When I was in highschool I had marching band practice every morning before school and every afternoon after school. Several days a week after band practice I went to work. Saturdays were consumed with competitions and Sunday was filled with church, family time and youth group. When band was done, i participated in pep band for basketball and was a cheerleader of sorts for wrestling. By the time those were over it was marching band season again. In between practices and work, I kept up with school work. I was tired and frequently napped. I could nap on the bus headed to or from competitions or meets. I could nap on Sunday afternoon while reading a book. Pretty much, I could nap anytime, anywhere, in almost any position. Classroom time was particularly difficult if it wasn't an interactive class. I started getting in the habit of bringing snacks and soda to my classes. I found that if I ate I could stay awake.
My college life was similar. I would take snacks and soda to keep me awake. Often times I would nap when i got done with classes for the day. I would complain about it from time to time but everyone seemed to think it was normal due to taking classes and working full time. I talked with my doctor about it once but he told me I was fat and if I lost some weight I would feel better. Then we started having kids, so naturally I am going to be tired. Work full time, nursing school, and a kiddo, no wonder i was tired, right?
Well, after my husband starting having some health issues arise, I became really disatisfiedwith our primary care doctor. I found a wonderful doctor who listened to me and offered things we could look into that could be contributing to how tired i felt. We looked into thyroid issues, that work up was normal. So he suggested I go to a sleep medicine doctor. So I went. I had a sleep study done and it said that I have obstructive sleep apnea. My neck was so thick that when I sleep I stop breathing for periods of time, disrupting my sleep. So I got a cpap machine and wore it religiously. For the first few weeks i felt great, but slowly i returned to my pre cpap levels of daytime sleepiness. It had gotten to the point that I could fall asleep at my desk typing my notes and I was concerned about my job. So the sleep doctor suggested a nap test. So i went back during the day and they had me take a series of naps. They were monitoring how quickly i fell asleep and what stages of sleep I was in. This is the test that indicated I have narcolepsy.
It is amazing to me how much compensating i did with food and soda to make it through. In hind sight, i probably should have discussed things with my parents and doctor as a teenager but i didn't.
Now that i have the aid of medication to help me stay awake and my new favorite pink drink, I have more energy, sleep better and don't need nearly as much caffiene to survive the day.
Getting more rest and having more energy is helping me with pushing forward with healthy changes. Getting up early to go walk (with the intent to run) isn't as difficult as in years past. Still not consistent but trying and slowly making process. That's why this is a journey, right?
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