HOUGH HAPPENINS: Jake Hough, 7.15.19--week 51

"Meth and Narcos"

SZZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA MINDENKIIIIIIII!!!!!!

So this week was the week of revelations and answers thank goodness. I don't know what I wouldve done if we didnt find anything....I may have cried hah! But we did find something so no need to cry!!

I went in to the sleep center on schedule with an added MLST narcolepsy day time test in the event that the beginning diagnostics for the night time study showed nothing relevant. So we get there, the dude hooks me up to literally 20 different wires in my hair, on my forehead, across my chest, on my legs, and a breathy thing in my mouth and nose which made it really uncomfortable to breath, so I sucked on the mouth thing like a binky cause I had NO idea how else to use it haha!

So we start the test and I go to sleep and a cold restless night later, I get woken up by the technician and they start taking some of the monitor off. He tells me in my dazed state that they found nothing for sleep apnea or restless legs during the night. So off to a daytime test! I stayed in the room and the day technician came in, super fun guy really nice. He then explained that they would put me down to nap 4-5 times every two hours. I was trying to see if I went into deep REM sleep within those 20 minutes. He then emphatically said if I get tire to NOT NAP OR SLEEP because they wanted me to be tired so I could fall asleep. Well fun another 10 hours in that room haha! No biggy, had my scriptures on me cause I wanted to be prepared!

The first two tests they got the cameras running and they let me nap and I guess I went to sleep and dreamed cause the guy was like asking all these questions and I was super tired. So mom came in and we were playing cards when the head MD Dr Spencer came in and was like "Heeey so Im not usually here during tests but I took a look at your sons first two tests and night studies, and he without a doubt has Narcolepsy. Its obvious." Well, I cant say how relieved and confused I was at the same time haha! I had received a solid diagnosis, and I felt thats what it was, but now that it was official I felt good. Like we could take this on.

They said I only had two more naps to do as a formality. So I do the first and it went well normal. Then I got in bed for the last one and shut my eyes to rest, and I opened em again, cause it felt different. I went to sit up but realized I couldn't move my body. I was stuck, paralyzed if you will. At that point I started freaking out, and then I saw something move by the light of the door frame, and I heard scratching noises on the wall that I wasn't turned to look at, and I couldn't move my head to see. Sooooooo I was a little freaked out. My heart rate climbed from 70 to 200 in less than a minute and I thought my heart was going to explode, it hurt that bad, my legs started to heat up and it was really really wack. Then I felt something pull at the bed sheets near my feet and I was like "what the heck..." I started to pray and I could think and cognitively assess the situation but I was stuck. Finally after what seemed like an eternity the intercom buzzed and the noises stopped and the dude came in. He asked me the questions as I slowly started to move my body again. I got out of bed and about fell because the adrenaline was running so high in me. He asked if I was ok and I said no, I wasn't. I explained the whole thing to him and he knew exactly what it was.

Because Narcoleptics (Narcos) are lacking in a brain chemical known as Hypo-cretin that regulates sleep cycle and quality, you cant sleep. Eventually you get so exhausted, that you cant sleep but have to, so your body sleeps anyways, but doesn't work like normal people do. You see, deep dream sleep, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, usually has a buffer between going to sleep and dreaming. About an hour and a half buffer. Well, In narcoleptics and with myself I was going into rem in under 1 minute. That means dreaming as soon as I close my eyes. Not good, because that is when sleep paralysis hits. Its when you go to sleep but wake up IN REM SLEEP. So I was awake, in a dream. I was in my room seeing the room for what it was, but since REM sleep paralyzes you and runs the fear center of the brain on high gear, it makes you live the nightmares of your mind. And you can fell, see, hear, and touch them, and they can touch and see you. But you are paralyzed and cant move, subject to whatever will happen. Its terrifying stuff. People have been smothered and suffocated and actually died only to wake up from it because of their thrashing in the dream. Others have been stabbed, and some just see people standing in the room and hear noises as they sit there in the darkness. Nasty stuff haha! Well, my brain seems to have spooked itself and now as I go to sleep at home and I feel myself starting to hit REM and my legs become paralyzed my brain goes "UH UH NOT TODAY" and wakes me up in the night about every ten to twenty minutes. But Im grateful for the diagnosis, and now we can move onto titrating medication that will work and keep me energetic, cause I got plans to fulfill haha! That process may take a month or 6. We dont know. Every medicine used for Narcolepsy from Modafinil to Methyl amphetamine reacts differently to different people, so it'll be an experimental process.

In more happier news, I got to see my friend Brad baptized on Tuesday with the privilege of giving the talk on the Holy Ghost there (I could go forever about him), and then I had the honor of standing in on the confirmation circle when he received the Holy Ghost. It was a spiritual high for me given that this all came about the same time that he was being baptized. When there is serious bad, there will always be serious good in your life, and vice versa. Always opposites. I think the scripture in 2 Nephi tells us that there must be an opposition in all things, and when we read it we look at the negatives that oppose the positive. Happiness and MISERY, good and BAD. But why dont we flip it? Whenever there is Sadness there is JOY, whenever there is Misery there is always HAPPINESS. Whenever there is bad there is always GOOD. I think its about how you look at it honestly. Even amidst my troubles sleeping and long road of medication searching ahead of me and the lifestyle changes to go with an incurable disease, there will always be JOY, LIGHT, and PEACE amidst the fear, darkness, and worry that is this situation. Because of Him, even Jesus Christ. I know that "He lives to silence all my fears", and that because of him I will be able to overcome this burden and rejoice in the beautiful infinite gift of His Atonement when I am resurrected and as I access that power, because HE KNOWS THE FEAR OF SLEEP PARALYSIS. He experienced that very moment that I went through, and that was the thought that kept me going during the terrors. He knows because he went through it and went through everything I will go through during my life. Im so grateful for that. Beyond words. He lives. And he loves all of you. You can know he loves you by using His Atonement in your life and feeling that love.

Love y'all, have a great week!

Jake