I’ve always thought that it is very strange, but for some reason my body seems to act differently in the morning when it comes to Narcolepsy, sleepiness, and cataplexy. As far as I can recall, this has only been the case since I was 9 years old, although I have to admit that I don’t remember what I felt like in the mornings prior to that, so it’s hard to compare.
As I mentioned in a previous post on post-meal sleepiness, I seem to react differently to food in the morning. While my evening meal often makes me feel a bit sleepy, my morning meal – any food at all in the morning – generally makes me feel VERY sleepy. If I have the chance to sleep, it will be very difficult for me to resist. The strange thing is that eating food at other times of the day doesn’t do this to me. So while I can eat oatmeal in the morning and feel really sleepy, I could eat the same oatmeal at 3 pm and feel fine. Which I think is just plain weird.
But there are other ways that my body seems different, the most important and noticeable one being that I seem to have worse cataplexy in the morning than at other times of the day. Usually I only am annoyed by my cataplexy if I am way overtired or if it is late at night, however in the morning I also find that my cataplexy seems to act up. In the morning I have to be a little careful sometimes walking up or down staircases because sometimes my knees feel a bit weak (a very scary sensation when you are on a staircase) – or I will just feel that it is SUCH a big effort to lift my feet to climb just one staircase (when usually I walk up five flights of stairs to get to my apartment).
However, this is most noticeable when I try to exercise in the mornings. Over the Christmas break, my sister and I took a long walk on the hills of San Francisco (where she lives) for exercise, and my knees felt so weak some of the time, especially when we walked downhill. This doesn’t usually happen to me, and it was so frustrating, but it reminded me why I tend to avoid exercising in the morning.
I’ve also noticed that I just don’t have as much stamina or energy in the morning to work out, meaning that if I do get myself to work out I will be able to do less than I could do at another time of day. This is frustrating because I’ve always thought that it would be so nice and convenient to get my exercise in first thing in the morning so that it will be out of the way and to avoid putting it off all day long, only to find that I never got around to exercising.
When I was younger, I also noticed that often times if I ate or drank something that was sugary, I would feel sick. For example, drinking hot chocolate in the morning would sometimes make me feel sick to my stomach and weird. I think this is probably still true for me, although it is hard to remember exactly because I tend to avoid sugary foods like hot chocolate and pancakes in the morning because I worry that they will make me tired, which is unacceptable when I know that whatever I eat will probably make me feel tired anyways (and eating something sugary would probably just make me even more tired).
I also feel like I sleep a bit better in the morning (although I shouldn’t be oversleeping!), although I am not sure how much of this has to do with food, as I have a bad habit of going back to bed after eating breakfast if this is at all possible.
Does anyone else experience this? It seems so counterintuitive, however I am almost 100% sure that this has to do with Narcolepsy, especially because of the increased cataplexy symptoms. I mean, I have never heard of anyone having this problem before… but then again, I’ve never asked. What do you think?
P.S. Isn’t this an awesome picture? (below). This is the giant polar bear from the Olympics that is currently going on. A friend of mine guessed that it was about 10 stories high (!). And yes, those little figures in white are people!
picture source: http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/v2010open_02_13/v09_22122191.jpg
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3 comments:
Hi Ellie,
I think this is one of the hardest things about narcolepsy---that it manifests itself so differently in each of our lives. My problems with EDS mostly occur between lunch & 4:00 p.m., and after 8:00 p.m.
Having said that, two big triggers for me are stress/busyness and food (specifically gluten & sugar).
If I start feeling really good, it's like I sometimes forget about the Narcolepsy & feel capable of handling more stress or that the extra candy bar will be okay. (Maybe wishful thinking that it will go away?!!) And then those triggers will really put me out of it for a few days. The cataplexy and hallucinations (which I am usually able to avoid with monitoring stress & diet) come out of the woodwork & I'm reminded (yet again) that this is a permanent condition. That it is up to me to control as much as I can.
Having the nature of a type-A, firstborn and absolutely loving anything having to do with chocolate, I struggle daily.
Thanks again for posting often about our shared condition. Your blog is so informative. I'm sure many appreciate it as much as I do.
It's different for me, too. Mornings are the only time I feel vaguely ok -- my only productive time at all seems to be between about 10:30 and noon. After that, it's all downhill, really -- sometimes, I get a second wind from about 6:30 to 8:00, but it doesn't always happen. From about 1:00 to about 5:00, I'm useless, most days.
I'm one of those who pops out of bed, though; I don't feel groggy most mornings, even if I can feel that I'm still very, very tired.
A lot of my problem seems to be that I can't stay in any state for long enough, honestly. If I nap, I am super sleepy when I lie down, but super awake in a half hour whether I feel rested or not. If I get up, I'll be awake for a half hour, but then the drowsy sets back in.
Food destroys me pretty much anytime, though. Especially carbs, but even other things will sometimes knock me on my bum -- not exactly the same feeling as the basic drowsy, either. Limp. Can barely talk. I had to use a cane to walk out for a post-meal cigarette a while ago, just for balance.
On the "plus" side, my appetite is also nonexistant, so if there's stuff I must do, I can put off eating endlessly to get it done. That's also bad, though -- I get maybe 1000 calories on an average day (and still haven't shed much weight, either).
Endless fun, this stuff. And interesting how similar it can be at the base -- serious sleep/wake dysregulation and metabolic issues -- while the details can vary so widely.
I feel the exact same way in the morning. I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy and every morning I wake up, I feel like I literally have no muscles. I can barely get out of bed, and when I go down the stairs (which can be worse than going up sometimes) i feel like my legs are going to give out. I walk around aimlessly and stumble into things because i'm too weak to change direction to avoid the side of a door or the edge of a counter top. It's really frustrating until my Adderall kicks in and it all goes away.
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