I had not heard of narcolepsy before my diagnosis. It's frustrating to try to get a diagnosis but I can't imagine why they wouldn't test you when you think you know what you have. I gave up on Drs after 7 yrs and money wasted, (and some gave up on me) but then I had a checkup with my GYN. He asked me if I had any other problems I wanted to discuss. I said, well, not really unless you have 10 more minutes to spare. He listened and said, you have described my brother and he has narcolepsy.

Same! When I tried to explain I was having cataplexy to my doctor ( 1998 ) he told me I was depressed since it was happening when I was laughing and when I was angry. He gave me Zoloft and sent me home. I sent myself to the neurologist and she said…” we need to get you to the sleep lab!”

I was falling asleep in school the whole way though. People would tease me about being able to sleep standing up. I always laid on a sofa or in a chair and just “pass out for 20-30 minutes and then be fine. It was embarrassing but people I knew got to expect it. Strangers would just think I was weird I guess. This went in for my whole life before formal diagnosis.

I diagnosed myself with Narcolepsy before I could get any doctor to listen to me. I googled my symptoms and I had all of them. The cataplexy symptoms were the ones that conviced me because I laughed and felt like I couldnt hold myself up and I couldn't explain why.....Same like you I battle with anxiety and depression since I was 11 and they always said that thats why I was low energy. It took me years and going through different doctors. They first just tested me for sleep apnea because Im overweight and were convince that also was my problem, yet i kept telling them that my boyfriend never complained of snoring or said I would stop breathing. When my poly was good they scheduled me again for another one and a MSLT which test for Narcolepsy. It was exhausting and frustrating.

Me. I did....they were doing tests after tests and nothing. I was googling a lot but never i mentioned cataplexy so always it found stuff like depression, bugs bites, boreliosis, cancer, etc.... But one day i came across this article about cataplexy and because only narcolepsy has this symptom i was like okay thats IT....