Narc and Me

So I've got a neurological disorder. As in, my brain has a problem. Not my mind, or psyche, or whatever. There's pills for it, thank God.

Classical symptoms; 'cataplexy', which is muscular weakness (and what happened that Thursday). Apparently I also 'make faces' when I'm upset that are actually my facial muscles forgetting they're awake. So check on that. Sleep paralysis (check), hallucinations, both when dozing off or waking (check, maybe super check if the slender man is in my imagination), and 'excessive daytime sleepiness'; (fucking check; it is a hot topic just on this blog).

Doctor Gibbins is a pretty cool guy. He's a sleep specialist and actually lives in town (unlike the hospital, which is county and was a good long ride as far as getting to a hospital goes). He works at a clinic here in town and remarked that this place has actually had a 'statistically significant' high occurrence of sleep issues for years. He's an older guy, gray haired, even-mannered and really seems to know his stuff. Apparently narcolepsy is one of those things that can go a long time undiagnosed so he's not entirely surprised by my situation. He's actually very interested because it's evidently presenting someone atypically or something; I really don't have the heart, guts, words, or anything to tell him how right he is.

Not much has changed really. I'm still taking a pill before bed, a couple throughout the day, and doctor-approved naps (although I've never been a nap person). I mean I've got a name for what's been bothering me for years and a way to treat it, so I guess that's nice.

But there's still Mel's friend. I can't explain that.