Would a narcoleptic be skilled at lucid dreaming?

**PostScript99** · 06-25-2013 12:09 AM

1.) Extremely vivid dreams
2.) Frequent, uncontrollable daytime naps
3.) Interrupted nighttime sleep
4.) HH is so common to the point where some of them take REM inhibitors;( for it
5.) Most importantly, REM hits almost immediately.

If anyone here on DV actually does have narcolepsy, then you can clear this up for me, but:

Narcoleptics seem to have all these factors going for them, LD-wise, but they choose to suppress their dreams and HH. I don't see that they would have to spend much effort WILDing, since for normal people NREM WILDs are very difficult, but they don't have to deal with that because their REM comes quickly. Also, vividity and recall should be a piece of cake already, so any one of them could set on a technique with ease. How come none of them have taken advantage of the situation?

**Micael** · 06-25-2013 01:21 AM

I didn't know that condition, seems very interesting to me though from their perspective having to live with it their whole lives often times unknowing of the underlying potential probably doesn't sound so nice. I would say it's a matter of taking in a different viewpoint and approach many of them surely don't have access to.

**DeSeradiralsh** · 07-07-2013 12:57 PM

I think if we tell them some stuff of lucid dreaming, narcoleptics can become our mentors one day

**DarkFlatTop** · 07-10-2013 03:20 AM

Originally Posted by DeSeradiralsh

I think if we tell them some stuff of lucid dreaming, narcoleptics can become our mentors one day

people with certain disabilities can definitely find ways to make the most of it. Like bind people who use echolocation. If there were more teachers every blind person (and im sure even determined people who can see) would be able to learn the skill to some extent.

**fiftybirds** · 07-10-2013 04:19 AM

as a point of interest, it's quite apparently quite common for narcoleptics to have their dreams bleed into real life. i suppose you could consider this a form of lucid dreaming. here are some excerpts from oliver sacks' fascinating book 'hallucinations':

people with narcolepsy describing their experiences:

Sharon S.
I wake on my stomach to the sensation that the mattress is breathing. I cannot move and the terror sets in as I 'see' the marbled grey skin with sparse black hairs beneath me. I am sprawled on the back of a walking elephant...

I am driving to work, and getting increasingly sleepy; suddenly, the road ahead rises up in front of me and hits me in the face. It is so realistic. I jerk my head back. It certainly wakes me up. This experience is different from my other hallucinations in that my eyes were open and I was seeing my actual surroundings, but with distortion.

Stephanie W.
Prior to treatment for narcolepsy, I had many periods during which I experienced hallucinations on a daily basis... Some were utterly benign; an "angel" which would appear periodically over a certain highway exit... hearing a person whispering my name repeatedly, feeling ants walking on my legs... Some were terrifying like the experience of visually seeing the people before me taking on the appearance of the dead.

regarding the aetiology of these hallucinations sacks writes:

While most of us have a robust sleep-wake cycle, with sleep occuring predominantly at night, people with narcolepsy can have dozens of "microsleeps" (some lasting only a few seconds) and "in-between states" each day -- and any or all of these may be charged with intensely vivid dreams, hallucinations, or some almost-indistinguishable fusion of the two.

i'd imagine, therefore, that these hallucinations occur due to rapid onset of REM (either onset of REM while still conscious, or the incorporation of immediate surroundings into REM imagery) however it's also possible that they could just arise from a general dysregulation of normal brain functions.

as for using narcolepsy to LD, i think most people with narcolepsy would rather trade the ability to lucid dream for the ability to be functional in waking life (by treating their illness). however in mild cases of narcolepsy this may not be so and i'd be interested to hear thoughts from that perspective. it could be possible that lucid dreaming might allow someone to cope better with narcolepsy.