Re: Sleep disorders and ADD

[Anonymous]

Well, I managed to find this thread again to be able to post an update.

Today I had a consultation at a sleep clinic. I had to bring a 25 page questionnaire and met with the doctor for 45 minutes. Discovered afterwards that they have cameras all over the clinic so they can watch you – not just in the sleep study suites!

He says it’s classic narcolepsy, a textbook case, and actually apologised to me that it hadn’t been diagnosed earlier in my life (sleep study 20 years ago inconclusive and I had to beg for something to help me with sleep, the sleep study doc told me to try to wean myself off it as soon as I could). He thinks there’s a possibility of some form of sleep apnea. He was very interested to hear that I’d done the ritalin experiment and said that was proof to him (along with all of the other symptoms as well as strong family history, driving issues, etc).

He marked my intake form as URGENT, and I’m booked for a sleep study on the 18th of Sept, with a daytime study the next day. Followup is again urgent, 3 weeks later or earlier if the report is ready sooner.

It was a great relief to hear his diagnosis. I thought of my late mother, who was the one who urged and aided me in investigating it 20 years ago after she had been diagnosed in late life. She would have been pleased.

The downside is that I can’t drive anymore. I haven’t been written up because I am not in treatment yet, so I don’t know what that means. My mother continued to drive even though she’d been diagnosed with narcolepsy. So perhaps it is decided by the doc on a case-by-case basis.

I’m still trying to wrap myself around the fact that the sleep doc says classic case of narcolepsy and the ADD doc says textbook case of ADD. I guess the good part is that the treatment appears to be similar, stimulant meds. Double confirmation for my family doc, I guess.

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