Conveying Narcolepsy

<Warning> Do not convey this medical condition in a character or piece of writing without thoroughly investigating it, so as not to offend those in real life whom suffer from such a condition.

Narcolepsy is a pretty rare and long lasting disorder that affects the brain. Whilst I won't go into detail on what causes it to develop since in Massivecraft for example it won't be lore compliant to know the reason, but essentially it is theorised that it is caused by a lack of a chemical in the brain called Orexin, that is thought to result from the immune system attacking parts of the brain periodically.

So this Orexin, that regulates sleep, is made no longer available to the brain now and again, or in lesser quantities, and so the sufferer is classified as suffering from Narcolepsy. So fairly simple to get your head around, like most mental illnesses Narcolepsy does not have a fixed set of symptoms that everyone with the condition will definitely experience. There are some that can be experienced regularly, some that are less frequent and some that might never be experienced. On top of this, the symptoms might not appear all at once. They can develop slowly over a period of time, or alternatively it is just as possible for the condition to arise quite violently over the space of a couple weeks.

Try not to overplay this condition, nor make your character entirely based about it. It's important yes, and it can lead to character progression. But don't force it on someone else through your rp, by constantly mentioning how it affects him etc or having them tell people. Try and play it as subtly as possible and that's when you'll know you're succeeding at conveying it!

Symptoms:

• One of the larger symptoms are some quite excessive daytime sleepyness. Now I don't mean you get a little tired and you feel like not moving as much. I mean your character could be struggling to stay awake and keep their eyes open. This can make learning, work and just about everything that requires concentration an absolute pain. On top of this, you need to take other factors into consideration that might affect their 'awakeness'.
• Sleep attacks; falling asleep immediately and without any prior warning could be considered incredibly dangerous. Why could it be considered incredibly dangerous? Because it is. Imagine you were using a buzz saw and drifted off with the blade still whirring? Or if you were traversing a mountain, or the more real world example being driving a car. These sudden sleep attacks can last just a few seconds, but they can also last a few minutes, and regardless of the time frame they always have the potential to be incredibly dangerous.
• If not controlled with a form of medication, that may or may not exist in the world of your character, it can be assumed they'd have sleep attacks several times a day in some cases.
• Cataplexy; "a medical condition in which strong emotion or laughter causes a person to suffer sudden physical collapse though remaining conscious"
• Jaw dropping.
• Head slumping down.
• Legs collapsing uncontrollably.
• Slurred speech.
• Difficult focussing of vision.
• Double vision.
• Sleep paralysis; Have you ever experienced a moment in time where you've been unable to move once waking up? Narcolepsy suffers can experience episodes of such sleep paralysis where they're unable to move or speak before and after sleep. This can be in the process of falling asleep, or afterwards. This process whilst not harmful can be incredibly terrifying!
• Hallucinations.
• Memory problems.
• Headaches.
• Restless sleep.
• Automatic behaviour; Whereupon an individual carries out a menial task but recalls nothing about it once they have finished.
• Depression.

References:
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Narcolepsy/Pages/Symptoms.aspx