Living with Narcolepsy Type 2: Why I Keep Hitting Snooze

One thing you may not know about me is that I have Narcolepsy without Cataplexy.

I know what you're thinking—the person in the movies who suddenly falls asleep mid-sentence and collapses onto the floor. That form is Narcolepsy Type 1, which includes cataplexy. I have Narcolepsy Type 2, a neurological disorder that affects the brain's ability to regulate normal sleep-wake cycles.

Some of the symptoms include excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep paralysis (an inability to move while falling asleep or waking up), disrupted sleep, hypnagogic hallucinations (vivid dream-like experiences while falling asleep), and hypnopompic hallucinations (similar experiences while waking up).

As a child, I was always a sleepy person with unusual sleeping patterns and incredibly vivid dreams. Sometimes I would be half awake and still "see" my dreams playing out over my bedroom. I often woke up, got dressed for school or practice, and then went back to sleep for ten minutes—still wearing my shoes.

I always needed my mom as a backup alarm to make sure I hadn't slept through the real one. Once I moved out, I started putting alarms across the room so I would have to physically get out of bed to turn them off. Sometimes I even relied on annoyed roommates to make sure I was awake.

Being a passenger in a car? Instant nap.

At the time, all of this seemed normal. I was a busy college swimmer, after all. Of course I was tired, right?

Classes were an adventure. I drank enormous amounts of water. During the first half of class, drinking helped me stay awake. During the second half, needing to use the bathroom helped me stay awake. Some classes I still nodded off in. For others, I stood in the back of the room just to stay alert.

After college, I worked in environmental education. My days often stretched to 16 hours and involved hiking, teaching, and entertaining groups. Again, who wouldn't be tired?

It never occurred to me that sleeping until late afternoon on weekends and still feeling exhausted wasn't normal. My family has never been quick to run to the doctor, and many things that might have seemed unusual were simply accepted.

Then I met Krissy.

She was the first person who consistently pointed out that my level of tiredness wasn't normal.

My primary care doctor referred me to a sleep specialist, and I went through a series of tests. At various points, doctors tried antidepressants. They checked my thyroid and found it slightly out of range, so I started medication. Nothing helped.

My nighttime sleep studies didn't show anything remarkable. Many people with narcolepsy struggle with obesity because food becomes a way to stay awake. At that point, I was slim and relied on water and exercise instead.

Finally, it was time for the narcolepsy test.

What an amazing 24 hours.

After spending an hour getting hooked up to wires and monitors, I slept overnight for nine hours. The next day consisted of ten scheduled naps. Ten!

The routine was 45 minutes awake, followed by 15 minutes trying to nap.

During every single nap, I entered REM sleep within one minute. This means I can sleep anytime, anywhere, and for any amount of time.

The sad part? Even after all that sleep, I was still tired.

After my diagnosis, I tried sleep schedules and multiple medications. Only one truly worked: Xyrem, a medical-grade form of the drug better known for its unfortunate reputation as the "date rape drug."

For the first time that I could remember, I felt awake.

Of course, I turned out to be allergic to it.

Of course.

So it was back to drinking water, exercising, standing during meetings, pacing while I worked, and always keeping my hands or body busy when watching TV.

Okay, that was a very long backstory just to ask a simple question:

To snooze or not to snooze?

When your alarm goes off in the morning, do you jump out of bed or hit snooze?

How many times will you snooze in a row?

Do you set your alarm early just so you can hit snooze a few times?

I really try not to hit snooze, but you can ask Krissy—I fail regularly.

I often keep hitting snooze until I'm dangerously close to being late. I set multiple alarms just to make sure I eventually get out of bed. There have also been plenty of times when I've slept straight through them.

Thankfully, Krissy is very good at bringing my attention to my alarms while somehow managing to ignore my endless snoozing.

Greta, our dog, also has a sixth sense for knowing exactly when to lick my face and force me out of bed.