It’s ranting time before I go to bed!

Can I just say that my biggest pet peeve is when I tell someone I have narcolepsy and they respond with “Ugh, I know how you feel, I’m tired ALL the time!”

NO. YOU DON’T. SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP.

It makes me furious that people assume that their tiredness from staying up late/not getting good sleep/etc. is comparable to a narcoleptic.

Now, I’m not saying it’s some kind of contest, because sleep deprivation of any kind sucks, but when you equate your sleepiness to my narcolepsy, you may as well be comparing a stubbed toe to a broken leg. That’s how ridiculous you sound.

Fun Fact: People with narcolepsy CONSTANTLY feel how a non-narcoleptic feels after 24-48 hours of sleep deprivation. Don’t sleep for two days straight, and then you’ll know how I feel. Every. Day.

I was only diagnosed recently, so before my treatment started, I was sleeping in all my classes and as soon as I got home. My grades TANKED, and everyone told me “Well you’re just lazy.” or “Well maybe if you didn’t stay up so late.” or other asinine remarks. I hated myself because I a thought I was a lazy loser. What I thought was normal was extreme sleep deprivation. I was deathly tired all day and could hardly sleep at night no matter how tired I was. I wondered why the hell everyone else and their mom could cope with being tired and I couldn’t.

And then I had a sleep study. To save the details, I was diagnosed with a severe case of narcolepsy and a fucked up sleep architecture.

They put me on the maximum legal dose of Ritalin to keep me awake, and even that doesn’t work as well as it ought to, so I may have to go up to a stronger drug. I also take Trazodone so I am able to sleep at night. I take multiple medications just to try and normalize my sleep-wake cycle.

But I still take frequent naps on a daily basis in order to just function.

So no, your moderate tiredness is nothing like my narcolepsy. So shut up before I deck you in the jaw.