What is Narcolepsy? 

He....he just pulled a brain out of a freaking bucket like it was Kentucky Fried Chicken

I can sleep through the night but it’s never refreshing. Always exhausted. Going on 7 years now.

I knew someone who died from this.. not from the disease itself but from an accident he drove home put his car in the garage closed the garage door fell asleep forgot to turn the car off breathed in the car fumes and died. He was only 26 years old and it was this disease because when you would just have a conversation with him he would just randomly fall asleep then wake up again later.

Could you imagine living your whole life just to die and your brain show up in a video for a split second before it's replaced by a simulation?

I have narcolepsy with cataplexy, and this is by far the best explanation of narcolepsy I've seen to date. Raising Narcolepsy & Cataplexy Awareness, Thank You!

I was diagnosed with narcolepsy a few years ago. I knew I had it even way back in high school. I can't seem to find a Dr around my area that seems to know how to treat it. Some meds work for a whike and then they quit. I'm about to the point that I'd jump off a bridge if there was one close enough to my area. Shit gets old. If you don't have it, feel blessed that you don't have to deal with feeling tired and wanting to sleep all of the time.

He just pulled half a brain out of a bucket... In a way like he has done it a hundred times before... Cool.

I lowkey feel like I have this, I work in a office and I’m checking paperwork and writing and all of a sudden I start to fall asleep and my hand goes numb and my body tips forward then I snapped out of my sleepyness like I wasn’t just falling asleep. I’m always so damn tired and I sleep a full night and this morning I woke up like if I was never asleep, just got up. I always feel tired, I have to go to the restroom and take a nap.

My now 15 yr old was turned away last year after 2 yrs of us baffled, thiking she had depression, anxiety, schizophrenia (hallucinations/voices/not in the world-feelings) and then the cataplexy started, at school when she was bullied...her sleepiness in the day was put to not sleeping well at night and depressed lethargy. The year before it all began? at 11, riding, basketball at 7:30 AM, straight A's, engaged in life...she never lost her strength of character and told us she'd always had the sleep paralysis and hallucination-feeling/vivid dreams or always feeling in a dreamlike state - ANYWAY. I felt compelled to write here because we are in Canada, and the SLEEP CLINIC at the large Science driven University (World Class btw) turned her away at 14, she was suffering greatly, had ALL symptoms off the charts - they had Narcolepsy as one of their conditions studies at this UNIVERSITY CLINIC and said, "We don't accept anyone for treatment until the age of 19" - I told them that ALL research says that it onsets between 10 and 20 yrs and - they won't help TEENAGERS?! It is already the WORST time of life to have anything that effects your self-esteem and social world and they won't treat TEENAGERS for an Onset Teenage Disease. INCREDIBLE. We went to the Children's Hospital Respiratory Clinic and they are now going to do Sleep Testing on her, we lucked out with a young Dr. who is keen and has not yet had a case of Narcolepsy so he seemed very interested...initial symptom testing OFF THE CHARTS as we knew. This is current and happening November this year. I worry about what medications they are going to suggest so forth...I am SO NOT into that, but she says, ANYTHING to help her...I understand her pain. She LOVES school and is super bright, still doing well...but misses many days. Thanks for letting me rant, as we still don't know if they know anything about it really and what our treatment would be. If anyone from Harvard wants to study my kid...we'll fly to you. LOL ;)

I almost feel asleep while watching the video...

An excellent overview of a condition which can be totally debilitating and has pretty much made my life a living hell.

I remember the time when teachers used to scold me bcz I always look sleepy in class. And I sometimes slept in class. They accused me taking drug. I was so sad. But my friends know my illness and keep supporting me till this day

I've had this since age 3 from a tonsillitis infection. I wish Mom had taken me to a doctor when my first grade teacher let her know I seemed tired all the time. I didn't find out until this year at age 59. It's too late for me to enjoy this life but hopefully I can enjoy the afterlife!!

i have cataplexy with narcolepsy and everything you said, every little detail was what’s happening to me and i’m only 17 and i have been experiencing this since i was about 7-8 years old.☹️

So true... always in a state of in between.

I awake tired, go through the day tired, go to bed tired, and it just goes on this way... Every second of every day I am tired. I can't do anything around the house without falling asleep. At work, having my hours dramatically reduced is the only thing that's made a decent worker out of me. I look at the rest of humanity and marvel at how the Hell they have the energy to do what they do.

Thank you very much for this series of videos about narcolepsy. It's very painful to live with that and to take so long to have a diagnosis. It's nice to know there're doctors researching, even if in Brazil we don't have anything like that.

Thank you for this. I was diagnosed a few years ago, and I never quite understood the neuroscience behind it. They figured I've had it 10+ years, just misunderstood as a lazy teenager. Some sort of therapy for the dying neurons would be amazing as to get off the stimulants. Adderall and Provigil is good for the sleepiness and other symptoms, but a cure would be heavenly

I think I was misdiagnosed in 1993 with ADD. They put me on Dexidrine Spanule (amphetamines), 15 mgs pills, taken 3 times a day plus I drink coffee and I STILL operate slowly and I STILL can fall asleep after being up for the day after a couple of hours. Sometimes I feel like I'm sleep walking in public. It really sucks.

See i can fall asleep anywhere and i don't feel fully awake so like when i’m working i’m still tired and i fall asleep. During the day when i come home I immediately fall asleep and i don’t know why so I'm trying to figure it out why I'm falling asleep a lot.

If Dr. Tom Scammell taught me math I would be a totally different person today.....Amazing teacher!!

Only reason I am here is because I am so into neuroscience and studying neurological disorders. Cataplexy sounds horrifying, I have had sleep paralysis a few times and it's awful.

Thank you for this video, I have been living with this for a couple years now and it is so limiting. I am happy more people will find out about this terrible condition and will hopefuklkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Great narration; this guy knows his stuff.

wow I fell in love while listening to his calming voice

Ok I’m 18 now. I have been living with this for 2,5 years now. 5-15 years is sooner than I expected, so I’m counting on you doc.

I keep falling asleep before the video is over.

Thank you for this video. 🌞

This was very educational, thank you.

I think i have this. I fall asleep suddenly and at random times.. Like at the library while reading or on computer and watching tv. Even once outside on my porch. And outside my job once. Its dangerous and i wake up confused most of the time.

If you don't have Narcolepsy you carnt begin to understand what its like. I got Diagnosed this year and my life is slowly getting back on track but last year my whole life was wrecked from work to family to social Narcolepsy caused me a world of shit got the sack from many work places to start off with I was trying so hard but the tirdeness is unbearable its not just like you yawn and could go to sleep when these attacks happen your brains shutting down for sleep regardless of where you are and what you are doing, as this happens I get hallucinations which can look very real and in a public place this causes embarrassment because my automatic reaction to the hallucinations you carnt tell if there hallucinations or not. The sleep paralysis is the most frightening thing I have ever experienced I used to get it every night maybe 2-3 times, Just imagine getting in bed then within a few minuites opening your eyes and thinking somethings not right you try to move but nothing happens then out of the corner off your eye you see a dark shadow which all off a sudden jolts into plain view you see i and sense its evilness it leans towards you and wraps its hand around your neck you can feel its sharp fingernails digging in you smell its foul odour and its weigh5 crushing your chest struggling to catch your breath let me tell you know and im not the kind of person who jumps at a horror film but sleep paralysis is something I never ever want to experience again. Then on top of all this your constantly worrying about the cataplexy which caused me to socially isolate myself and become a recluse almost getting diagnosed with schizophrenia luckily enough my GP recognised the symptoms and I was finally put in the right direction. Im taking Venflaxine 80mg twice a day and they have been great my lifes starting up again just waiting to start o stimulants in july then I can start working again :D P.s. Anyone who thinks they may have Narcolepsy or are undiagnosed go straight to the GP it wont get better just worst you dont realise how bad youve been feeling until you start on the medication and start feeling better and its tough yeah the tirdeness is a killer but the sooner you get it sorted the better :)

Woah. Just realized my brain is learning about itself.

Do I have narcolepsy? I'm constantly tired, have slept 12+ hours a day since I was about 11 or 12, and do not sleep well at night at all. I roll constantly and wake up extremely uncomfortable 8-10 times a night. If you actually let me sleep I'll sleep about 15 hours in a row, then I'll be asleep again in 5 hours or so.

Where are my fellow Narcoleptics at? I’m basically a textbook case of Narcolepsy with Cataplexy

HERE FROM THE HORROR AU AND IM SCARED

Hello y'all! I got my diagnosis the same year this video was released, I was 12. Now in 2022 I started uni and can say it's pretty difficult and challenging to maintain study and free time. Days are long and evenings are spent resting. Probably need to upgrade my meds to a higher dose. Wish you all the best and strength 💪🏻!

I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy without cataplexy as a child. Now years later over 50 I have been diagnosed again with it. I felt like without the medication I missed so much that I slept through. So many times I felt I wanted to do things but couldn't get out of bed or just wanted to sleep. I wasn't depressed. So, I had a sleep study done and now I am on a new treatment. I believe it will help and they the doctors understand so much more than they did in the 70's.

I woke up an hour ago in the morning and I am sleepy while commenting this.

Great video brief for introducing people to Narcolepsy. Much appreciated.

I like to join in club I'm a narcolepsy catalepsy patient to but in addition of that I'm suffering from sleep apnea too don't know whether I'm going to die cuz of narcolepsy while I'm bathing or driving or I die with sleep apnea sigh ......

I was diagnosed at the age of 7 every time it gets quiet I would fall the sleep plus I had canteplexy but now I’m a adult through the years it have improved tremendously; I was told I would never be able to hold on to a steady job or drive that just how bad my symptoms was but always spoke god and life over my self

Zoned out while watching this video ..guess i have to watch it again

I have Narcolepsy and it’s not really easy to live with I hope people stop making fun of it.

I’m undiagnosed narcoleptic. I’m not sure about cataplexy but I have experienced sleep paralysis with hallucinations, sleep walking(not as much now), falling asleep while walking or standing. It’s hard or impossible to stay up all day without a nap. The weirdest thing I get sometimes is feeling sleep paralysis trying to kick in while laying down awake, that’s a tough thing to fight.

I wonder if, similarly to our daytime sleepiness and/or cataplexy being caused by movements or emotions flooding, our insomnia is caught by a lack of stimulation, being alone in the dark without anything to flood our brains and shut it off like in the daytime. I always felt like that cod be the case cause I know I sleep way better with a podcast or smth on at night than I do without, it's giving me info and emotions that can put me to sleep yk

I have to concentrate on not falling asleep during the day, i have missed over 30 class sessions in online school just because i fall asleep randomly, i have not been medically diagnosed of narcolepsy. I am too scared to go to a doctor or tell my mom that i am having symptoms of narcolepsy through out the day.

Do you have any information on secondary narcolepsy? (Brain damage)

Thanks

The movie Ode to joy is what brought me awareness to cataplexy. It’s 2022-05-11 and I had NOOO idea narcolepsy and cataplexy existed.

This video is almost 10 years old... any updates on this research?

I'm so terrified of getting sleep paralysis and it's very hard for me to sleep idk why sleeping in the day gets rid of my Paranoia but it does and it messes up my life..

Question could you just overclock the hypocretin neuron like send electrical shocks to those neurons to force them to work ? If yes we could maybe make an cyber part that's attached to the skull with a adjustable clock to set off or on the system.

My symptoms get triggered from stress. For example I was falling asleep even thru the nurses trying ccx to keep me awake, while in labor with my 2nd son because there was complications and I was so stressed and panicked .

Nice video 🔥🤝

So I'm being tested for narcolepsy and sleep apnea because I haven't gone one day throughout highschool without falling asleep in at least two out of my five classes, I can't wake up once I'm asleep (my boyfriend is able to throw me over his shoulder and toss me into bed without me even stirring), I make these weird "putt" noises in my sleep and all of a sudden stops for 30+ seconds and then with a short gasp it starts again! when I do wake up enough in the morning to be in a light sleep I have vivid dreams of me getting up and making my bed, only to find out that I've slept in and my beds still a mess, and to top it off both my grandmothers and grandfathers have had narcolepsy, my dad's father had sleep apnea and so does my father. I can't wait for my test because I'm honestly sick of putting up with this...

From process of elimination I have Narcolepsy and all symptoms including cataplexy during laughter (mostly during laughing i almost fall and for about 4 seconds loose control lol) but my sleeping pattern is fine. I don't have sleeping a problem sleeping at all.

I'm here to look for explanation why my bones in my finger weakens to the point I couldn't hold a cup of glassafter laughing hard, also I get sleepy all the time but I never have trouble sleeping at night. But at day time even if I already slept 12 hrs I still feel sleepy and when I take a nap it always turn to 3 to 4 hrs of sleep.

So glad my insurance covers Adderall, or I'd never get anything done. I have super vivid dreams as well, so often I don't even realize I've fallen asleep when it happens, and then walk around thinking things that happened in a dream, actually happened. Half the conversations I used to have, never even happened. People would just look at me like I'm crazy.

I’ve been struggling with these symptoms for the past year or two and it keeps getting worse. I keep hoping it isn’t narcolepsy because “it isn’t that bad” but after watching this I really think I might. Im crying. I just hope if I do I’ll get treatment soon

I'm from Africa in Uganda, and I knew something was wrong with since Primary and high school coz I would always be sleeping in class, one time I visited a clinic, explained my situation and the nurse explained that I'm just not sleeping enough. I got to know that I have Narcolepsy after watching a movie that had a guy with the same disorder. Upto now most friends and family think I'm just lazy coz I be dozing all the time and can't concentrate on something for long hours, even just driving for long hours is hard without getting an attack.

I envy how these people have hypnagogic hallucinations. sounds magical. I love dreams. I have sleep paralysis very often and vivid dreams just before I wake up, but nothing like what they have.

In yoga there are some exercise like kapalbhati , anlom vilom and humming that can help reproduce hyporcretin cells . one of my friend has this problem . He cured this with yoga .You just have to practice daily and increase slowly. Now I am applying it to my father .He is improving slowly . My father had this serious problem for a long time . One night he fell off from standing position on his hands . He told this thing after few years when we start noticing him .he used to sleep in sitting position. But now he is improving . I hop he will be fine .

We know frighteningly little about the brain, even less so about the illnesses that affect it

I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy at the Age of 12.

I had all the symptoms except, but "waking up randomly at night" is kinda controllable. It takes about 2 hours until I get up, just to say "sleep you idiot" and go back to sleep. Guess I'm narcoleptic. Sleep paralysis makes me so uncomfortable and nervous, I can't move my body despite being awake, it's like your brain doesn't works anymore or isn't responding to you. What I try to do is go back to sleep, bit my tongue or move some fingers to make some noice, but most of the times I just wake up randomly in it. The worst part is that some times I have difficulties breathing during sleep (pretty rare, but it can happen to me), and I got breathing difficulty with sleep paralysis. It was the worst feeling ever. You can't breathe properly, and you can't do anything about it because you're paralyzed. I hate this thing.

I am noticing that some of these measurements does not address the temperature of the given anatomy within the brain and possibly the anatomy not of the brain?

I was injured in my brain because of a hit and run motorcycle accident. Since then, I had trouble sleeping and waking up, even hallucinating when waking up that I have to do a task that I was never told to do. Came here because I wanted to know why I had a sleep paralysis.

What are your thoughts on an upcoming once nightly sodium oxybate?

Awesome video. Recently Narcolepsy has been confirmed to be an autoimmune disease, the T Cells that kill the hypocretin producing neurons have been isolated.

A balanced diet has a huge affect on an individual's alertness throughout the day! Especially in the later stages of your life.

I worry that I may have narcolepsy but I'm too afraid to go see doctors about it because I don't want to sound like a hypochondriac or risk having my license to drive taken away if I get diagnosed. I just hope that if I try hard enough, I'll be ok. But it's 2 am now and that's why I'm watching this now. I can't sleep now but am sleepy all day.

yeah I have narcolepsy every time I get stressed in the school like a mental defense and this drives me crazy I should be more wake up in exams season not the contrary and this due to I'm very sensitive can not work under pressure !

Bruh I used to do this when my mom is talkin to her friends at restaurants during job meetings. Like I remember I was at some really nice steak place and it was really calming. The worst situation to be in with this and I fell asleep on my food without knowing. And now on i sit with my mom during her business meets there.

Really interesting but....even as I'm watching this and finding it interesting, I'm still falling asleep!! And I don't even have it that bad

I just wanted to know why I could fall asleep anywhere like through turbulence or even when fireworks are going off since it’s close to 4th of July and people are setting off fireworks

I'm pretty sure I have this. It just showed up in my feed and makes sense. This may be it...

I think caffeine consumption may lead to inactivity of the hypercretin cells as their job is done by the caffeine which makes them obsolete.thus our brains In a way starts getting affected by this daily habit. I myself consume a lot of caffeine (by drinking tea every morning) and I too have a similar problem of sleep attacks.

Is REM at a certain temperature?

i have this issue where i sleep and I'm very tired then usual so i will sleep for 5 minutes only, and I'll dream scary stuff and I'll wake up quick and still know what happened during that dream. I also have anixety and depression and always stressed out.

i wonder what breakthroughs theyve come up with since 2014

Should this be treated with medication or should we not use medication but just change our living habits to live with it? Please let me know, thank you very much

so I got a question for someone who was diagnosing in the third grade how can you help or be proactive with it or with the day-to-day activities??

Wtffff I have this but it started first as sleep paralysis wtf crazy I’m glad I ain’t the only one

Normal here. But ONCE I had sleep paralysis which was the scariest thing ever happened to me. I was WAY past zombie mode. I was fully awake and couldn't move a freaking muscle. I willed myself to wake up to move a pinky finger anything! It was worse than having to move a mountain like something was ON me. I FINALLY broke through and moved a finger which snapped me out of it. People were walking around me and I could hear them in the break room but they probably thought I was just snoozing for a second. I was but I couldn't ask for help or anything. I was literally screaming in my mind to wake up. Worse fight I've ever had. Myself.

Cortisol has any effect with the disorder?

I have fragmented sleep. I wish I could just get a full nights rest without waking up. It’s very frustrating. Other than that, i do feel tired during the day on occasion but I think that’s do to my fragmented sleep and not so much narcolepsy.

After 30 years of asking, I just discovered I have narcolepsy 😢. When I was in school, I sleep in class; at work, I feel sleepy. After having sleep paralysis moments ago, I was researching on the probable causes (as I was lying on my stomach this time around, unlike previous experiences) and behold, I found out a potential cause of SP is Narcolepsy.

How can i deal and treat Delayed sleep phase disorder ? Every day i sleep about 48 mins later...

I found that no matter how much sleep I get, I react the same during the day, so I just get a small amount of sleep so I don't just waste time because its not going to help anyways

I have cataplexic tendencies, insomnia, frequent sleep paralysis, abnormal REM sleep (in fact I can dream in just minutes of sleeping), and hypnagogic hallucinations (i feel like my whole body was spinning in all directions and angles) but I don't have excessive daytime sleepiness (as a matter of fact, if i return to sleep hours after having a 2-3 hrs of sleep, I'll get sleep paralysis). Is this still be considered as narcolepsy? Help.

I didn’t know I had this. If I try to lay down and go to sleep I’ll stay up, moving around, tossing turning, last night night I got like three hours of sleep. Some nights I don’t get sleep. During the day if I don’t take my meds I’m yawning so fucking much. I can’t stay asleep all day long and easily stay up all night. At night I wake up. During the day I’m sooo sleepy. The United makes me sleepy.

Please can someone help me out. I have many symptoms of narcolepsy. I know hallucinations are one of them. so during the day or during the night whenever I feel an overwhelming tiredness right before I fall asleep it feel like something shakes my body awake. Right before I fall asleep. It happens all the time. Sometimes I am so tired that I just ignore it and basically pass out from being so tired. But most of the time it scares me so bad I fight everyday not to fall asleep. Please anyone give me an honest opinion. Is this a symptom of narcolepsy or do I have a poltergeist?

Could hypothyroidism contribute to the development of Narcalepsy?

I definitely have this but not diagnosed, as with many of my other symptoms. It's really dangerous for an isolated, disabled, female on public transport and in work and on campus etc. The doctors don't believe me nor care. All the professionals I've seen have been so dismissive. No matter how much I sleep, I've not had one day in the last 8 years where I've not uncontrollably fallen asleep and jerked awake and also been somewhere in between & not able to control myself, it's very hard to explain. It happens so frequently every day and has wasted years of my life away. Obviously it's not the main or only problem in my life but it is debilitating and I think it is caused by or getting worse because of the beyond stressful life I am enduring. I've tried so many things to no success. I don't look unwell at all but I am. I can feel my brain or head region weakening and even stinging and my eyes are very detached and heavy. What can I do? The brain is so beautiful. Thanks in advance.

My grandma and dad have it and I experience symptoms am I likely to have it?

I had to watch this video in 2 parts I slept during the first part

Harvard mentions something called neurogenesis. Im not clear on the fine details but the baseline of it is that brain cells can be regenerated. perhaps this could be a potential solution to those with dead neurons in the location of the brain specified in the video.

I have narcolepsy and it’s horrible because when I’m sleeping sometimes I feel like I’m awake but I’m not and I have fragmented sleeps during the whole night . Also I have sleep parálisis

I've never told anyone this and except for my parents and schoolmates no one knows about this. Its sort of like a Donnie Brasco scenario you try to tell some one but it will ruin everything. There's nothing wrong with suffering in silence as long as it you can keep it a secret. Eventually you realize being a fully functioning Narco isnt bad because you can not beat it theres no cure but at least manage it

If someone sees this I need help today I just fell asleep abt couple mins I was already dreaming but I felt awake pretty sure I was my cat was on me and she was growling at something it was a dream/hallucination I used to have sleep paralysis btw a min or 2 later I finally was out of the dream or hallucination and it felt so real I turned my light on and now I just woke up I’ve only been Al sleep for a couple hours