As a child and an adult, I never had trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. To this day, I can count less than 10 occurrences in my lifetime (that I can remember) when I've not been able to fall asleep within 30 minutes at the most. Normally, it takes me less than 5 minutes to be out cold when I lay down at night. There have been several occasions where I have been watching Netflix on my computer, sitting upright in my computer chair, and I suddenly get overwhelmed by how sleepy I am. Next thing I know, I'm waking up with neck pains, slumped over in the chair. Last night was one of those nights and it prompted me to see if any blades had any of the same issues or maybe some insight... It was around midnight and I was still wide awake, playing a PC game. I was waiting for the next online match to begin when I laid my head down on my knee. (I was sitting with my knees up) When I laid my head down, I didn't feel sleepy. I was mostly resting my eyes from the screen for a moment. Next thing I know, I wake up at 7 am in the bed with no recollection of how I got there or when I had gone to bed. I started thinking about the last thing I remember and sure enough, it was resting my head on my knee. I do have a live-in boyfriend, so I asked him what happened... He told me that I fell asleep within minutes there in my chair. He said that he yelled my name which woke me up long enough to say, "you scared me" and then I was right back asleep, so he woke me again and told me to head to my bed where I would be more comfortable and that is exactly what I did. I do not remember any of this. That is but one of the many times I've fallen asleep upright in my chair while on the computer or watching TV. And forget laying down, I will be gone in minutes. I never lay down until I am ready to pass out because I know if I lay down, I'm going anyway. My friends kind of joke around with me about it, but its really been getting on my nerves.They can stay up all night long (and sometimes I can too, but 9/10 times, I simply must go to sleep.) The best way I can describe the feeling I have when the drowsiness hits me is irresistible. Once I get sleepy, I will be asleep somewhere very soon. I also went through a long period of time where I have vivid dreaming every night and some nights were the same dream. I sometimes talk or start dreaming before I've fully fallen asleep; I will start dreaming while still clinging to consciousness and start talking out loud. Enough to wake myself back up long enough to think, "Lol wtf" and then I'm down for the count. I have taken half hour naps where I dream intensely. I know that dreaming that intensely is not characteristic of a half hour nap for most people. I need 4+ alarms everyday just to wake up and if I don't have coffee, I fight sleep driving in to work. There are mornings I can remember barely being able to hold my eyes open on the drive to work which is honestly terrifying. I started drinking coffee every morning to make sure that I'm safe while driving and now I require that cup of coffee every morning to feel awake. I do not work weekends. There are some Saturdays or Sundays that I am bed ridden throughout the day because when I get up to go about my day, I am riddled with fatigue and shortness of breath. Usually, it takes a shower and some coffee to wake me up on the weekends. Sorry for the novel... I figured any detail I could mention that could help me find some answers is good. I do not feel tired or sleepy during the day once I've woken up. Once I am awake and moving, I'm okay. I do have a job where it would be difficult to be sleepy though. I run a daycare where I watch between 50-100 children everyday. They definitely keep me awake!
It's a shitty problem. Have you been to the doc and been officially diagnosed? Narcolepsy is a serious problem for reasons like you mentioned ie while driving a car and starying awake for work etc As for dreaming during the naps. That is normal. I dream very deep in 30min- 1hr naps. Your best solution for narcolepsy is to get prescribed a light dose of a extended release of ADHD meds. Like adderall or ritalin.