Asperger's and narcolepsy connection?

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I have the excessive daytime somnolence, but none of the other symptoms. I've often wondered if my 'AS' is just chronic tiredness; when I've had enough caffeine, I'm almost normal!

the link for me between autism and (emotional) narcolepsy is that of dissociation. This is tricky because we have these words for things, states of being, that we don't understand necessarily any better for having "diagnosed" them.

With that caveat in mind, however, extreme autism may be similar to what is called dissociation in that autists tend to withdraw from threatening circumstances by going inward, moving from focused awareness to unfocused awareness. To be totally dissociated or all the way in unfocused awareness is to be unconscious, ie, asleep.

In this way, the three areas may overlap: narcolepsy is a form of dissociation, and dissociation is a kind of temporary autism.

This is weird. This topic got me to register for this forum.

I am female, in my early 30s. I am not diagnosed with Asperger's, but I have a lot of symptoms. I also am not diagnosed with Narcolepsy, but I have a lot of symptoms. I had a sleep study done in which they found a very high number of arousals (awakenings.) I have extreme daytime sleepiness and delayed sleep phase syndrom issues. I had this problem since high school.

My father also had symptoms of Asperger's and Narcolepsy, but was never diagnosed with either (as far as I know.)

I wonder if the narcoleptic symptoms are just due to sleep disturbances (caused by whatever) and made worse by anxiety and stress. I seem to have alot less sleep problems when I do not have to socialize or work. I noticed it this weekend...my sleep is kind of crazy, but I am less sleepy and tired. My boyfriend is out of town so I have been all alone. I feel more normal.

hi. i have had narcoleptic like symptoms all my life but they have gotten much worse in my 20's. I am 26 now. I had a sleep study done last year and they said i go straight into rem when i fall asleep but it took me too long to fall asleep to be narcolepsy even though i did fall asleep in my naps. they werent sure if it was narcolepsy and said i have narcolepsy vs hypersomnia, which means they don't know. i do feel like i always go straight into dreams and mostly dream while im asleep. i almost always have lucid dreams, and i am drowsy thoughout the day even after a goods night sleep. i am especially tired in the morning. i am curious in what causes my drowsyness. i am also diagnosed with adhd, schizophrenia, and i had a cat scan one time that found a small arachnoid cyst in the back of my brain, although my neurologist says that doesnt cause me symptoms. im still not sure about that though. i think it may cause my narcolptic like symptoms as well as tremors i have in my hands. i no longer know what is causing what symptoms and probablly never will but i wish the drowsyness would go away. i sleep 18 hours a night sometimes. some people say im tired from sleeping too much but ive gone weeks trying to sleep 8 hours a night and im so exhausted throughout the day i cant do anything when i do that.

I am a 33 year old female with severe narcolepsy and also Asperger's. I have also been wondering if there was a connection. Glad to see the responses. For a while I was unable to drive because of the episodes, but with medication, I'm ok now. Also wondering if anyone is on Neurontin? This was a blessing for me. The anxiety was relieved almost immediately.

I know this is an old thread, but I just finally stumbled across it, and was compelled to comment.

Im a 40 year old male who's had problems his whole life. Several years ago, my inability to sleep led to a diagnosis of Narcolepsy - later confirmed by both genetic testing as well as low hypocretin levels. I am not at all a stereotypical narcoleptic, especially in that I have far more problems falling asleep / staying asleep than with staying awake (at least in situations where I am comfortable and "in control.")
Some of the specialists I saw for the Narcolepsy were unusually familiar with some of my nuances, and assured me they were connected to the Narcolepsy and not another condition. Other doctors seem completely unaware of this, and my other problems continued to increase. When I was told I also had Aspergers, and started to realize that its the more defining condition I have in many ways, things started making a lot more sense.

I do feel there is a connection here, and Id love to discuss experiences with others such as myself, especially as Im still coming to understand the differences between myself and "normal" people.
Perhaps part of the problem is the complete lack of understanding of what Narcolepsy (and Aspergers) really are, the Hollywood overdramatazations, and that many of the people diagnosed with Narcolepsy -dont- have the genetic hypocretin deficiency that causes Narcolepsy and instead seem to be attention-seeking dramaqueens who want prescription speed and sympathy from others...?

To the people in this group and especially ActorAspie, My son has Asperger's and Narcolepsy too! I believe there is a connection betwwen the two, I just do not know what it is. My son is also very high achieving and a musician too. He is in his Senior year of college and is doing very well!. I'm not bragging but it saddened me when ActorAsoie acted like there were not a lot of Aspies that are High acheivers. This is Totally NOT TRUE! I work in a college as a tutor for students with special needs, including Asperger's. There are a lot of Aspies at this college who are doing very well with little or no help. Having Narcolepsy and Asperger's is very difficult but my son recently got on meds to help with the sleepiness and things are improving on that end.

I see this thread is pretty old, and most likely not going to get much further activity, however when doing a google search for Asperger's and Narcolepsy this was the top link. I have been diagnosed with both and personally do not think there is a direct connection between the two, although it certainly cannot be entirely ruled out. I say this based on both information in a recent study on Narcolepsy in which well over 2000 patients were interviewed, with only 1 reporting having an Asperger's diagnosis, and on my own family history. My father, while never being diagnosed, was almost certainly an Aspie as well, as is one uncle on that side (my father is one of 9 children). While no direct link is being made genetically that I am aware of at this point, it also looks like my own son is of the Aspie mentality. Now for the Narcolepsy, I attribute to my mother's side of the family. She has been diagnosed with Celiac disease, a disorder that causes a reaction within the cilia of the intestine in response to gluten. What has this to do with Narcolepsy? Well, the predisposition to develop Narcolepsy has been linked to a mutated form of HLA proteins, a part of the immune system, which is also changed in people with Ciliac. So it would appear that an altered chromosome from my mother's genes caused me to develop Narcolepsy, where the disposition towards Asperger's syndrome is almost certainly inherited from my father (no known Aspie's on my mother's side). I hope this might help give some insight as generational evidence like mine seems pretty rare to come by, but as the human genome is unraveled I am sure we will all get a much more clear picture of from where these conditions stem.

Since I have been a member on Wp, seems everything has become connected to Asperger's.

Ok I know this is an old thread but I was looking for a connection with autism and narcolepsy.

I am officially diagnosed narcoleptic with cataplexy. Let first say narcolepsy is just now as of December 18,2013 confirmed an autoimmune disease so all you people that said that before should not have said it. And I want to say please if you have not officially diagnosed by sleep study and by mslt dont say you're narcoleptic. You don't want it.

Emotional narcolepsy complete BS if you have not been diagnosed dont say it. If you have it is actually cataplexy. As for everyone that says can't sleep at night maybe do some research about narcolepsy. Ummm..Yeah our sleep/wake cycle is not right so we do not sleep well at night we dream at all times which is not deep sleep so reason why we have EDS(excessive daytime sleepiness). Cataplexy is emotional response of going basically paralyzed while awake. I myself when angry my knees buckle and fall I DO NOT FALL ASLEEP at this time. I can hear and feel I just can't move. When nervous anxious or orgasm my head will flop backwards or forwards(hurts really bad going backwards). We do not fall down and sleep like in a movie if it looks like that is either cataplexy or faking.

The reason I was looking for a connection is because son is autistic. It seems that there could be a connection as autism can be (not officially) triggered by vaccines as narcolepsy was in Europe because Europe used adjuvant vaccines and the US only used non adjuvant vaccines. Europe did use also no adjuvant vaccines is why not all were affected.

Oh narcolepsy in a child may look like ADHD or ADD. People do not self diagnose or someone you know you make the people that really have it look bad as you're are probably falling down and saying you are sleeping(BS).

I tell you again do research. World leader of narcolepsy is: Research center of narcolepsy at Stanford University.

As for me wish I never had this disease everyday of my life.

Just to keep the tread going for another year.....

I've been diagnosed with narcolepsy and most recently aspergers. It seems to me that it's not that uncommon to have both, however that doesn't prove any linkage between the two. However, I do not experience many instances of cataplexy and I wonder if there's a possible link there.

It's my understanding that cataplexy is typical experienced during a strong emotional experience.

It's also my understanding that aspergers effects the way emotions are processed.

so, it makes me wonder if the way my emotions are processed (which are basically nonexistent) act as a positive when it comes to cataplexy since I'm not as emotional I limit the trigger to cataplexy?

Anyone care to weigh in on this?

Radioflyer57,
it is 4 years after your post, but i created a WrongPlanet account just to tell you that I am a 35 -year-old woman with both Aspergers & narcolepsy. i was diagnosed with narcolepsy in 2010 at age 30, and am currently in the process of aspergers diagnosis at age 35.
What are the chances. We hit the jackpot in life, it seems?

After reading the post directly above, I thought I'd mention that I do not have cataplexy. But that is not because I don't have emotions - quite the contrary. I am very emotional. I was also diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, a mental illness of intense emotions & emotional dysregulation.

Also, in response to VerdantMind, what you wrote is very interesting to me. My mother's sister has Celiac (but not Narcolepsy). My father & his sister seem to have undiagnosed Narcolepsy. i am currently trying to figure out who in my family has Aspergers - right now I am guessing both parents, actually.

I think Narcolepsy starts off as an emotional trigger to an over stimulus of one or more sensory or motor disturbances in the brain, either linked to autism or something other than that.

I would probably manifest that I did have narcolepsy chartered by a neurological disorder, via my nervous system, possibly over a stress disorder, generated via autism spectrum traits.

Cataplexy daydreams and insomnia do seem to play a role and its something of a pattern that regenerates itself into a form of neurological disease. I suspect silent mild seizures in my sleep.

I’ve since had sarcoidosis in 2010, stimulated by high levels of calcium somewhere, either from my immune system or nerves during active depression in my youth and my mouth was affected and since then, life hasn’t been the same.

I have a lot associated with Neurosarcoidosis and I have had regular migraines over the years and irregular heavy periods, so I’ve been taking the pill followed by herbal meds, such as vitamin A and black Cohosh to alleviate some of the symptoms and reduce all of the effects I’ve had.
Trying to get things rolling along by a trip to my G.P, who I’ve only met a few times and want to see if I’d benefit from having a cat scan and MRI. If I could take a low steroid treatment I would do so.

I was googling if there was a connection and discovered this forum. I am 26, female and on the high functioning end of the spectrum. I was recently diagnosed with narcolepsy. My test showed I was going straight into REM sleep during daytime naps and falling asleep within 4mins. I believe the onset of narcolepsy started around age 16. I don't always fall asleep easily if my mind is racing and wondering things I will stay up for hours Googling and on YouTube researching all sorts of things. However if I have been out all day at work and had to be very social for long periods of time I will fall asleep straight away before I've even had dinner and in my pjs (and without medication..drifting to sleep on the drive home!). Also during a high energy/high social day at any moment of silence during the day I will have an overwhelming urge to sleep. E.g. I can not help pat children to sleep in childcare as I will fall asleep myself. I need a job where there is lots going on and I'm mentally stimulated in order to stay awake. I'm wondering if I actually have narcolepsy or its my way of coping and dissociating myself into a sleep state??? Is it possible for people on the spectrum to "cheat" the narcolepsy test? I guess not since I went straight into REM sleep? Is there anyone on the spectrum that does not have narcolepsy - who has had a sleep study and found they go straight into REM sleep or had unnormal sleep data showing skipping cycles in sleep?

In my late teens I also developed Anaphylaxis to certain seafoods. I'm wondering if any of these are connected. Comments in this forum suggest there may be a link. Here is some of my family history which may also suggest some sort of linkage.. Family members on the spectrum on my Mums side include:
- Grandfather aged 84 - very obvious stereotypical autism traits. He has been falling asleep in public his whole life. Never learned to drive. He is also allergic to a certain tree nut (I can't remember the name) and has had digestion/intestinal problems his whole life. (He has one younger brother who is neurotypical and has no health problems.)
- Mum is a typical aspie, she spoke of having chronic fatigue when she was a teen/ early 20s and is allergic to mango.
- One of my mums brothers is on the spectrum and allergic to peanuts.
- Her other brother I'm unsure if he is on the spectrum but he is also allergic to peanuts and mentioned having chronic fatigue in his 20s.
- My uncles son and daughter are neurotypical but have been allergic to tomatoes since childhood.
- My Grandmother (Mum's side) and all of her 10 brothers and sisters are neurotypical, no allergies, no sleep problems but a couple are starting to develop dementia in their 80s.
- My sister is neurotypical and allergic to seafoods since late teens.

I'm high functioning and most people don't know I'm on the spectrum, but my friends who are also on the spectrum can easily tell. It is much less obvious at work but more obvious during social things. Are the allergies and chronic fatigue just bad coincidences? I think there needs to be more research into autoimmune links to the autism spectrum. I have a feeling they are all under the same umbrella.

I'm actually an insomniac. Thinking, itching, twitching and anxiety all keep me awake hours after I lie down.
And the sleep deprivation make for instant sleep after I am drained to exhaustion.
BUT

I would go to sleep in severe shutdowns as a coping mechanism. And it was nearly immediate so could have been diagnosed as narcolepsy if only outsiders gave anecdote and not me who was aware drama made me so tired I'd pass out.



My mom had narcolepsy and also had grand mal seizures as a teen-mid 20s.

I'm actually an insomniac. Thinking, itching, twitching and anxiety all keep me awake hours after I lie down.
And the sleep deprivation make for instant sleep after I am drained to exhaustion.
BUT

I would go to sleep in severe shutdowns as a coping mechanism. And it was nearly immediate so could have been diagnosed as narcolepsy if only outsiders gave anecdote and not me who was aware drama made me so tired I'd pass out.



My mom had narcolepsy and also had grand mal seizures as a teen-mid 20s.

It says I posted but um. no? link took me to someone else of 30 min ago