Narcolepsy Support Group

The main difference is whether you know the hallucination is real or not. If you believe that what you are seeing is real (after the fear has worn off) then schizophrenia is a possibility.

For me, I had lots of hallucinations but I knew they weren't real, I always keep a pet in the bed (where most of my HH happen) and if they don't see it then its not real, plus often if you concentrate on just one part of what you are seeing it vanishes.

However, I have been caught out seeing green lightening and once a meteor when I was awake and freaked and rang the cops to see if everyone was ok lol... how embarrassing.

Yes there are tests for schizophrenia - a qualified shrink can determine whether you have it or not. There is no blood test etc though it is just their experience.

But the difference is really simple

We know they are not real

Oh ok thanks. Even though my daughter has N it's hard to determine what she is going through because I'm not experiencing any of it. At one point she was unaware that they were not real.

I think because your daughter is so young she might not understand whats happening. I have hallucinitions that I know aren't real, but still scare me. So for such a little one to go through it and if she has for a while, it might be so normal for her that she thinks there real???

Yeah that's what I was thinking too. The Dr said as she gets older she will manage it better.

I'm not sure of the abbreviation. What is HH?

We older ones with N eventually can tell that we are 'dreaming' when reality makes it 'vanish' as Funtabulous says. I got up in the middle of the night and was dreaming that a window was opened. I assumed we had a home invasion and was reacting as such until my husband stood beside the closed window and waited for me to see it. We laugh at theses occurrences, but it's not funny when they cause anxiety and stress. I do believe she will come to understand that she is dreaming while 'awake'. As an adult, I can tell you that they do seem so real. At her age, I would imagine it could be very disconcerting. But, I think you both will do fine! You both will realize that she's dreaming.

They say that when a person is born and they have a condition that is extremly painful because they know no different they don't know its pain??? sounds crazy, but makes sense. I didn't have any experiences until I was a young adult and knew the difference, but for kids and there active imaginations, it could definatley be VERY tramatic.
I had a H that scared me so bad about 6 years ago, that I still to this day will not walk into a dark room or even try and go to sleep with the door closed. I know it wasn't real, but the fear is very real.

@Drowsygirl and Tearose...it is a work in progress. I have been told that it's hard sometimes to determine what's real and what's not. I just try to the best of my ability to let her know it's not real and it can't hurt her etc.

Being schizophrenic has many other aspects then just hallucinating. My sister is dx'd paranoid schizophrenic and she suffers from many other symptoms then just the hallucinations.

She is very paranoid, loses touch with reality, and has trouble functioning in her daily life. She hallucinates daily sometimes. She feels bugs on her, hears noises that aren't there. She is also very sensitive to noises such as buzzing, ringing, or pounding. She can hear it and it will be 100 times louder to her then me. Sometimes I can't hear anything but she does. She also can't be around a bunch of people. During family gatherings she is very anxious and paranoid. She constantly feels as though people are talking about her or are mad at her.

Her mentality is like a little child. She is very smart, don't get me wrong, she was an RN for years. But when it comes to dealing with things on a daily basis she reverts to someone else.

It is cute though when we are doing things together like baking. I have a small home baking business and she helps me a lot. The look on her face while she is making things reminds me of a 5 year old. She brightens up when she gets to help. She is like a little proud peacock when she does a good job.

Schizphrenia is a devastating disorder that requires close supervision by a experienced psychiatrist.

So, if you are just having hh and none of the other symptoms mentioned I would gather it's more from being N then schizophrenic.

@Kimmer..Yeah my daughter's dr stressed the it's not schizophrenia because he has the blood test and the sleep studies to prove it's N.

Unfortunately many people with narcolepsy are diagnosed with schizophrenia, and some of them eventually get the correct diagnosis. There are some commonalities, like the hallucinations. Also, schizophrenia is common and occurs in about 1 percent of the population. N occurs in 1 in 2000 people, and doctors generally know nothing about it. So when someone comes in and complains about being tired all the time and having hallucinations, they get quickly diagnosed with schizophrenia.

My daughter spent some time in a psych unit this spring for depression. She also has N with C, and whenever she mentioned her hallucinations to one of the psychiatrists, they started talking about schizophrenia. We finally printed out some information about narcolepsy to give to everyone involved in her care, and then they backed off.

Schizophrenia can often be treated and managed to where people can function normally. My birth sister has it and she takes her meds and is fine. She's been married, divorced, worked successfully as a mega computer repair tech. Once in a while she needs to adjust her meds, but other than that, she lives a normal life.