Narcolepsy, Amphetamines, and Dreaming

[WerBurN]

for those of you who dont know, narcolepsy is that funny disease where you fall asleep randomly...to be more percise, it your body's inability to induce and get out of REM sleep...you know those normal sleep cycles during the night? well, narcoleptics may sleep the same hours, but since their body cant put them into REM sleep (its kinda random) they usually dont get enough REM sleep during the night, and instead, while they're awake, the randomly will lapse into REM sleep (thus falling asleep randomly)...its a treatable disease, however...they treat you with amphetamines, basically speed. the amphetamines keep you awake during the day, then at night, when they wear off, your body will get enough REM sleep at night because it will feel sleep deprived (do to the medacation) and you'll generally get all those periods of REM sleep you would have gotten randomly throughout the day, all concentrated at night...which makes them...basically normal...so now, the questions, how would this effect dreaming? we all know you dream primarily during REM sleep, and while you think it might be cool to randomly do into dreams throughout the day, it isnt so cool when that random dream is when you're driving, or standing in the shower, or during a test. generally narcolepts go into REM sleep very quickly at night, and the whole regular sleep pattern of REM sleep every so many hours is out the window...so what would this do to dreams? then, another question, when on the amphetamines, what effect would that have on your dreams? i have my own conclusions about this, but i want to hear what ya'll gots to say

[Truthbearer]

this sounds like one for O'nus to answer...I'd like to take a swing at it, but to be honest I don't know much about how amphetamines would affect this condition much. I would think that it would give them much more chance to LD during the night than what they would have during these small random REMs during the day, basically because when I am sleep deprived and in a state where I am just falling asleep at every moment, reality and the dream seem to blend in very tightly and the dream time is too short to figure it out, perhaps. That is basically all I would be able to assume....very interesting topic though

[WerBurN]

well, i bring this up, because i was recently diagnosed with narcolepsy...they still have me on a very small dosage of dextroamphetamine, however, thus far, i have had no dreams i can remember...also, before i was on the medication, when i was falling asleep randomly, it would simply lapse...i wouldnt ever remember any dreams...for example: one time i was talking to my dad, there happened to be a clock there, which read 6:32 when i looked at it...i wasnt really paying a whole lot of attention to what he was saying as i was very tired...next thing, i hear my dad repeating my name...a sorta 'are you listening? thing' at this point i looked at the clock again and it read 6:54...another time, i was in the shower...my eyes kept wanting to shut, cause i was tired...then, next thing i know, im sitting on the floor with my back in a corner against 2 walls, i was very cold (as the shower water was no longer aimed at me), and my head hurt...i asked someone when i got out how long i'd been in there, to which they replied 'something like 2 hours, i thought you mighta drowned!' jokingly...point it, i cant recall a single instance where ive fallen asleep randomly and had dreams that i can remember...also, since being on the amphetamines, i have not had a single dream i can remember...wait, strike that...i had one this morning ;p (silly me)...this all may be in part because the amphetamines do mess with your sleep cycle and im just not very used to them yet, but it also may be because of the way i normally induce dreams...i always used to simply over sleep...set my alarm for something like 10 hours after i go to bed, then after i wake up, force myself back to sleep over and over...usually i can never sleep very deeply while doing this, but i get tons of dreams i can remember...however, i have to take my narcolepsy pill at the same time everyday (8 am), and after i take it, i can go back to sleep for about an hour tops before i wake up and simply cannot sleep (i mean, thats what this stuff is suppose to do eh? ;p)...it'll also be interesting to see how this all affects lucidity once i get a chance to try...it never used to be hard for me to become lucid, and while lucid i always used to have full control...i havent really had time enough to try the last couple months...

[Truthbearer]

For how long have you been suffering from narcolepsy? Do you think it may have to do with how you don't sleep every other night, or is that actually a consequence of it? Cause I remember you telling me about that, and perhaps that could have something to do if you had never had these before you began to do that. That seems pretty tough, to just fall asleep anywhere at any time. I am glad you are being treated for it and I hope that with time you can begin to regulate your sleep cycle again and find a way in which you can be lucid again. I don't really know how everything works regarding narcolepsy and such, but I would presume you will only have to take that medication for a fixed amount of time until everything gets restablished back to normal and you can continue without it. Hopefully, if not sooner, you shall be able to get your system back again when that happens(the oversleeping) and everything will work out for you alright...

[Howie]

Are there different forms of narcolepsy? A good friend of my familiy suffers from narcolepsy. This however was a result of a brain injury that accured during a car accident about 30 years ago. Since then he has had narcolepsy ever since. I am not sure if and what kind of medications he is on. I will ask. I do know that you can be in mid sentence and he will nod off. And when he comes to, he goes right back into what he was saying. He has not had driving privliges since this happened. As far as amphetamines they do inhibit your abilty to recall dreams on average. Not to say you cannot aquire good dream recall it is just another obstalcle.

[WerBurN]

well, i was just diagnosed a couple weeks ago...narcolepsy usually becomes apparent sometime around the ages of 16 and early 20's...howetzer, as for your friend, i dont know if that would be the same, as normally its an in-born defect, not one caused by brain damage, so his might behave differently, i dont really know...and Truthbearer, the fact that i have narcolepsy most likely has nothing to do with my previous odd sleep pattern, but it might have alot to do with the fact that i was drinking so much red bull, as it is largely untested in mass or over time...i drank at least 1 red bull a day for well over 2 years, during the peak of which, i was drinking 6-8 a day...they have had 8 cases of people dieing with relation to drinking too much red bull, most usually chug a can then try to exercise(ive done this multiple times, with up to three cans during an excersize period), then end up having a heart attack, a couple died simply by drinking 3 in tandem...i had a chugging contest using red bull on 2 occasions, once drinking 4 at once, and the second time drinking 6 and a half at once...so i was drinking drangerous amounts of the stuff, and they just havent done tests over time with the stuff...red bull contains Taurine, which is a partially essential amino acid your body naturally produces that regulates sleep...so for 2 years i was getting an extreme excess of taurine in my body, which might have caused my body to stop producing taurine and possibly other similar amino acids that regulate sleep...then a little while back i simply stopped drinking red bull, cold turkey, because i was having problems with my sleep, and i figured i should stop so as to allow my sleep pattern to regulate out and it just kept getting worse...so maybe due to the vast amounts of excess of taurine i had in my body, i stopped producing these sleep regulating amino acids, and now im having problems regulating my sleep...so, my narcolepsy might be in-born or chemically induced...they dont have the proper test facilities up here to determine which, but it deosnt really matter, as the pills im taking definitely fix it...as for eventually being able to go off the pills, well, if its in-born narcolepsy, then no, its lifelong and i must continue to take my pills til forever...however if the chemicals in my body are screwed up, it might still be possible for my body to recalibrate and reach homeostasis again, at which point if i discontinued my pills, i would be again normal...either way, no more sleep every other night ;p ...also, i had another dream this morning, non-lucid, but i wasnt trying for lucidity...

[Negaigoto]

*tilts head* wouldn't it be kinda nice if it was a chemical imbalance that would level out after a couple years? i mean, i know that "certain ppl" would lord it over you that they were right and you're normal, but it would be better in general...

[Truthbearer]

yeah man, i do hope that it is chemical induced and that you don't need to continue to take those pills for the rest of your life...that would be rather annoying. Anyway, you are dreaming and that is what matters most, I guess...