Looking for reader stories and advice/ Guest bloggers

Some of you might remember that I mentioned in a post on things I want to do with this site in 2010 that I wanted to find some other Narcoleptics to talk about things on my blog that I am not very familiar with.  While I know a lot about Narcolepsy, there are a lot of things that I don’t have much or any experience with, and I was hoping to find some people who might be able to share helpful information and their stories with my readers.  I also think that there is a lot that we can learn from each other, and so I would like to be able to facilitate that here on my blog.  Although the comments section is one way we can hear from each other, it seems evident that this is not a particularly good way to share if you have a lot to say (I know I always have a lot to say, lol).

Here is a list of topics that I think are especially good candidates for this:

• Narcolepsy and being pregnant
• Narcolepsy and having children
• Narcolepsy and severe cataplexy; taking anti-depressants for cataplexy
• Xyrem (I did take this medication for many months, but as there is so much interest in this, I would like to hear from others as well)
• Support groups
• Sleep Paralysis (I don’t have this symptom of Narcolepsy)
• Narcolepsy and Fibromyalgia (I know a lot of Narcoleptics seem to have this disorder, although I don’t have it myself)
• Narcolepsy and disability
• Other topic 

I would also be interested in posting stories about dealing with Narcolepsy in general or about topics other than the ones listed above, if you think that your story/experience would help other Narcoleptics to better deal with their own situations.  However, although it can be interesting for people to hear the stories of other Narcoleptics, I am not interested in stories for their own sake.  Rather, I am interested in helping people better deal with Narcolepsy and everything that goes with it.  Whatever personal stories and thoughts I share on this blog, I do my best to focus on what I think might be useful or helpful to others, rather than simply talking about my experience or about my day.

In keeping with the purpose of this site, I would ask that anything I post would also be focused on sharing information and experience that might help other Narcoleptics, as opposed to focusing on the story of one patient’s diagnosis/treatment/etc.  I would also have the last say on what I choose to post, and of course I would need to see it before posting it to make sure that it is up to the standards of this site (not only as far as content goes, but also in regards to grammar, organization, etc.). 

If you think that you have something interesting and new to share with my readers and are willing to share it, please contact me at the e-mail address listed in my profile.  We will then be able to talk and decide how to go about things (for example, I can imagine that if someone has a lot of information or experience to share, it might be better to break things up into a series of posts over a period of time).

I do not expect this to be a big time commitment, and of course I wouldn’t mind changing your name or using a nickname or other alias on the post to protect your identity.  Posts do not need to be long, and I personally try to make them at most 1,000 words.

I know that some of you have your own blog in which you talk about Narcolepsy, so I expect that you would not be interested, but I thought that this would be a great way for some of you non-bloggers to help other Narcoleptics and share your advice. 

Anyone interested?

Enjoy the weekend! :-)

P.S. Tomorrow (Sunday) we have a time change!  Don’t forget!