"Well, I guess the Nuvigil works," she yawned.

Just about every day since I was diagnosed with IH, I have taken Nuvigil.  My doctor said it would help.  It has been the better part of a year, and I have been wondering exactly how much it is helping.

Well, I am a teacher.  It is an exhausting job, especially since I am new to teaching, and have no background in it other than my area of expertise.  When I first started, all I did was teach and sleep.  These days, I teach, do things, then sleep - more like people without narcolepsy or IH.  But I do take naps occasionally, and if I do not get enough sleep, I will still fall asleep throughout the day.  So, I was starting to really wonder what kind of difference the medicine was making.

One day, I forgot to take my Nuvigil before going to work.  Luckily, this was after I started drinking coffee.  So, throughout my day, I had 3 cups of black coffee, knowing I would be tired that day.  I figured 3 cups would be equivalent to the meds (in a very non-scientific way).  So, I got home from work that day, and I fell asleep on the couch napping for a couple of hours.  That was fine, I figured it was par for the course having missed my dose.  Here is where I realized how much different my life had been before I started on the medicine.

Only a couple of hours after my long nap, while fully dressed still in my work clothes, I fell asleep for the night - it was 8:30 pm.  I couldn't even wake myself up long enough to change for bed.  Then when it was time to get up for work the next day, I had a very hard time (which is still typical).

I felt as though I had completely missed a day.  It was a little bit of a shock to remember what my life had been like before my diagnosis.  But one thing I realized is that I am very thankful drugs like this exist!  Even though I am still tired and I still nap a whole lot, the meds are actually helping.  Subtle, but life-changing!