TYA: One of my recurring nightterrorsis drivingaround this windy mountain road,and as soon as I gettoward the top, my car just kindof goes off the cliff.I feel myself weightless,but like I literally cannotmove.I thought narcolepsy was what wesaw on TV.I had no basis for understandingit, and I never donemy own research to actuallyfigure out what narcolepsy was.
I struggled for a long timebefore I was diagnosedwith narcolepsy.I had lots of blood work.I had lots of medications.I think the biggest struggle wasthe inability to do things whenother people wanted you to dothem.I suffered in silence until Iwas able to go to the doctorand say, this is what I'mexperiencing.Prior to that, I didn't reallyhave a lot of control.
I had a great college experiencesocially, but academically I wassuffering.And that was a really big issuefor me,because I was so proud of beinga good student.I would nap during the day,because I wouldn't sleep verywell at nightand then miss all my classes.I tried to do all the thingsthat I thought would keep meawake: lots of chocolate,lots of coffee,things with caffeine.It was hard to explainto someone, especially a manageror supervisor,that something is wrongbut I can't tell you what it is.I lost control of my life.
It was a huge reliefto be diagnosed with narcolepsy,because I was able to finallysay this is the problem.And this is what I needto resolve the problem.Treatment has beenlife-changing.The ability to take stimulantsthat are not coffeeand chocolate that actually workhas been amazing.One of the ways that I tryto start my dayis to reaffirm what my goalsare.I really got to stickwith some sort of routine.So I will go to my bulletjournal and go to my schedule,and try to figure out what Ineed to do to make that daywork.I love being able to use lotsof colorsto kind of getmy creative juices flowing.
Getting diagnosedwith narcolepsy made it so mucheasier to thinkabout the future, and so I wasable to be more hopeful.I now had a plan.Being able to do the thingsthat I enjoy and the thingsthat I lovemakes a huge difference.