Driving was my biggest concern when I was diagnosed. I told my doctor, anything to keep me from losing my ability to drive. It's essential for my life. So he put me on Nuvigil. I take it 1 hour before I am to drive/work. This should stop any sleepiness while you are driving. Nuvigil may not be your treatment but your doctor should be giving you something to stop driving being a worry for you.

Talk to your doctor as soon as you get your results and express your concern. Together, you and your doctor should be able to come up with a treatment plan that works for you and that will prevent Narcolepsy from interrupting your life as much as possible. Every person is different though as is the severity. I wish you good luck and hope your worries get alleviated!

I think we tend to be conscious of what we are doing when we are driving. I have had a minor accident due to dozing off, but on looking back on it, I realize I was letting my mind wander on all sorts of things instead of focusing on the here and now. Also I was off my medicine at the time. I now only drive when I know I can stay awake, and only during the daytime. I make myself focus on what I am doing, will not answer cell phone if it rings, and I have been known to talk out loud to myself, while driving (don't tell anyone, they'll think I'm crazy!). Also once you are on medicine and still continue to constantly have some form of caffine with you, it should be all good with the driving

I've learned that fidgeting, while driving, in meeting, etc. tends to keep me alert enough to keep me going. If I feel myself fading, I'll pull over and rest. Because I seem to be getting worse, I keep trips as short as possible or have my sons drive me around.

I have had two car accidents due to N. I really didn't understand at the time what my problem was. Thankfully nobody was killed.

I would suggest like the others have said but also be willing to pull over at any time that it starts getting on you.

Jag

I went many years being misdiagnosed, and in fact was 45 when I finally learned I had narcolepsy. Sure explained a lot. Thankfully I've never had an accident, but it's a miracle I didn't.

I drove from Chicago to Phoenix with my kids in a van, and somewhere in Iowa I was really losing it. I saw a sign that said 'Rest Stop' and I couldn't get in there to park fast enough. I told the kids to go in the back of the van and play with the games we brought with us. Mom just needed about 15 minutes to rest.

Well, 45 minutes later I awakened. Got back on the road, and it didn't take long when the sleepiness returned. I had my most talkative kid sit shotgun and told him to talk to me, ask me lots of questions because I thought that would help me to stay awake.

However, I swear to you, I drove while I was sleeping, though my eyes were wide open. I surely had an angel riding with us on that trip.

Many, many times I would be driving to work, just praying for a red light so I could take a micro nap.

As I've gotten older and my symptoms became even worse, even on meds, and I'm very mindful of driving only when I feel sure I am awake and alert (hah!). However, there is no guarantee how long that feeling will last. Many times I've wondered as I pulled in my garage if I ran red lights on my way home.

One day I realized I was in a somewhat foggy state driving home, and became almost hypnotized by the car in front of me. I was literally following that car, as opposed to being mindful of where I was and if a light was turning red. Abruptly I came out of my trance and realized that if that car went through the intersection, I would have followed, regardless if the light was still green.

Fortunately for me, I have my service dog in the back seat, and if I have the slightest feeling I could be getting sleepy I start a running dialogue (or monologue, I guess) with her. It helps to keep me awake.

It's been scary. I drive only when absolutely necessary and do all I can to completely focus on my driving. I know other narcoleptics who will suck on very strong mints while driving, or eat crunchy nuts or something to keep themselves awake and alert.

You mentioned your sleep study, Sleepymom. When I had my second one, and I went through the MSLT, I fell asleep immediately, went into REM within a few minutes, and greatly resented being awakened when nap time was up.

But during my last nap, I again went right to sleep, went right into a dream, and before I knew it the tech was waking me up. I told him he got me right in the middle of some weird dream. He said that was funny because I hadn't fallen asleep at all during that nap.

I told him he had to be wrong, and proceeded to tell him my entire dream. Still, he insisted the test showed I was awake.

I cant even be a passenger without falling asleep, so I rarely drive. If I have to drive, I blast techno music or something else with a beat or like eighties music so I can sing along.

I actually just got into a car accident :) I'm going on Provigil now since driving is essential to me like--my college is 45 min. away. Praise God that my son wasn't with me!

Unfortunately, for most of us, medication is not a guarantee of wakefulness. So please don't ever assume that just because you took your pills you will be fine to drive the way you once were.

I have never had an accident, and yet incidents of AB and microsleep while driving are what originally started my search for answers (I thought I was having seizures and blacking out).

Even now, depending on the day, I sometimes can't even make it the fifteen minutes to work without going all cross-eyed and sleepy. I no longer drive further than twenty to thirty minutes by myself without a good stop for a nap, and even that far usually requires caffeine on top of starting the trip just as my meds kick in.

It is not something to play around with. The odd of someone actually dying because I figured I could handle cooking dinner and I left the oven on...actually pretty slim. The odds of someone dying because I decided the need to drive was greater than the risk...far too high.

I lied to myself for far too long about it, please don't do the same.

K, I think I didnt say it right I know when I'm tired not to drive, and I do get warning sighns when its time to pull over. I get very sleepy my eyes will start to shut by themselfs.My question was can we fall asleep and not know it maybe it's just a couple of sec. I was driving no sighns of being sleepy but all of assuden I thought I was driving in the wrong lane(I wasnt) this realy scared me this happened 1 more time and I swore if it happened again I wouldnt drive anymore. So I was thinking maybe it does happen and I just wake up . Without the scare of thinking I was in the wrong lane I wouldnt of even known it happened?

In that case, the short simple answer is definitely yes. There are so many fine lines in N, and we move so quickly between wake, sleep, and automatic behavior...mostly because we are never completely in one state or the other. It is quite possible, and likely common, for us to fall asleep and never know it, perhaps not even once we awaken, if the time period has been short enough.

I think to the second way you put it that you wouldn't know it. I think that has probably happened a few times to most of us and of course we never knew it.

Jag

I think this happened to me once, when driving to a friend's an hour away. I was 2/3 of the way there,& suddenly I was driving somehwere I didn't recognise. I drove around unfamiliar streets for a few minutes, until I saw a landmark that told me where I was. I'd gone straight on at a roundabout instead of turning right, but how? Was I just distracted, or asleep? The specialist didn't think that N was a possibility with me, so am not really sure. But reading this is making me wonder again.

I got my license evoked for having narcolepsy. I mean I never got in an accident or anything, but I no longer have the right to drive and it kinda makes me sad. So be careful.

I think that the best thing you can do, is if you are tired, pull over and take a nap. This is YOUR LIFE we are talking about. There is no "oops do over"

As narcoleptics, there is really not that much we can do to stop a sleep attack when it is happening... some times it is best to call your mom, or dad, or the person at the destination to which you are driving and tell them that you will be late, take a 20 minute nap and you will feel a million times better.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

"The odd of someone actually dying because I figured I could handle cooking dinner and I left the oven on..."

this kind of amuses me because a few months ago, i fell asleep on the couch with a baked potato in the (propane) oven and woke up to the carbon monoxide detector going off. I then told my best friend, who told me not to try to kill myself via a baked potato, that that was not an acceptable way to go!

As for driving... i use to pride myself on being fine when driving but now i realize thats not *always* the case. Usually i'm fine if i have LOUD music that i know all the words to.. but even that has failed me and lead to random unintentional rest stop or walmart parking lot naps.I do get pretty good warning signs though and since doing my N research, i'm starting to actually pay attn to what my body is trying to tell me.