Xyrem Vol. 1

Let’s talk about my first week on Xyrem.  The cliff notes version is that I LOVE THIS DRUG. I think it’s absolutely amazing and I hope that everyone who is interested in it can have access to it. I have a long way to go in my Xyrem journey but after two weeks there is a notable difference in my sleep quality, which is exactly what Xyrem is meant to manipulate.

For those of you who are unfamiliar and thinking “WTF is Xyrem?”, let me refer you to Chica Siesta who does a brilliant 4-1-1 in her post All About Xyrem, the Weirdest Drug Ever.

Cool. Now that you know all about Xyrem, I’ll give you a blow-by-blow about my first week drinking super concentrated sea water.

Day 0: Pickin up Xyrem!

We got back from NOLA, I took a yoga class/guided nap, and then I picked up my first Xyrem shipment.  My anxiety level was at 1000.  What is it going to feel like? What is it going to taste like? Am I going to have insane side effects? What is it going to be like to wake up in the middle of the night for the second dose? Am I going to feel totally drugged in the morning? Am I going to stop breathing?  I cried, I was so scared.  I’d say it was kind of pathetic but I’d be selling myself short.  The decision to take Xyrem is a life-changing one.  Xyrem is THE DRUG and at this point all of my eggs were/are in the Xyrem basket; if it doesn’t work out, there’s nowhere else for me to go except back to the drugs that I use to make me look awake.

My first night on xyrem went like this:

1. Finish eating two hours before Xyrem time.  For me this was 8pm, for a bed time of 10-10:30pm.
2. Set all the alarms.  My husband and I both set alarms for 2:30.
3. Prep two Xyrem doses.  I’m starting low, with each dose being 1.25grams.
4. Get in bed with stuffed animals. I have a tricked out bed game – stuffed animals, blankies, more pillows than my husband can deal with. I mean, the least I can do is make sure I wake up to a friendly face when I’m coming out of the hallucinations following my 10am sleep attack, yeah? Friend who messaged me: yes I have sleep attacks at 10am (and 2pm and sometimes 7pm on a really bad day) too! So I also don’t plan things before 12. Or ever. I know you know what I mean. ❤ 
5. Drink the ocean.  It’s disgusting.  At only 1.25 grams it tastes like I’m drinking super concentrated ramen broth, but not in a good way.
6. Wait to fall asleep.  I was expecting to fall asleep in 5-15 minutes like all of the nurses and pharmacists and videos and literature had prepped me for, but it ended up being an hour before I fell asleep.  Half an hour in I got really giggly.  And 15 minutes later I could feel a really comfortable weight pushing down on my body and I knew that I was going to go to sleep!

I woke up easily to my alarm at 2:30 and took the second dose.  (My husband woke up too.)

Day 1

After my first night on Xyrem, I woke up naturally at 6am!  I woke up without feeling drugged for maybe the first time in my life.  It was WILD and so disorienting in the best way.  I took my nuvigil and then slept on and off for another five hours before going to a yoga class/guided nap.

That night I took my first Xyrem dose at 10:30 pm and woke up at 2:20 for dose 2.  (My husband woke up, too.)

Day 2: Sleep Attack

This is my second day on Xyrem.  I woke up naturally at 6 again and fed the bears while my husband slept.  I stayed awake until my 10am sleep attack – a pretty consistent event.  I can push through my sleep attacks on stimulants but I’m a zombie.  Upon waking, I went to the gym to walk on the treadmill. I’m trying to be consistent about going to the gym even if it’s to walk on the treadmill. There is some potentially ugly anxiety, depression, and panic attacks waiting for me down the Xyrem road and I’m trying to shore up some healthy habits now.

I took my Xyrem closer to 11 on the third night.

Day 3: The Pstupid Psychiatrist

I woke up naturally at 6am again, fed the bears, and then this happened.  I had enough wakefulness to go to the gym to run it off.

I am trying to become independent of my husband for waking up for dose 2 so that he can sleep and we’re not trading my sleep disorder for a new sleep disorder in him.  I didn’t want him to set an alarm on Day 4 so that I could try to wake up by myself.  That night I took Xyrem at 10:40 and stayed up on my phone for an hour while I waited to fall asleep.  In some ways I think my sleep hygiene has gotten worse this week: since I’m relying heavily on Xyrem to put me to sleep, I’m more liberal with nighttime tech usage than I was before Xyrem.  I checked the clock and realized that I was still awake at 12 which was kind of weird.  I put the tech away and tried to fall asleep.

Unfortunately I snoozed my alarm clock when it went off.  My husband woke me up and I was disoriented.  I took the meds and then conked out again until 6am.

Day 4: A Kittyplexy Attack

I woke up at 6am, fed the bears and went back to sleep.  I went to the gym for an intense workout in the afternoon and 25 minutes in I felt a full body cataplexy attack coming on.  I lay down on a mat for a 15 minute nap and was surprised to find that it was more of a kittyplexy attack.  Yes, that is what I am going to call a half-cataplexy attack. Pretty cute, right?  I started losing control but didn’t lose ALL control.  Kind of like being pushed all the way up to the cliff but not pushed over it.  Amazing.  Is this Xyrem?  I don’t know but I’ll take it.

My eating is weird on Xyrem.  I came home from the gym and ate a pack of electrolyte gels + a chewy bar because I didn’t have any energy to make anything else. Napped from 330-430. Went mountain biking at 5 which was a silly call because I crashed.  My eyes weren’t doing great and my arms were morning-hands esque.  In retrospect I think I needed potassium. I’ll have to be more vigilant about balancing my electrolytes as my sodium intake increases – a common Xyrem thing.  We went to one of our favorite restaurants after the ride and I was STARVING.  I was so excited to be hungry and I ate half a chicken which I think is more protein in one sitting than I’ve eaten like ever.  It was PERFECT.

I stopped eating at 8pm, brushed teeth, and set up my Xyrem, etc. First dose at 1050. Cell phone alarm set for 240,250,3. Vibrating alarm set for 230 and 630.

Day 5: My Favorite Day with Xyrem

The vibrating alarm woke me up at 230. I was a little disoriented, but okay.  My husband said he still woke up 😦 and then I woke up at 430 which was weird. But I must have conked out again until 645 when I woke up feeling pretty great.

I totally get why everyone is obsessed with Xyrem and why folks put up with the associated side effects and lifestyle changes: my sleep is AMAZING.  I’ve never woken up feeling refreshed before and I didn’t even know what I was missing out on!  I knew that I woke up feeling drugged.  I knew that my husband can look in my eyes and tell whether I’m sleeping or not while we’re talking in the morning.  BUT I just thought that’s what waking up felt like and that he was less lazy than I was.  Turns out THAT’S NOT WHAT WAKING UP SHOULD FEEL LIKE.  (People without narcolepsy: every morning I wake up feeling like you would if you drank like 10 margaritas the night before, except that I don’t drink because it makes my symptoms eleventy-thousand-quadzillion times worse.  Yes that’s a number because I just hallucinated it to be true.  And yes I’m making a guess at the number of margaritas because I have absolutely no idea what it’s like to not have narcolepsy.)

At 830 we went to the Farmer’s Market! I was feeling sore from the mountain biking wreck but less so than I would before Xyrem. That could be totally psychosomatic and I’m okay with that.  The sleep I’m getting now is 100% real, though, and I never want to go back to the pre-Xyrem days.
We got our food and that’s when I started feeling BLAH.  My head felt awake but my body felt HEAVY. Like we-had-to-sit-down-on-the-curb-at-the-market-because-gravity-was-too-aggressive type of heavy.  This is not a normal sensation for me and it felt like I was wading through a pool with a weighted-vest on.  Like HEAVY.  I’ve seen people write about this sensation and it didn’t make any sense to me.  Until Day 5 when it was just undeniably there.  Almost like cataplexy-heavy but without the tingling discomfort and loss of muscle control.

 D reminded me that “just because you feel great now, you might still need a nap later.” You guys, this is my person.  I’m healing from the trauma of 20 years of doctors telling me I’m wrong and subsequently trying to hide my sleepiness from the world, so I need permission to be sick and sleepy, and he knows that.

Also I didn’t take Nuvigil. I felt medicated anxiety yesterday so I skipped it today. I had it with me in case I need it, though.

After my nap I went to my very first ever writing class! More on that later.

Days 6 and 7
The sleepiest days. But I also didn’t take Nuvigil AND it definitely was NOT worse than my everyday narcolepsy experience pre-xyrem.
Week 2

I didn’t take Nuvigil Monday through Thursday and managed to get out of bed every single day to do something productive! (My husband pointed out that pre-Xyrem it was inconceivable that I could be a human without stimulants. We both got giddy with excitement about this progress. It’s SO helpful to me to have this outside feedback because I beat myself up a couple of the days for taking so many naps and he’s all “why do you beat yourself up you’re doing great!”)

I took Nuvigil on Friday because I was substitute teaching and that made sense for me. And then I stayed awake through my entire first dose of xyrem which is wild. I don’t know if it was the stimulants, or my body finally adjusting to such a low dose, or the really late nap I took, or all of the above, or none of the above. But I conked out after the second dose, woke up 4 hours later, and was SO awake. My husband pointed out that the 4 hours of xyrem sleep that I got was still probably more restorative than any 12-17 hour sleep period pre-xyrem and based on how I felt I would have to agree.

Starting week 3

Xyrem is still my most favorite drug ever. I understand the heaviness that people report feeling in their bodies with it. But I hear that goes away and it’s such a small thing compared to sleeping through the night for the first time in my life.