Those of you who have narcolepsy know that driving can be hazardous to your health. But, you know, we have to live in this world and sometimes we agree to to compromise with our husbands or wives or boyfriends or girlfriends, etc. My husband insisted that I take a road trip to New York with him and my son. Against every fiber of my being, I agreed to go because he does go along with most of my plans and this trip was important to him. He hates to fly and I hate to drive. Even though I wasn’t going to be doing ANY of the driving, I knew that that much time in the car was going to play havoc with my sleeping disorder.
I started talking in my sleep immediately. Next, the automatic behaviors began. For example, I start pouring a glass of water in my sleep or start pushing buttons on the washing machine or start cooking something on the stove. I’m always busy doing some kind of work during these episodes. My family is used to seeing me do these things and instead of being alarmed, they are usually quite amused. Besides the automatic behaviors, traveling in the car screws me up physically and mentally. I now have pain everywhere in my body but especially my neck. My eyes are like two slits in a big, fat head. They hurt. There’s so much more to tell, but I am too tired to tell the rest today. Maybe, tomorrow.