UPDATE.
Ok, so I went in for a sleep study around a month ago. I slept through the night, even with all the electrodes and stuff attached to me. Strangely, I did not have any auditory hallucinations and didn't have any trouble falling asleep. But I'd had a difficult day at work and I was exhausted.
Over the next day at the lab I was put down for a half-hour nap every two hours. I knew they were monitoring me but I had no idea what they were measuring. I did have my own TV, the wireless connection was good, and the food didn't make me throw up.
Got my results back about a week before school started. The overnight study showed normal sleep patterns, good amounts of REM sleep and all that, but the daytime nap study revealed that I fall asleep abnormally faster than a normal person, a symptom of excessive daytime sleepiness and one that is compatible with narcolepsy.
The exact term for the condition they think I have is "narcolepsy without cataplexy." Cataplexy is the symptom that you always see in the movies where someone narcoleptic can just fall asleep without warning. That is not what happens with me.
The doc explained how when a person's body is physically exhausted, a gland in the brain releases a hormone to induce sleepiness. My problem is that this gland does not know when to shut the fuck up. Even when I'm physically rested, my brain is sending signals to my body to make it sleepy.
Went back to the original neurologist and went over the results with him. He seems to think that this daytime sleepiness may be the cause of the irritability and maybe possibly also the migraines, we still don't know about that. However, I'm already on Topamax for the migraines, which seems to help, so the priority was to get me on something that will help increase my alertness throughout the early part of the day so that I can do better in my morning classes.
The solution is an enforced sleep schedule of midnight to 8 to try and get my brain onto a sleepiness pattern, as well as a medication to help me wake up in the morning.
Provigil is what they call it. Seems to work pretty well, too. I pop a pill in the morning as soon as I wake up, and it kicks in after about an hour. It's really helping. Problem is, it doesn't last long, so I experience a massive crash at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. But that doesn't last because I've always naturally become more active starting around 6 in the evening, so I can deal with it.
So far, it looks like things are improving. I haven't had a migraine in several weeks, my general mood is better, I have more energy and inclination to exercise, and I'm having a much easier time paying attention and staying awake in class.
Ok, so I went in for a sleep study around a month ago. I slept through the night, even with all the electrodes and stuff attached to me. Strangely, I did not have any auditory hallucinations and didn't have any trouble falling asleep. But I'd had a difficult day at work and I was exhausted.
Over the next day at the lab I was put down for a half-hour nap every two hours. I knew they were monitoring me but I had no idea what they were measuring. I did have my own TV, the wireless connection was good, and the food didn't make me throw up.
Got my results back about a week before school started. The overnight study showed normal sleep patterns, good amounts of REM sleep and all that, but the daytime nap study revealed that I fall asleep abnormally faster than a normal person, a symptom of excessive daytime sleepiness and one that is compatible with narcolepsy.
The exact term for the condition they think I have is "narcolepsy without cataplexy." Cataplexy is the symptom that you always see in the movies where someone narcoleptic can just fall asleep without warning. That is not what happens with me.
The doc explained how when a person's body is physically exhausted, a gland in the brain releases a hormone to induce sleepiness. My problem is that this gland does not know when to shut the fuck up. Even when I'm physically rested, my brain is sending signals to my body to make it sleepy.
Went back to the original neurologist and went over the results with him. He seems to think that this daytime sleepiness may be the cause of the irritability and maybe possibly also the migraines, we still don't know about that. However, I'm already on Topamax for the migraines, which seems to help, so the priority was to get me on something that will help increase my alertness throughout the early part of the day so that I can do better in my morning classes.
The solution is an enforced sleep schedule of midnight to 8 to try and get my brain onto a sleepiness pattern, as well as a medication to help me wake up in the morning.
Provigil is what they call it. Seems to work pretty well, too. I pop a pill in the morning as soon as I wake up, and it kicks in after about an hour. It's really helping. Problem is, it doesn't last long, so I experience a massive crash at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. But that doesn't last because I've always naturally become more active starting around 6 in the evening, so I can deal with it.
So far, it looks like things are improving. I haven't had a migraine in several weeks, my general mood is better, I have more energy and inclination to exercise, and I'm having a much easier time paying attention and staying awake in class.
