u/Successful-Web-4689

hi friends,

i just got a new job at a hospital and am having to fill out essentially a health screener for it. this job is not a patient care job and narcolepsy wise i'm looking forward to it because i'll be on my feet most of the time.

the form asks essentially if you have any medical conditions or receive treatments that might affect your ability to safely perform the job functions with or without accomodation. i don't foresee it as being a problem but i also don't know if it would be a good or bad idea to disclose it.

essentially am i shooting myself in the foot by not disclosing it should something happen, or am i still shooting myself in the foot making it known?

hi friends. i have autism and struggle understanding what cataplexy really means and what other people are experiencing. my next f/u is on wednesday and maybe i'm digging myself a rabbit hole to jump into, so i wanted to ask if this sounds similar to what anyone who does have cataplexy experiences before i talk to my provider about what i've been experiencing.

1. it's always when i am already a little more than baseline exhausted, usually after having exceptionally poor quality sleep or going to bed too late. but i don't feel like i'm having a sleep attack when this happens

2. i always get this tingly feeling that washes over me. to me it feels similar to when i get a hot flash, with the important difference being in these cases it is not hot-feeling

3. in all cases my vision usually unfocuses and it feels like i took my glasses off

contextual examples:

- someone at work was just very pointedly misunderstanding what i was saying and i got very frustrated. my eyes unfocused, i got the washy feeling, and it felt like my entire face was trying to fall off like it was super heavy. it felt like my words had to tumble around rocks in my mouth and it was very difficult to get them out in coherent way which made things worse

- my coworker was at work when i thought she was on vacation. i was so so so excited (she is an angel, you would understand if you worked with her) and i went to walk into her office. my eyes unfocused, i got the washy feeling, and for a second my knees buckled and my neck collapsed. i didn't fall down and i haven't yet but i might've if it had lasted longer

any thoughts or questions just let me know i just don't want to feel like i'm pulling stuff out of thin air for no reason

something i've noticed is that explaining narcolepsy is often remarkably similar to explaining being trans. it usually starts with a misconception of what it means, followed by curiosity or preemptive rejection. the whole "you must be making this up" deal mainly, because it is not a difference that other people understand because it does not physically exist to them. sometimes you get people who do understand the gravity of it and are ready to support you, but you will also get people who insist that's not what you are and it must be something else that you are doing wrong and have to fix, etc.

this is something people with many different chronic/invisible illnesses have to deal with but not really something i've seen someone discuss here before. so even though being trans isn't an illness in and of itself i find it interesting how the way people treat me overlaps with it, and was wondering if there are other trans people on this sub that have the same experience. this isn't an actual rant but more so throwing my thoughts out there.

i was out of medication for 3 days and had to work unmedicated, so naturally i had some very severe sleep attacks that lasted over an hour each. it got to the point where basically every muscle in my body was in pain, my leg muscles and joints actually in agony like i had hiked 15 miles without stretching. does anyone else experience this when having to fight sleep attacks?

hi friends. for context, i don't take my modafinil 7 days a week so i have built a backstock. however, i'm bad at keeping everything in the same place so i went to find the next bottle and i... can't. and i can't refill it until the 7th, and i work a 9-5.

so best tips from people who have been through the same thing? lmao