Columns

Imagine being the one person with narcolepsy who literally falls asleep on a chair, and then the floor, at a conference about hypersomnia. And I’m not talking about quietly nodding off. I’m talking about nodding and hitting my head on the way to the ground, with the side of…

When people hear narcolepsy with cataplexy, they often picture a life limited by exhaustion and uncertainty. The reality is that this condition has taken away things many people may take for granted, challenged my independence, and forced me to rethink how I live each day. But it’s never…

Traveling with narcolepsy and cataplexy can feel like a carefully managed gamble. Most trips go smoothly. But all it takes is one delay, one stressful situation, or one exhausting day for everything to unravel. That is exactly what happened in June 2025 as I tried to get home…

Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with Xyrem (sodium oxybate). Not everyone will have the same response to treatment. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. In 2010, I almost died from a cantaloupe-sized hepatocellular adenoma wrapped around my portal veins. People hear the word…

I’ve never been able to watch scary movies. Thanks to narcolepsy, which is characterized by uncontrollable urges to sleep at any time of day, the content of those movies would be recycled into my dreams and become a nonstop part of my day. Falling asleep throughout the day may…

It started with laughter — the kind that bubbles up fast, spills over, and refuses to be contained. The kind that makes your stomach ache and your eyes water. The kind you wish you could bottle and save for harder days. I was on my grandparents’ couch, wrapped in that…

It was January 2020, and I thought to myself, I can’t dance. My feet felt like they were moving through glue, and I couldn’t seem to pick them up fast enough. This wasn’t the first time I had this realization, but I was still a little disappointed that I couldn’t…

There’s a quiet moment I’ve come to depend on: the second my body gives in and I slip into sleep. It’s not dramatic. It’s not planned. It’s just necessary. That moment is when I recharge. I’m Rachel Nesmith, though many people know me as Sleepy American. I live with…

“Does my Kermit the Frog shirt scream depression?” “Is my hair braided in an anxious way?” “Is my personality too meek?” My thoughts circled dreadfully before a doctor’s appointment. After years of dead-end appointments, I felt like I was the problem. As part of a six-week outpatient program in March…

One lesson stands out as I look back on my diagnosis of narcolepsy with cataplexy: You must become your own best advocate. No one can fight quite like you can to get the diagnosis and treatment you need to function in daily life. In the fall of 2000, I…