Robin Haggard
September 28th, 2007
I’m an example of someone who had attained the career of her dreams. As a well-balanced, self-sufficient person, I had been driving tanker trucks for 15 years throughout the West. I had a perfect driving record in all those years and was in a job that I loved. But this all changed when I found out I had narcolepsy. Because of the nature of the disorder, commonly known as the “sleeping disease,” I lost my commercial driver’s license. Since then, I’ve had trouble finding a job in the industry I love, as not a lot of people want to hire someone with narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is somewhat of a misunderstood disease. While some people know it simply as the “sleeping disease,” I all too well know the details of this disabling phenomenon. It’s important to understand what people with narcolepsy go through every day to battle this illness.
As a narcoleptic, sometimes out of the blue, it looks like you just conk out and begin to sleep. Yet, at least for me, while I look like I am comatose, my mind is often still working. A lot of times, I can still hear what is going on around me. Sometimes I go into a hallucinogenic state where I see things that are not there. I had these types of episodes infrequently when I was a young girl, however it was not until I was an adult that I knew that I suffered from a disease. When I was diagnosed with narcolepsy, my whole life seemed to fall into complete disarray. I lost my job, my home and subsequently, much of my pride. Knowing that I couldn’t function as a normal person was incredibly hard. People won’t hire you because they don’t understand why one minute you appear to be a normal person, and then the next minute, you go into a silent seizure. It’s just devastating.Thankfully there are medications to treat this disease. My medications have helped me begin to live a normal life again. While it took me a while to find the medicine that was right for me, I would really encourage others dealing with narcolepsy to not give up—finding the right medicine will help you get your pride back. While I am no longer a tanker truck driver, I am a person who continues to fight my disease and the depression it’s caused me. By reaching out to others and learning that it is okay to depend on those around you, I’ve been able to deal with narcolepsy. I’ve been able to live my life again.
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