Question
This may be one of the strangest questions you've been asked but I would value your opinion as I have not been able to find anything even remotely related to what has been plaguing me for the last 3 years. First I'm 37 and although never clinically diagnosed I know that I have narcolepsy. I in fact have every major symptom. Some are worse than others but for the most part I can deal with it and have a normal life. Here is my problem. For the last three years I have been awakened by what I think is mice, rats, I'm not really sure crawling on me and munch on my hair scalp etc. I feel them crawling in my pajamas etc. It started shortly after I moved into a apartment. FYI the apartment was clean no other tenants had problems and I NEVER caught a single critter despite trying my best with traps sticky pads etc. It started very progressively with sensing one then two and soon more than that. This always happens shortly after I doze off. Being narcoleptic I suffer from sleep paralysis (cataplexy?) and am always unable to move for a time upon waking(although I am fully conscious and aware of my surroundings. Upon moving into a house this past year I thought I was free of this. Unfortunately about 2 weeks after moving in it started again. Again it occurred very progressively starting with what I thought was a single mouse crawling on me to now where there feels to be multiple creatures on me EVERY time I fall asleep. People I have told this to think I am crazy. Several people have told me I must be experiencing hallucinations. I don't think I am. It feels real and very physical to me very much unlike the sleep hallucinations I've experienced due to the narcolepsy, also the sleep hallucinations seem to occur at a different stage of sleep than this. Ok that was the short version of my story. My question to you is this, does this sound like a sleep disorder due to narcolepsy etc. and have you ever heard of anything like this before. My bet is that you haven't, but hopefully you may be able to shed some light on this nightmare that I am living through. Thank you.
Answer
Definitely first of all the bugs are a symptom of narcolepsy, called sleep paralysis and hypnangogic hallucinations, which are vivd frightening dreams that the narcoleptic expereiences either just awakening or falling off to sleep, what happens instead of both the brain and body awakening together there is a lag of a nano second. Unfortunately the key is to not shake and awake you as when you go back to sleep it will only happen again. Antidepressants are given for this as it holds back the dreaming state, but we all must dream so will break thru from time to time, with this you may have sleep paralysis which is the inability to move while the bugs are crawling on you. Dreams are so real that many of us after we have been awake for a half hour we are still lokking around, some of us have dreams of being chased but bugs is very common. Now the next question is you need to be on medication. You need to visit a sleep center and have an overnight sleep test to monitor you sleep. Your local hospital can refer you. Many neurologists even today dont know too much about narcolepsy. so a sleep center is the best place to go . Or even if you have a neurological clinic they can refer you. Go to sleepnet.com click on disorders narcolepsy, go to narcolepsy network. feel free to email again and no you are not crazy, but im no md, id bet my respiratory licese on it, you are narcoleptic. You need meds to control the symptoms.karel
