Abbreviations you will see me use and what they mean:
AB- Automatic Behavior
C- Cataplexy
CAT ATTACK(S)- Cataplex
Dr- Doctor
DSPD- Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, (DSPD) delayed sleep-phase disorder orPCP- Primary Care Physician (DSPT) delayed sleep-phase type
Dx'd- Diagnosed
GP- General Practitioner
HH- Hypnogogic Hallucinations or Hypnopompic Hallucinations
LO- Lights out
MSLT- Multiple Sleep Latency Test
N- Narcolepsy
NN- Narcolepsy Network, a 501 c-3 non profit organization
NREM- Non Rapid Eye Movement
PWN- Person (or People) With Narcolepsy
PWON- Person (or People) WithOut Narcolepsy
REM- Rapid Eye Movement
RLS- Restless Leg Syndrome
Rx'd- Prescribed
SP- Sleep Paralysis
That's all I've got for right now. Still planning on doing post with stuff I mentioned previously, but right now I'm studying for my mid-term which is tomorrow at 1pm.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Feed My Fish!
I have a lot of things that I want to write about currently, but I haven't been able to update lately because my best friend has been in the hospital since the 10th. I am happy to report that she is doing much better, but will probably still be in the hospital for at least another week. Fingers crossed that she will be able to leave the hospital by next Friday.
When I return to writing, I will update on finishing "Cunt" with a review, and starting "Atlas Shrugged" in Books I'm Currently Reading.
I will also tell everyone about my newest adventures in life, and how I really can't wait until the end of August for the school semester to start so I can figure out if I made a mistake or not...and hopefully I'll have a job that makes more money this week.
Wish me luck.
PS: Scroll to the bottom of my page and feed my fishies! This simple little footer has provided me at least 5 minutes of amusement each time I come to this page.
When I return to writing, I will update on finishing "Cunt" with a review, and starting "Atlas Shrugged" in Books I'm Currently Reading.
I will also tell everyone about my newest adventures in life, and how I really can't wait until the end of August for the school semester to start so I can figure out if I made a mistake or not...and hopefully I'll have a job that makes more money this week.
Wish me luck.
PS: Scroll to the bottom of my page and feed my fishies! This simple little footer has provided me at least 5 minutes of amusement each time I come to this page.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
The Most Natural Thing But Nothing You'd Expect
There's a few things I am gonna talk about in this post and I'll try to organize them into neat little paragraphs so you can choose what you want to read and what you might find boring.
First thing is that I had a new realization today. Okay, well maybe not totally new, but it just kind of hit me in a more real way than it has before.
If I had to get my mothers permission to do everything I wanted to do I would never, ever, leave this house. The thing that made me realize this today was that I went to Atlantic Edge, which is a local dive shop, and checked out their Deep Water Diver Certification course. Now, since I was 16 I had a dream that one day I would dive the expanse of the Great Barrier Reef. This will require me to have an Advanced, and Technical Diving Certification. The first step is the Deep Water Cert though, and well, it costs about $500 for just the certification. The equipment I'll need beyond getting the cert to, you know, use it, is near 2 grand that I Just don't have right now. Anyway, I'm getting off topic...I called my Mom to tell her that I went to check out this class because I really wanted to get my certification before we go to Hawaii for my 25th Bday in January. (Note: My birthday is actually in August, but we're going when it's cold here. And for the record I'll be 25 NEXT year, not this one.) She huffed, and then said "never mind" when I asked what she was huffing about. To which then I demanded to know what and she said "I just never know what you're going to come up with next." .....Uh. What? I didn't argue with her, and explained that I just wanted to tell her about the class, and wasn't asking for money, but was more telling her that "hey, I'm going to do this when I can afford it, and I hope it's before we go to Hawaii." Instead she took me telling her about it as "I wanna do this certification, and I expect you to pay for it." That was NOT what I was getting at.
It really made me realize that my dear ol' momma knows little to nothing about me. Which is sad, but I also prefer it that way. She's not the most progressive, or forward thinking individual. Not on the same level as I am in terms of social acceptance, and morals. If she did know anything about me, or even listened kind of when I talked to her, she would know that I've had the goal of diving the GBR for the past 6-7 years. The thing that kind of was more of a punch in the stomach was "I'm not paying $500 for a certification you'll use once in 10 years." She really, really doesn't know me, does she? So critical, and accusing. It's very frustrating.
Moving on from that I'm going to do a list section of my blog called "Books I'm Reading Now" and then after I'm done reading them I will (most likely) write a small review on them. Kinda a little crappy, I liked this book! or This book fucking sucked! Yay!
Books I'm Reading Now:
Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution.
Atlas Shrugged
Cunt
2 out of 3 of those books are feminist/books about feminism. I'm sure you can guess which ones. Ha.
Atlas Shrugged is a book that is uber long, and I've discovered most people have read, and I actually wanna see what all the hoopla is about.
Third and lastly, I started a new sketch book today! I don't care that my drawings suck in it cause it's my book, but on occasion I'll post some pictures from it on here. I figured since I did 3 drawings tonight that I'm decently pleased with I'll just share them all. Shit, for all I know the next few pages might be full of scribbles, stars, and hearts. Just depends on if I'm feeling inspired to draw or not.
First thing is that I had a new realization today. Okay, well maybe not totally new, but it just kind of hit me in a more real way than it has before.
If I had to get my mothers permission to do everything I wanted to do I would never, ever, leave this house. The thing that made me realize this today was that I went to Atlantic Edge, which is a local dive shop, and checked out their Deep Water Diver Certification course. Now, since I was 16 I had a dream that one day I would dive the expanse of the Great Barrier Reef. This will require me to have an Advanced, and Technical Diving Certification. The first step is the Deep Water Cert though, and well, it costs about $500 for just the certification. The equipment I'll need beyond getting the cert to, you know, use it, is near 2 grand that I Just don't have right now. Anyway, I'm getting off topic...I called my Mom to tell her that I went to check out this class because I really wanted to get my certification before we go to Hawaii for my 25th Bday in January. (Note: My birthday is actually in August, but we're going when it's cold here. And for the record I'll be 25 NEXT year, not this one.) She huffed, and then said "never mind" when I asked what she was huffing about. To which then I demanded to know what and she said "I just never know what you're going to come up with next." .....Uh. What? I didn't argue with her, and explained that I just wanted to tell her about the class, and wasn't asking for money, but was more telling her that "hey, I'm going to do this when I can afford it, and I hope it's before we go to Hawaii." Instead she took me telling her about it as "I wanna do this certification, and I expect you to pay for it." That was NOT what I was getting at.
It really made me realize that my dear ol' momma knows little to nothing about me. Which is sad, but I also prefer it that way. She's not the most progressive, or forward thinking individual. Not on the same level as I am in terms of social acceptance, and morals. If she did know anything about me, or even listened kind of when I talked to her, she would know that I've had the goal of diving the GBR for the past 6-7 years. The thing that kind of was more of a punch in the stomach was "I'm not paying $500 for a certification you'll use once in 10 years." She really, really doesn't know me, does she? So critical, and accusing. It's very frustrating.
Moving on from that I'm going to do a list section of my blog called "Books I'm Reading Now" and then after I'm done reading them I will (most likely) write a small review on them. Kinda a little crappy, I liked this book! or This book fucking sucked! Yay!
Books I'm Reading Now:
Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution.
Atlas Shrugged
Cunt
2 out of 3 of those books are feminist/books about feminism. I'm sure you can guess which ones. Ha.
Atlas Shrugged is a book that is uber long, and I've discovered most people have read, and I actually wanna see what all the hoopla is about.
Third and lastly, I started a new sketch book today! I don't care that my drawings suck in it cause it's my book, but on occasion I'll post some pictures from it on here. I figured since I did 3 drawings tonight that I'm decently pleased with I'll just share them all. Shit, for all I know the next few pages might be full of scribbles, stars, and hearts. Just depends on if I'm feeling inspired to draw or not.
 |
| "City Blind" |
 |
| "American Economy" |
 |
| "Eh? Lion" |
Thursday, July 7, 2011
It's 3am; I have narcolepsy.
I know, it's hard to believe, but I really do have narcolepsy. Sometimes a weird, and nonsensical part of narcolepsy is insomnia.
Pffft, what a weird way to start a new blog, eh? Don't care.
One thing that I've learned over the past 5 months is that hardly anyone knows anything about narcolepsy, let alone narcolepsy with cataplexy. Cataplexy is simply described as a sudden loss of muscle tone, but for me it's much more than that. It can render me completely useless for anywhere between 20 minutes to an entire week depending on how many "attacks" I have.
So wait, narcolepsy, go back to that. Okay, I will.
Narcolepsy is a neurological disability, yep you read that right, a neurological disability. It's been only recently declared this, as before it was only classified as a weird sleeping disorder that some people have because they get too much REM sleep, and fall asleep at random ass times during the day. It's often still referred to as a disorder, and well, it still is. Since the medical industry has evolved so much in the past 10 years people are actually starting to pay attention to this bizarre disorder, and it's been recognized by the ADA. I have rights, bitches!
The most commonly asked question I get is "So you like, just fall asleep randomly, right?" Well, not really, at least not in the same way that you're probably thinking of. I don't just conk out in the middle of a conversation, but I fall asleep while driving (if unmedicated), while watching TV (without fail), while reading, and most commonly just sitting in my car.
Here's a good example: Earlier this week I didn't take my medication because I didn't have any with me, and didn't go home the night before. By the time I got off work at 10pm I was looking for something to do, but those something to do dreams were crushed pretty quickly due to the fact that when I got to Giant to take advantage of their open CoinStar® machine I simply could not get out of my car to go inside. Instead, I fell asleep on and off in my parked car for 40 minutes, until I finally forced myself out of my car, and into the store. The 5 minute drive home was nothing but treacherous, and I really wasn't sure if I was actually going to make it without crashing. (Note: I did make it home safely.)
Ya see, the hardest thing for a medicated narcoleptic, is being unmedicated. Once you start on medication you're kind of in for the long road of pills for the rest of your life if you want to be able to function for more than 12 hours (and that's with at least a 3 hour nap somewhere in there.) Some people elect to take "medication holidays," and those days are spent doing nothing but laying around, sleeping, and stuffing your face. I can confidently say this about most, if not all narcoleptics, because I'm in a group called The Narcolepsy Network, and we compare stories.
Before I was officially diagnosed in March of this year, I was on the group to get information, and one of the things that was posted was a good-humored laugh at ourselves list of things narcoleptics do titled, "You might have narcolepsy if...." I hooted and hollered while reading the growing list, because I had done almost every single one of them! My personal favorite is this one: "You might have narcolepsy if you've driven a good distance home only to decide its to much work to take those last 10 steps to your front door and fall asleep in your car." Been there done that way more times than I can count. Dad started just leaving me there, because he knew I'd come in within an hour or so after getting home. At least before dinner.
Exciting, right? Eh. I don't mind talking about it, but most people don't really know what to ask a person with narcolepsy, or "PWN". So here's a list of things you should ask (if you wanna know) and things you shouldn't ask unless you want to be looked at like you have 3 heads, and 12 eye-balls.
Do Ask:
What is narcolepsy?
How did you find out you had it?
What are the symptoms?
What is cataplexy?
How is it treated?
What causes cataplexy attacks?
What should I do if you have a cataplexy attack around me, or others?
Is it okay to wake a person from a sleep attack?
Don't ask:
So you could just fall asleep like, right now, right?
Can I scare you so you'll have a cataplexy attack?
What kinda drugs are you on?
I could think of more, but my brain is starting to get a little sleepy, and I have quite a bit of things that I want to accomplish tomorrow including going to Best Buy to decide between a tablet and a netbook, Health & Fitness class for 2 hours, and then scrimmage practice. Followed by beer consumption, because why not?
So just a bit more about what I'm going to write about in this blog:
Narcolepsy!
Roller Derby
Music
Politics
Feminism
LGBT Rights
LGBT Stuff
College
Friends
Quotes
Ramblings
Lyrics
Short Stories
Social News
Travel Adventures
&
Random Photographs
That's all folks!
Pffft, what a weird way to start a new blog, eh? Don't care.
One thing that I've learned over the past 5 months is that hardly anyone knows anything about narcolepsy, let alone narcolepsy with cataplexy. Cataplexy is simply described as a sudden loss of muscle tone, but for me it's much more than that. It can render me completely useless for anywhere between 20 minutes to an entire week depending on how many "attacks" I have.
So wait, narcolepsy, go back to that. Okay, I will.
Narcolepsy is a neurological disability, yep you read that right, a neurological disability. It's been only recently declared this, as before it was only classified as a weird sleeping disorder that some people have because they get too much REM sleep, and fall asleep at random ass times during the day. It's often still referred to as a disorder, and well, it still is. Since the medical industry has evolved so much in the past 10 years people are actually starting to pay attention to this bizarre disorder, and it's been recognized by the ADA. I have rights, bitches!
The most commonly asked question I get is "So you like, just fall asleep randomly, right?" Well, not really, at least not in the same way that you're probably thinking of. I don't just conk out in the middle of a conversation, but I fall asleep while driving (if unmedicated), while watching TV (without fail), while reading, and most commonly just sitting in my car.
Here's a good example: Earlier this week I didn't take my medication because I didn't have any with me, and didn't go home the night before. By the time I got off work at 10pm I was looking for something to do, but those something to do dreams were crushed pretty quickly due to the fact that when I got to Giant to take advantage of their open CoinStar® machine I simply could not get out of my car to go inside. Instead, I fell asleep on and off in my parked car for 40 minutes, until I finally forced myself out of my car, and into the store. The 5 minute drive home was nothing but treacherous, and I really wasn't sure if I was actually going to make it without crashing. (Note: I did make it home safely.)
Ya see, the hardest thing for a medicated narcoleptic, is being unmedicated. Once you start on medication you're kind of in for the long road of pills for the rest of your life if you want to be able to function for more than 12 hours (and that's with at least a 3 hour nap somewhere in there.) Some people elect to take "medication holidays," and those days are spent doing nothing but laying around, sleeping, and stuffing your face. I can confidently say this about most, if not all narcoleptics, because I'm in a group called The Narcolepsy Network, and we compare stories.
Before I was officially diagnosed in March of this year, I was on the group to get information, and one of the things that was posted was a good-humored laugh at ourselves list of things narcoleptics do titled, "You might have narcolepsy if...." I hooted and hollered while reading the growing list, because I had done almost every single one of them! My personal favorite is this one: "You might have narcolepsy if you've driven a good distance home only to decide its to much work to take those last 10 steps to your front door and fall asleep in your car." Been there done that way more times than I can count. Dad started just leaving me there, because he knew I'd come in within an hour or so after getting home. At least before dinner.
Exciting, right? Eh. I don't mind talking about it, but most people don't really know what to ask a person with narcolepsy, or "PWN". So here's a list of things you should ask (if you wanna know) and things you shouldn't ask unless you want to be looked at like you have 3 heads, and 12 eye-balls.
Do Ask:
What is narcolepsy?
How did you find out you had it?
What are the symptoms?
What is cataplexy?
How is it treated?
What causes cataplexy attacks?
What should I do if you have a cataplexy attack around me, or others?
Is it okay to wake a person from a sleep attack?
Don't ask:
So you could just fall asleep like, right now, right?
Can I scare you so you'll have a cataplexy attack?
What kinda drugs are you on?
I could think of more, but my brain is starting to get a little sleepy, and I have quite a bit of things that I want to accomplish tomorrow including going to Best Buy to decide between a tablet and a netbook, Health & Fitness class for 2 hours, and then scrimmage practice. Followed by beer consumption, because why not?
So just a bit more about what I'm going to write about in this blog:
Narcolepsy!
Roller Derby
Music
Politics
Feminism
LGBT Rights
LGBT Stuff
College
Friends
Quotes
Ramblings
Lyrics
Short Stories
Social News
Travel Adventures
&
Random Photographs
That's all folks!
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