#narcolepsy

❄️☁️🪽🦌 Aksana . . . sleepy head

Every once in a while i lock in and draw my favorite characters so enjoy this sweet piece!

Bonus close-up on them

Narcolepsy: Neurological disorder that affects brain's ability to control sleep-wake cycle

Not so bf!Iwaizumi who first met you because you sweetly snorted against school gym wall. At first he didn't know how to react, but it was getting late so he knelt next to you, nudging you carefully.

Not so bf!Iwaizumi who thought you were dead for a minute because he couldn't wake you up.

Not so bf!Iwaizumi who felt bad when you told him you were waiting for your friend and accidentally fell asleep, so he decided to walk you to the bus stop.

Not so bf!Iwaizumi who got surprised when he realised that both of you were taking the same bus to go home.

When there were only two seats left so he sat by the window and watched as you sat next to him.

Not so bf!Iwaizumi who introduced himself to you softly and before he could ask you for yours name you plopped on his arm, already closing your eyes.

Not so bf!Iwaizumi who got flustered and definitely told about this later to Toru Oikawa later.

He doesn’t develop the condition until his early 20s. It starts as just feeling more tired than usual. But slowly over weeks and months, he becomes more and more sleepy during the day, and taking naps is only helping briefly before the sleepiness returns.

It keeps progressing. He swears his eyes have been on the road the whole time but suddenly he jerks and realizes he’s swerved into the other lane. His dreams are vivid and sometimes when he’s falling asleep or just waking up he finds his body paralyzed.

The naps he used to voluntarily plan to take become involuntary. Stan finds himself just suddenly falling asleep sometimes no matter where he is. Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes longer.

It freaks him out a bit. With his lifestyle, he can’t afford to just fall asleep suddenly, it’s not safe. Who knows what could happen to him while he’s vulnerable like that. Plus, driving becomes harder. Stan has so many near accidents that getting behind the wheel of his car starts making him anxious.

And he hates that. His car is his home, his escape. His life depends on it.

By the time Stan starts experiencing bouts of muscle weakness and loss of control when he experiences strong emotions, he knows he should see a doctor. The problem is he can’t afford one. He doesn’t know what to do, so he tries to handle (ignores) the problem as best he can.

And that’s how he ends up in the hospital after a bad car crash.

He fell asleep at the wheel, and the ensuing wreck totalled the Stanley mobile. Doctors tell him it’s a miracle he survived, but Stan can’t find much joy in that, knowing his only stable home—and everything he owned in it—is gone.

But it’s during his recovery in the hospital that Stan’s condition gets noticed, and he ends up diagnosed with narcolepsy. It’s also in hospital that he ends up reuniting with a twin brother he thought wanted nothing to do with him.

Ford’s phone number was found in his pocket, and the hospital had called Ford while it was uncertain whether or not Stan would pull through. They were trying to find relatives to contact in the case that Stan died.

Miraculously, he survived. Even more miraculously, Ford shows up, angry and panicked and worried about Stan. Stan almost can’t believe it. He hadn’t thought Ford would want anything to do with him ever again, but it turns out near-death experiences can make people change their mind about you.

I was always tired, never woke feeling rested, and started napping more and more, for hours at a time, sometimes three naps a day. I would sit to work on art and just tip sideways on the sofa. I'd be so tired I'd lay on the floor for a moment and be out instantly. My memory was failing me more and more, and the brain fog was constant. I felt really, clearly stupider, and the people in my life started to resent how much I slept. It was ruining my life.

I figured this was long Covid. My doctor treated me for post-nasal drip, allergies, mild hypothyroidism, vitamin deficiencies, depression. I ate better, exercised, got enough sleep. Nothing made me less tired.

Finally I saw a sleep specialist, answered a lot of questions, and did a sleep study at home. Found out I have pretty severe sleep apnea -- I will stop breathing roughly 30 times an hour. She hooked me up with a CPAP machine -- a nose snorkel -- and it became my new best friend. It's actually pretty comfortable, quiet as a whisper, and I finally get enough oxygen when I sleep. I sleep like the dead, not a moment of unrest until the morning.

The trouble was, I was still tired. Still falling asleep randomly, still losing motor function when drowsy. My sleep specialist diagnosed me with narcolepsy.

Apparently sometimes, when you get the flu and it hits you just right, it can trigger narcolepsy. Way back in January 2021, what I thought was Covid was a nasty narcolepsy activator that's been fucking with me ever since.

My doc put me on a stimulant specifically for narcolepsy, and it does work, but it's not a miracle cure. I'm still tired, but I fall asleep a lot less frequently, and I can fight through it. I told my doc that I still got very tired occasionally, and she said, "Sometimes a nap can help you get through the rest of the day. It's okay to nap." Being given that permission after years of feeling guilty and ashamed of sleeping so much made me cry on the spot.

How does one begin to explain triggering a partner's episode 😭