Upcoming Sleep Study for possible narcolepsy. Advice/thoughts?
I have a sleep study coming up next week. The sleep doctor during the consult said he thought I may have narcolepsy. I really am not too sure and I'm worried about a lot of things for the upcoming study.
I read that if they think you have narcolepsy you have the MSLT right after your overnight study if it shows you may have narcolepsy, but I'm only scheduled for an overnight. The sleep doctor also told me not to stop taking my medications because itd be too difficult and dangerous for me to be off of them. I dont know how you can properly diagnose anything with me taking my regular medications or why its even worth doing then. I'm also worried I wont be able to fall asleep under the pressure or I'll miraculously have a good nights sleep instead of have a typical episode of sleep paralysis.
My symptoms dont include "nodding off" or randomly falling asleep (unless watching TV or something). I'm ALWAYS tired, I never feel refreshed and even if it's been several days with no sleep and I just want to cry because I'm so tired, sometimes I cant and I just lay in bed all night with my eyes closed. I have RLS, recurrent sleep paralysis with hallucinations, sleep terrors, make weird moans in my sleep and occasionally talk. Prior to me getting put on prazosin years ago, I would sleep walk, grind my teeth, have intense nightmares (always was murdered), yell/talk, dig my fingers into my face and skull and leave deep scratches, pull my hair, RLS and still had the insomnia. I no longer do those things (other than I still have RLS) if I take my prazosin and I dont remember my dreams anymore. Does this sound like narcolepsy???
My doctor said if it looks like narcolepsy after the study, hed likely just up my stimulants. Prior to being on stimulants for ADHD, I'd fall asleep and take naps sometimes and feel more refreshed. Naps dont make me feel refreshed anymore. I cant function at work without taking my ADHD meds and I've gone months without taking my them and it didnt affect my sleep or insomnia and only made me fall incredibly behind at work because I couldnt focus. They dont really make me feel more awake and I'm still tired as hell, but I do function much better on them. Idk if more stimulants is what I need and dont want an inaccurate diagnosis. I also am waiting to get bloodwork back - specifically iron levels, but a bunch of blood test results.
My meds are the following: 40mg dextroamphetamine 37.5mg phentermine Atenolol 25mg Prazosin 2mg Temazepam 15mg Ropinirole .5mg Ketamine nasal spray Vitamin D2 1.25mg (weekly) Xanax 1mg as needed