My Journey to Getting a Narcolepsy Diagnosis

I'm working on getting diagnosed right now. My insurance doesn't want to approve the sleep study

It took 6 years for me to be diagnosed (at age 19), as the doctors kept thinking I had epilepsy and did so countless blood tests for diabetes etc. At one point I waited 3 years on the list for paediatrics. When I finally got seen, I was 17 and they dismissed me, saying it was all due to hormones and anemia. So glad I persevered.

I first had symptoms when I was about 7. No one took me seriously until I was 15 and I was not diagnosed until i was 17.

Hi! I have epilepsy, and they found the epilepsy first, for obvious reasons lol (diagnosed at 16). And when I was 18? in college I started falling asleep in college, which was weird for me because I have always love learning, literally school has always been my favorite thing I've never involuntarily fell asleep in class. And so my neurologist ordered a sleep study because I have a rare form of epilepsy, and that's how they found out I have narcolepsy. Same as you though, I definitely had it since elementary school. I was able to fall asleep all the time, whenever I wanted. I can go into REM within 5 minutes. And I continued doing that throughout middle and highschool after I was done with my work bc what else was I going to do, so. But you know, clearly I was just "lazy"

Hey there! I started having symptoms when I was a teenager but didn’t think anything of it until my psychiatrist figured it out! I would tell him how tired I am, and about my sleep paralysis and nightmares. He realized what was going on when I told him I was hallucinating while waking up. I genuinely thought I was schizophrenic! I was finally diagnosed at 30 and it was so validating. I always felt horrible about missing appointments and events because of what I now know are sleep attacks… it feels good to know I’m not just lazy or unreliable.