Sleeping at all the Wrong Times

I have Narcolepsy it is a condition; not a disease, therefore it isn’t catching.

For many years, I had been falling asleep during the day, even after eight hours sleep the night before. At first, I thought it was normal to be so tired all the time, as I had a daughter of two and a new baby. So what with washing, cooking cleaning and shopping, was it any wonder I was so tired?

When my daughters were in double figures, I went back to work. I was working in an open plan office, as a book-keeper, my job was to write up the ledgers. My books became very messy. I would wake up to find my cheek lying on the ledger. Pen still in hand, had meandered downwards. I used copious amounts of correction fluid to try to disguise the squiggly lines going down the page. My colleagues would go past my desk and bang on it. I would wake up with a jump; confused and guilt ridden. Inevitably over the years, I lost several jobs because of my tendency to go to sleep. This sleeping state is involuntary. I can’t help myself. Sometimes I am drowsy before I go to sleep; other times there is no warning. Yet, when I do fall asleep it only lasts for two to three minutes.

It was in 1981 I read a letter in the Manchester Evening News

from Dorothy Hand. She described my symptoms and gave my problem a name, Narcolepsy. I went to the very first meeting of the Narcolepsy Association in the UK. Thirty of us turned up. Narcolepsy knows no boundaries. Men, women and children can be affected by it, from housewives to teachers. It is thought that Winston Churchill had it.

After that first meeting, I went back to my doctor. Luckily, there was a locum on duty. I told him I believed I had Narcolepsy. Two weeks later, it was confirmed by a neurologist at Crumpsall Hospital. He gave me some Amphetamines. I took one when I got home, it made me feel so sick, I put the rest down the toilet and flushed them away.

I still have Narcolepsy. It’s incurable. I have learned to live with it.
Eva Moffat

Narcolepsy has two main symptoms.

Excessive daytime sleepiness: Showing itself as tiredness, sleepiness and lack of energy.

Cataplexy: This is a brief but sudden loss of voluntary muscle control. Usually triggered by emotions such as anger, or laughter. During a cataplexy attack, the Narcoleptic may lose control of his or her muscles and fall to the ground in a helpless heap. Though not all Narcoleptics suffer with this.

Now over twenty years later, The Narcolepsy Association is still going. It has expanded countrywide. Meetings are held in Manchester bi-monthly. If you or somebody you know has the symptoms, you can contact Eva Moffat on 0161 740 0353 for more information.
Eva Moffat