My Weird Narcolepsy: Forty Years Old and Just Discovering I Dream While Awake

The author, diagnosed with narcolepsy in their twenties, describes a unique experience. Instead of the typical daytime sleep attacks, their primary symptom is cataplexy – sudden muscle weakness rendering them immobile while fully conscious. Remarkably, at age forty, they discovered they routinely dream while awake and enter REM sleep immediately upon falling asleep. The author details the bizarre sensation of cataplexy, differentiating it from paralysis, fatigue, and depression, and shares a self-discovered technique to alleviate attacks, offering a compelling insight into the unusual realities of living with narcolepsy.