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 |  Thoughts, we all have them. What is yours? |
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What is on your mind? I love all type of topics and will talk about almost anything! So, what is happening with you lately? Come, tell me about yourself. What excites you about writing? What other things do you do: Art, music, animals?  Photo: The Huntington Japanese Gardens, photo by Seabreeze |
| Prompt #5: What information do you have about a specific topic that your readers might not know? Narcolepsy! My first husband had it and our family lived with it for 30 plus years. It is a neurological disorder. People with narcolepsy want to sleep a lot; day and night. They can have vivid dreams. My husband would get weak in the knees and almost fall down. If he wasn't up on his meds it was really bad. His doctor said he had a severe case of it. It is believed that it is hereditary. It is estimated that about 200,000 Americans and about 50% of the world's population have it. My husband has since passed, but when he was being treated for it, he had to take ritalin, known as a street drug. It was the only drug that worked for him. However, even with the drug, he had to be careful when he ate and wanted to do anything because he still would get sleepy after a while. So, if he wanted to do just the simple thing like watch a movie or visit with someone, he would not eat for awhile. Another strange thing about narcolepsy is cataplexy, a brief loss of muscle control or muscle tonis. My husband and I were in the market one day, checking out at the register and someone in line said something and my husband made a comment back and started to lose his balance. These comments usually had something fun connected to it when it occurred. My husband was a funny guy and loved humor. The only thing that would snap him out of it, or break this feeling, was if I pinched his arm. He normally would do it himself, but sometimes he needed a little help, so if I saw it coming, I would help him. By now you might be thinking, did he drive a car. Yes, but not for long. At some point my husband told or mentioned on paper that he had this condition and, I don't remember how it happened, but got back to the DMV and they took away his driver's license. The only way he could get it back was to have two doctors sign off on it saying that it was okay for him to drive. That was never going to happen. My husband never got over it. With narcolepsy, most have sleep apnea, difficulty breathing when sleeping. He had that as well. So it can be life threatening. He had a C-pap machine but would not use it. He said he was drowning, that was the feeling he experienced. This was back in the 80s and 90s. I am sure they have improved the equipment since then. My son was always afraid he would end up with it. So far he has not shown signs of it. He is 52. However, when it shows up it usually will do so most at an early age; like in the teens. My husband didn't have it until he was in his late 40s. However, when I first met my husband and were dating, when he first took me over to his apartment, I remember he said he was kind of tired and wanted to take a nap. I was okay with that and I selected a book to read while he took a nap. I really didn't think much about it at the time. But years later, I thought to my self, I bet he had it at an earlier age and did not know it. Seabreeze 3.26.25 |
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I used to love horses though and I spent all my spare time at the stables, which were a half-hour bike ride away. But it's different when you chose to help muck out the stables when it suits you compared to having to do it because it's your horse, in the freezing cold or when it's raining.
