Unraveling the Mystery of Disrupted Sleep Patterns.
Julie Faenza's significant sleep problems were attributed to anxiety and depression, but after a scary incident while driving, she began a year-long search that resulted in the discovery of a long-overlooked disorder. Faenza was diagnosed with Type 1 narcolepsy, a chronic neurological disorder that impairs the brain's sleep/wake cycles and causes excessive daytime sleepiness. Such a delay in diagnosis is not uncommon, and the lack of education about sleep disorders in medical school remains a barrier to timely diagnosis. Faenza wishes she had heeded advice her mother had given her years earlier about the importance of knowledge and self-advocacy in medical matters.