Narcolepsy 360

TW: This episode discusses sexual assault and rape, which may be triggering for some individuals. Lauren Thomas is a person with narcolepsy, a narcolepsy advocate and works in the champagne business. In this vulnerable and candid episode, Lauren shares how she was diagnosed with narcolepsy just a little over a year and a half ago, but recounts how narcolepsy symptoms were part of her childhood. Lauren also shares her journey with mental health issues, which she now considers were linked to narcolepsy and directly contributed to her delayed diagnosis. After college, she finally saw an endocrinologist, who was helping her with weight loss and recommended a sleep study. This was a pivotal experience that led to a diagnosis of Type 1 Narcolepsy at the age of 28. Despite Lauren’s long journey to diagnosis, she’s taken time to fine tune her medication and adapt her life to support her symptom management, and during this period began to work for her family’s company, Cheurlin Champagne, the 1st African American-owne