The story of janet

I’m a 63 years old woman, and it wasn’t until I was 50 I found out I had one of my three rare diseases. I have two syrinx’s in my thoracic spine, when I was 56 I found out I have severe central sleep apnea, and then when I was 63, I was diagnosed with adult onset of narcolepsy with severe cataplexy. All of these were hard to get diagnosed. I understand the syrinx because mine is thoracic it was hard to find until good MRI’s were available. But when I was 50 and had to retire because I couldn’t stay alert no one did a sleep study until I was 56 to find the central sleep apnea, it was another six years until the doctors did the narcolepsy study to find it. My narcolepsy is so bad; I thought I was going to die before we found out what was wrong with me. There are no cures for any of my rare diseases just control and medication.

Find others with Narcolepsy on RareConnect, the online platform for people affected by rare disease