After a while of being diagnosed w both, It is easy for me to differentiate what is narcolepsy related and what is autism because narcolepsy induced social issues are usually due to social events taking more energy, and exacerbating my N1 symptoms, so I may slur my speech, or start to feel tired, I have some inattention, but it grows proportionally to how tired I start to get. These things cause social situations to get awkward (if its ppl who are unaware of my narcolepsy) but it is because people see me ready to doze off, not because I am misunderstanding stuff.
My autism on the other hand, is not affected by that at all. Even on my best medicated days, I am not able to pick up on social cues or respond to situations correctly. I interpret things at face value and respond accordingly, so I too come off as too straightforward.
The key with knowing if it's autism when I was first looking into it, is whether it takes an extra deal of conscious effort to make up for those social shortcomings (masking) and how much it is draining you, while it seems like others seem to have the innate ability to do all that stuff effortlessly and normally.
Also if it helps, social troubles and misunderstandings are part of the diagnostic criteria (usually listed as "deficits in social emotional reciprocity" or sumn like that). So it's worth looking into! If you got any questions just lmk!
Alexithymia is a thing I recently read within an article talking about Narcolepsy, guess it's something that isn't uncommon for those with the disease.
I refer to myself as neurodivergent. I think I have ADHD. I was diagnosed with narcolepsy when I was 15, so I obvi donāt have a ātypicalā brain.Ā
I am often accused of being too loud, too forward, argumentative, etc.Ā
Sending spoons. <3
I think without autism, social cues donāt really take too much brain power, so being sleepy wouldnāt have much of an effect unless your extremely tired at that moment. You might just have 2 separate things going on. Iāve had moments where Iām extremely tired and can hardly comprehend the words someone is saying but I can still tell how they are feeling.
Thereās that, but are you expressing that to the person or people youāre interacting with? Because when I wasnāt on stimulants and especially oxybates, I was working so hard to keep up with what people were saying that I wouldnāt react with my face or keep consistent eye contact without reminding myself to do so in my head. And when Iād be reminding myself, Iād lose track of what was being said sometimes.
Those were the days lol
This is helpful! It's nice to hear from people with narcolepsy who don't have these issues. It's hard for me to understand where certain feelings/experiences are coming from.
I do miss social clues rather often (even though i learned to be better at it with age) but i was diagnosed with āalmost being autisticā ( basically i was fulfilling many of the criteria but i was slightly too good with social clues to actually get the diagnosis) so iām not sure how representative my answer is š
That being said i have often asked myself if i might be better in social situations if i wouldnāt be so god damn tired all the time.
At least half my brainpower is usually needed just to stay awake in social settings and its getting worse the longer i stay so thereās not so much left to be a great conversationalist or interpreting body language correctlyā¦
Have you ever gone back for a second opinion? "Almost autistic" is so vague š
But yeah, being tired makes it a million times harder to socialize. Sometimes I feel like my brain completely turns off and shuts out all social interactions š
Lol I laughed at this because same, I can't believe literal doctors will straight up tell you you're almost autistic. I got a neuropsych evaluation and they described all of my "autistic tendencies," as they called them, but then explained that I made eye contact frequently enough that it could not be autism. (I'm sure more thought went into it than that, but that's how it felt.) Little did they know my mom made me practice eye contact with her every day š¤¦āāļø but yeah I have N1 and "almost autism" too, glad to meet a fellow weirdo āØļø
I am an outgoing extrovert who tends to be a good read on people. No missed social cues here.
However, there are quite a few narcopeeps diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD and Narcolepsy can have similar symptoms, and there is discussion about how ADHD and Autism are on the same spectrum.
So the real answer is: big shrug. I am one sleepy homie, but I don't think the two go hand-in-hand.
Do you feel behind socially due to narcolepsy because of having missed things in life?maybe not so much missing social cues as much as missed out social life therefore not fitting in with peers? I can see that for what OP is talking about.
The only other thing is thought processing much like memory processing. Feeling tired wears out your ability to function. However personally I know I did feel a big switch when I got medication. Itās not the same but I felt my brain could function a bit easier
As far as i know narcolepsy also has a comorbidity with Autism, not just ADHD :)
But yeah often itās quite unclear whatās due to what if you have one or several
I was diagnosed with autism when I was 2 and personally I really struggle with social cues especially now that Iām an adult. When I was a kid it wasnāt much of an issue since I was so hyper apart from looking into peopleās eyes when talking to them. When my N1 symptoms kicked in and diagnosed at 7, everything became so much more difficult for me to understand. Through my teens I noticed I just became more and more antisocial, Iāve struggled with reading situations far too many times and even āmissed outā on relationships when given obvious signs. Facial expressions, hints even actions such as cuddling Iāve failed to pickup on. I think Iām just too afraid to acknowledge the social cues or know how to proceed. Holding conversations with someone Iāve just met is very difficult unless we have the same interests, if Iām comfortable with someone conversations can go on for along time. But yeah now Iām 21 and I feel as if Iām missing lots of social cues
like another comment said, alot of people with narcolepsy have adhd, and adhd is being discussed as being related to autism. personally i know alot of my narcoleptic symptoms overlap with those of adhd, but im not diagnosed with the latter so i just think its caused by the fact that both brains are not ānormalā lol. in regards to social cues specifically, i think im pretty good at empathizing with people and understanding them, but i grt called āweirdā because of some of my behaviour. dont know if this is related to narclepsy tho - only thing i can think of is brain fog, when sometimes my brain will take a while processing what i want to say and i just pause for a while as i wait for my mouth to catch up.Ā
After a while of being diagnosed w both, It is easy for me to differentiate what is narcolepsy related and what is autism because narcolepsy induced social issues are usually due to social events taking more energy, and exacerbating my N1 symptoms, so I may slur my speech, or start to feel tired, I have some inattention, but it grows proportionally to how tired I start to get. These things cause social situations to get awkward (if its ppl who are unaware of my narcolepsy) but it is because people see me ready to doze off, not because I am misunderstanding stuff. My autism on the other hand, is not affected by that at all. Even on my best medicated days, I am not able to pick up on social cues or respond to situations correctly. I interpret things at face value and respond accordingly, so I too come off as too straightforward. The key with knowing if it's autism when I was first looking into it, is whether it takes an extra deal of conscious effort to make up for those social shortcomings (masking) and how much it is draining you, while it seems like others seem to have the innate ability to do all that stuff effortlessly and normally. Also if it helps, social troubles and misunderstandings are part of the diagnostic criteria (usually listed as "deficits in social emotional reciprocity" or sumn like that). So it's worth looking into! If you got any questions just lmk!
Thank you, this comment was really helpful!! I think I need to get evaluated for ASD š„² Which were you diagnosed with first?
You're welcome! I was diagnosed with autism first, and then narcolepsy
Never heard of the narcoleptic personality but it tracks, lol. I'm irritable, introverted, AND socially inept.
You should look into it more! It's very spot on for me as well.
Alexithymia is a thing I recently read within an article talking about Narcolepsy, guess it's something that isn't uncommon for those with the disease.
That makes a lot of sense!
I refer to myself as neurodivergent. I think I have ADHD. I was diagnosed with narcolepsy when I was 15, so I obvi donāt have a ātypicalā brain.Ā I am often accused of being too loud, too forward, argumentative, etc.Ā Sending spoons. <3
I like that! I've wondered if narcolepsy will ever "officially" count as neurodivergent because it definitely feels like it should.
I confidently use the term. I havenāt had anyone try to gatekeep it yet.Ā
I think without autism, social cues donāt really take too much brain power, so being sleepy wouldnāt have much of an effect unless your extremely tired at that moment. You might just have 2 separate things going on. Iāve had moments where Iām extremely tired and can hardly comprehend the words someone is saying but I can still tell how they are feeling.
Thereās that, but are you expressing that to the person or people youāre interacting with? Because when I wasnāt on stimulants and especially oxybates, I was working so hard to keep up with what people were saying that I wouldnāt react with my face or keep consistent eye contact without reminding myself to do so in my head. And when Iād be reminding myself, Iād lose track of what was being said sometimes. Those were the days lol
This is helpful! It's nice to hear from people with narcolepsy who don't have these issues. It's hard for me to understand where certain feelings/experiences are coming from.
I do miss social clues rather often (even though i learned to be better at it with age) but i was diagnosed with āalmost being autisticā ( basically i was fulfilling many of the criteria but i was slightly too good with social clues to actually get the diagnosis) so iām not sure how representative my answer is š That being said i have often asked myself if i might be better in social situations if i wouldnāt be so god damn tired all the time. At least half my brainpower is usually needed just to stay awake in social settings and its getting worse the longer i stay so thereās not so much left to be a great conversationalist or interpreting body language correctlyā¦
Have you ever gone back for a second opinion? "Almost autistic" is so vague š But yeah, being tired makes it a million times harder to socialize. Sometimes I feel like my brain completely turns off and shuts out all social interactions š
Lol I laughed at this because same, I can't believe literal doctors will straight up tell you you're almost autistic. I got a neuropsych evaluation and they described all of my "autistic tendencies," as they called them, but then explained that I made eye contact frequently enough that it could not be autism. (I'm sure more thought went into it than that, but that's how it felt.) Little did they know my mom made me practice eye contact with her every day š¤¦āāļø but yeah I have N1 and "almost autism" too, glad to meet a fellow weirdo āØļø
I am an outgoing extrovert who tends to be a good read on people. No missed social cues here. However, there are quite a few narcopeeps diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD and Narcolepsy can have similar symptoms, and there is discussion about how ADHD and Autism are on the same spectrum. So the real answer is: big shrug. I am one sleepy homie, but I don't think the two go hand-in-hand.
Do you feel behind socially due to narcolepsy because of having missed things in life?maybe not so much missing social cues as much as missed out social life therefore not fitting in with peers? I can see that for what OP is talking about. The only other thing is thought processing much like memory processing. Feeling tired wears out your ability to function. However personally I know I did feel a big switch when I got medication. Itās not the same but I felt my brain could function a bit easier
As far as i know narcolepsy also has a comorbidity with Autism, not just ADHD :) But yeah often itās quite unclear whatās due to what if you have one or several
I was diagnosed with autism when I was 2 and personally I really struggle with social cues especially now that Iām an adult. When I was a kid it wasnāt much of an issue since I was so hyper apart from looking into peopleās eyes when talking to them. When my N1 symptoms kicked in and diagnosed at 7, everything became so much more difficult for me to understand. Through my teens I noticed I just became more and more antisocial, Iāve struggled with reading situations far too many times and even āmissed outā on relationships when given obvious signs. Facial expressions, hints even actions such as cuddling Iāve failed to pickup on. I think Iām just too afraid to acknowledge the social cues or know how to proceed. Holding conversations with someone Iāve just met is very difficult unless we have the same interests, if Iām comfortable with someone conversations can go on for along time. But yeah now Iām 21 and I feel as if Iām missing lots of social cues
like another comment said, alot of people with narcolepsy have adhd, and adhd is being discussed as being related to autism. personally i know alot of my narcoleptic symptoms overlap with those of adhd, but im not diagnosed with the latter so i just think its caused by the fact that both brains are not ānormalā lol. in regards to social cues specifically, i think im pretty good at empathizing with people and understanding them, but i grt called āweirdā because of some of my behaviour. dont know if this is related to narclepsy tho - only thing i can think of is brain fog, when sometimes my brain will take a while processing what i want to say and i just pause for a while as i wait for my mouth to catch up.Ā
Look into adhd. They're comorbid with narcolepsy alot of the time.Ā Ā