On Hallucinations

“A hallucination is a fact not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it.”

-Bertrand Russell

#tbt to #Cologne in May. I was rounding out my first month on Xyrem and experiencing (relatively) dreamless, restorative sleep for the first time in my life. The hallucinations only started disappearing more recently. Before diagnosis I would go about my day with strange notions of what to expect and weird interactions with people that I couldn’t explain. My dissertation advisor would ask me if I’d gotten the email she sent me and I would be completely confused – um, of course I got your email and I responded to it yesterday morning. I had the tactile, visual, full sensory experience of typing out the email on my phone except that it never actually happened.

People with narcolepsy can experience hypnagogic (falling asleep) and hypnopompic (waking up) hallucinations that scientists think are related to semiconscious REM sleep. My hallucinations are rarely violent or frightening (as outlined in many descriptions of narcolepsy) but they are always disruptive and disorienting.

I recently found this quote from BR and it hit me in the gut because it so perfectly captures why I was in a constant state of confusion pre-diagnosis.