Dreams

I haven't bogged in quite awhile. I have never blogged about anything so personal, but this one hit me deeply. Most don't know a lot about Narcolepsy. Many don't know much about lucid dreaming, so I am sure very few know the two go hand in hand. Lucid dreams can seem like more than just dreams. I liken it to stepping into an alternate reality, existing in a different dimension, because they are so vivid. You smell the scents. You feel the breath and touches pressed against you. Most importantly, you can feel every emotion that goes along with those experiences. Many time, for people with Narcolepsy, those realistic dreams can come in the form of terrifying nightmares. Yep, being a Narcoleptic, you run the gamut of, "which is the lesser of the evils?" We are already excessively sleepy to the point that the average person would have to go 24-48 hours without sleep to experience how we feel almost every single day of our existence, regardless of how much we sleep. When we are sleeping is about the only time we aren't sleepy. Imagine, however, that the only time you are supposed to have a reprieve from that, your mind becomes the breeding ground for monsters that might make Stephen King twinge, dreams so hideous,  you don't want to go back to sleep. Believe me, if you are someone who is sleepy almost 24-7 , that says a lot. Now if you add the fact that people with Narcolepsy frequently experience insomnia and fragmented sleep, it means that if we can actually sleep soundly, it feels as if we just discovered a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Narcolepsy is a very complicated illness. It is so much more than just falling asleep,  especially since we have trouble even doing that. Truth be told, if you average actual sleep time, we don't sleep anymore than the average person. In fact, in actual numbers, with fragmented sleep. It is probably less. I couldn't tell you when I last slept straight through for more than four hours at a time.
I always tell people that my brain operates on a different level than other people.  The honest truth is, I do feel that is true. Many may think it is weird,  but those who have experienced it will know exactly what I am talking about.

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