Kaku dealing with narcolepsy in the devildom. Lucifer... fails to understand.
I’d kind of like to explore writing a little about what it’s like to have narcolepsy/hypersomnia through a character in the devildom, and how they get along with Belphie since he’s the avatar of sloth. I don’t know anyone else who has a hypersomnia sleeping disorder or narcolepsy other than myself, and it would be nice to throw out a little representation.
Some things I’d like to throw out there for people to know up top about it:
-sleep attacks are real!! Personally I’m totally fine with them used as comic relief because it’s not offensive to me, but the reality is that sometimes they are super frustrating, disheartening, or even scary.
-some people have cataplexy, others do not. Both are valid! Cataplexy is basically ragdolling - falling down, legs giving out, eyelids drooping, shaking and sudden weakness. It super sucks and makes it even harder to get out of bed because your body might just give out out of nowhere.
-heightened states of arousal (excitement, anger, anxiety) can trigger cataplexy and/sleep attacks!! I personally get sleep attacks when I get too anxious or simply have a good conversation with a friend. It feels really rude, but it is ultimately uncontrollable. Cataplexy happens to me if I am suddenly hit with an intense feeling, typically my legs just kind of say “fuck it” and become hard to control.
-there are not many medications to treat either these. They are also super hard to diagnose. A single sleep study (you usually need several for a proper diagnosis) is over 5k out of pocket, and some people can’t get their proper medications unless they get a formal diagnosis!!
-narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease.
Anyway, off my soap box! I hope this was interesting or at least informative for some folks. I’d love to hear from other peoples experience with this kind of sleep disorder (diagnosed formally or not. It’s pretty easy to tell when something like this is super abnormal.)
