Finally, A Diagnosis and Imposter Syndrome, Too
Diagnosis: narcolepsy type one, or narcolepsy with cataplexy (photo: New Years' Eve, 2010) Every now and then, I manage to make it over to the book club my friends get together and do once a month. Back, maybe last summer, they read the book called, "Becoming Mortal: Medicine and What Matters In the End" by Atul Gawande. (Highly, hugely recommend, best book I've read in a long time.) While I was looking for it on the shelves at Barnes and Noble, I noticed another book called, "The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience, and the Secret World of Sleep." by Guy Leschziner. (also an amazing book. Do recommend, if you're interested in this kind of thing.) I bought both books. I read Mortal first because book club was that night, then gave myself over to find out what the nocturnal brain was all about. He discusses two patients with narcolepsy. While both of them were more extreme cases than anything I've experienced, every single thing he said about t