hours in the day, and then sleep solidly through the night. Oh, and I have that thing where you fall asleep, but then you dream that you're falling so you jerk and wake up- but mine're pretty violent and happen over and over. And I have hallucinations. And sleep paralysis, and that 'old hag' thing where it feels like there's someone sitting on your chest and you can't breathe. When I get surprised or overwhelmed by something, I jumble my words up and my knees sometimes buckle."
...It doesn't make me sound very sane. But when I say something like the definitions given by Wikipedia or WebMD I feel like people underestimate the diversity of this condition and brush it aside as a very mild, often comical illness. And I'm guilty of doing the same, because it's so much easier to joke about falling asleep while listening to a professor drone on than it is to admit that you got up in the middle of the night to check that the door and windows were locked after hallucinating that someone broke in to your house.
So for whoever reads this- it's anecdotal and hopefully informative as well. I hope it helps you to understand more or less what my experience with narcolepsy has been and how it continues to change for better or worse. It's a sort of therapy for me to actually explain what's going on, and if it helps someone else with narcolepsy come to terms with the symptoms of this condition, then I'll have done my job.
