At last a light at the end of a long dark tunnel!

After having suffered for countless years with increasingly bad sleep problems and bad dreams, I have at long last got a diagnosis - Narcolepsy!

For years I have battled with intense dreams and interrupted sleep patterns which have affected me in every sphere of my life. I even think it has contributed to my depression, but the medical jury is still out out on that!

Basically, according the to National Institute of Neurological Disorders, narcolepsy is 'a failure of the brain to regulate wake-sleep cycles normally'. It is basically a chronic sleep disorder. I don't actually pass out and nap uncontrollably like many patients, however I do suffer from the other major symptoms of excessive sleepiness and vivid hallucinations during my sleep causing me to wake and think that I am still dreaming. This is hypnagogic hallucination and causes me to have extremely vivid and quite often exhausting interactive dreams. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) occurs at the beginning of the sleep cycle and not half way through the night as normal, as a result sufferers are in a constant state of REM with high brain wave activity and very little NREM (None Rapid Eye Movement) sleep - hence the exhaustion and other related problems.

It can often go undiagnosed for a long period of time, like in my case, because sufferers complain of not being able to sleep, they are thought to just suffer from insomnia and nothing further is done.

Now at least I know what I have and hopefully with the correct medication, I will be able to get my sleep back on track again. Light at last!!