Question: Hi there,
I’m a 40 year old male and have had problems with my sleep most of my life. I currently suffer from EDS although I am able to control it and never fall asleep at work or driving. I will usually nap 2-3 hours during the day if needed.I have Hypnogogic hallucinations both visual and auditory usually every night before dropping off to sleep. These included seeing flashes of images, faces / objects ect, or more commonly snippets of conversations and odd voices. These are vivid and often prevent me from going into a deeper sleep for a while.I have had many instances of sleep paralysis throughout my life, however these probably happen only 2 or 3 times a year.I have never suffered from cataplexy, although there are a handful of occasions where I have become mentally confused during the waking hours and although fully conscious, it has left me feeling confused and wondering ‘what the hell happened there?’.My sleep patterns starts off ok, i.e. I seem to fall asleep with relatively no problems at night however I usually wake every night 60-90 minutes after first falling asleep. I usually awake to hallucinations which can last 1-2 minutes. These are a lot more vivid than the ones when i’m dozing off and are always visual. The remaining nights sleep is then quite broken, and may or may not include further hallucinations, which I suppose counts for my sleepiness during the day. The broken sleep I mean.I’ve just been tested negative for sleep apnea and my Doctor has sent me for a blood test for iron deficiency for which i’m waiting results.Although I’ve had these symptoms for many years, I’ve only just started reading about Narcolepsy after my sister got a diagnoses early this year. I don’t wish to jump the gun and am very weary about diagnosing myself (with the help of Dr Google), and also don’t want to waste a lot of peoples’ time if it turns out I don’t have Narcolepsy.Does anyone have any similar stories? Such as daytime sleepiness without cataplexy.Any help would be most welcome. Sorry for going on.All the best,Steve