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by mongol 1360 days ago
What does it mean for your life in terms of doing things that require durable concentration? For example, driving a car? Can you do that without risking falling asleep?

It seems like such a cruel disease. I hope there will be better remedies ahead.
1 comments
bulkprotocol 1360 days ago
It really makes everything 100x more difficult. Especially in a cognitively intensive field. Completely killed my aspirations of being a Lawyer. I simply just could not keep up. Graduated with a terrible undergrad GPA. I was just so tired I couldn't really use my brain. Then basically limped over the finish line even though before my symptoms started I could crush reading materials.

So it can definitely be a barrier for certain career choices. Luckily working in software remotely has afforded me a lot of accomodations. I truly don't know what other field I could be in that would simultaneously be flexible enough to accomodate my disability and also lucrative. Im glad I live now! I would have probably ended up Homeless if I was born 60 years ago.

I'm medicated now so a lot of my symptoms are not as bad as they used to be. I am able to drive and no longer suffer from "sleep attacks" but there was a point before my diagnosis when I was so tired I could fall asleep while driving and not even notice. Very dangerous and a very scary experience. Most days I had to take naps every 90 minutes or so and self medicated with approximately 1g of caffeine a day.

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M5x7wI3CmbEem10 1359 days ago
what kinds of accommodations? I’m surprised SWE was more flexible considering the cognitive demands
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bulkprotocol 1359 days ago
Generally I have to split up my work hours. Very hard for me to wake up in the morning and be productive by a 9 to 10am stand-up. I mostly cant start work until 2 or 3pm most days. Also naps. Scheduled and on my calendar as busy time that I cannot be contacted. When it comes to prod support I make it clear that if there are days Im struggling harder than normal, I may need a backup

Unironically for a lot of narcoleptics we can suffer from delayed circadian rhythm disorders as well so interestingly my brain is more awake at say 11pm than 11am.

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gboone 1359 days ago
Like naps when you need them. Remote jobs are maybe more likely with SWE.
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