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Can it be narcolepsy or other disorder

Hello everyone! My name is Desislav,35 years old,i live in Bulgaria. Before almost an year and half ago something strange happened to me. as I was driving my car I fell asleep and when I woke up the car was in oncoming traffic. I was very startled, but after 200-300 meters I fell asleep a second time. this happened April 2022. After that day I slept for 17 hours these sleep attacks became a daily occurrence. in a little more than a month, I gained about 12 kg/ from 80 kg to 92 kg/. The first doctor I visited diagnosed me with sleep apnea. I didn't leave things like that and visited another doctor, who ruled out sleep apnea because of my good saturation during sleep/ the lowest value was 93.8/ . I was burdened with a lot of personal and professional problems. I started systematically waking up 20-30 times a night. I wake up in the morning tired and very irritable. Over time, other problems appeared - under the influence of a specific emotion during a conversation, I began to slur my speech as if my tongue refused to work. At the same time, other conditions similar to cataplexy began - uncontrollable head relaxation. Under the influence of another emotion / maybe anger / I started to lose control over my legs and arms. several times I enter a state of sleep paralysis / the last time was almost 10 min, the previous times for about 10-15 sec / . I started to fall asleep while eating dinner or the sleep attack was so strong after dinner that I could not control it at all. After my work engagements decreased, the night waking disappeared, but was replaced by delirium, speaking of "I am" /relatively often/. Soon I think that it did not happen. After many visits to doctors / almost every one of them sooner or later told me "I don't know what's wrong with you" / I decided to take matters into my own hands and the first thing he did was to solve the problem I had with my stomach - I had acid reflux no matter what I was ate I got tired easily, if I ran 20-30 m, my legs would cramp and I couldn't get enough air. It turned out that the iron in my blood is very low / 7.80 with values ​​of 11-36/ This problem was solved easily, we fixed the problem with the stomach and intestines, but everything else remained the same. I have been a firefighter for 11 years and this has been a huge problem in my line of work. At the moment I follow a certain diet and have lost about 2 kg, I don't get tired so easily and my legs don't cramp. the gastroenterologist advised me to consult a neurologist and a psychologist. The whole year 2022 in general was littered with very serious problems / infertility treatment for me, after my wife got pregnant after about a year in the 6th month we had to have an abortion, I experienced a car accident and a lot of problems with my colleagues in the last 3 years… / Hell I'm 35 and in the last 2 years I've grown a lot of white hairs on my head… The post has become very long, but still maybe I'm missing something… What's your opinion? How many of you have the same symptoms?

  1. Hi . Welcome to the community! I am glad you found us. You must be very frustrated at this point. Please keep in mind that we are not medical experts as you read any posts that follow. At this point, it sounds like it would be helpful to see a neurologist, preferably one who specializes in sleep disorders. The symptoms you describe sound indicative of narcolepsy, but only a doctor who is familiar with narcolepsy will be able to tell you for sure. Here is an article about the diagnostic process that might interest you: https://narcolepsy.sleep-disorders.net/diagnosis. Here is another article about treatments for narcolepsy that might help you understand the condition even more: https://narcolepsy.sleep-disorders.net/treatments. I hope this helps and that you get answers and the treatment you need and deserve. Keep us posted if you don't mind. Best wishes. - Lori (Team Member)

    1. is there some treatment for narcolepsy? In my country this disease is rare and relatively unknown

    2. Hi . Narcolepsy is a rare disease, so I am not surprised you are having trouble finding doctors who are familiar with it. This article, which I also shared above, discusses treatment options for narcolepsy: https://narcolepsy.sleep-disorders.net/treatments. There are also links within the article you can click for more information. Maybe you can print out the article and bring it to your next doctor's appointment to help start a conversation with your doctor. - Warmly, Lori (Team Member)

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