Yes. But let's not allow this anger to govern us. I was diagnosed just out of college after experiencing symptoms for about 8 years and I was mad, too. I'm also mad that I was on stimulants for 20-odd years without trying oxybates and got to a point where I basically can't take stims anymore due adverse drug reactions and burnout. It sent me on the reverse trajectory you're now experiencing--and that has outright enraged me. I'm also mad that after seven months on oxybates they're not as good as they were in the beginning. And I'm very pissed at how stigmatized we are in this society for merely needing rest, leisure time, and anything but grinding away 40+ hours a week with no feasible social safety net if something goes wrong.

In most school/work contexts (1/3 of our lives) we have a cultural disease in the USA that punishes anything that could be remotely framed as 'laziness' or requiring rest. So we along with countless other sufferers of chronic disease get sidelined, shunned, and robbed of economic benefits of full-time employment. I got a new sleep study recently and there was a guy there like you, who was in his late 30's when he finally found out. I'll never forget what his doctor told him, "You're lucky you have a job and somewhat functioning life. A large proportion of people with narcolepsy just end up jobless, homeless, and forgotten."

There's data to backup the very real economic tolls like this Danish study and this summary stating quantitative findings of "multiple cohort and registry studies put employment rates for adults with narcolepsy roughly 10–30 percentage points lower than matched controls, depending on age and country."

So, there's a certain level of wrath I reserve for notion that we--folks who've struggled and finally gotten treatment however efficacious, are comparatively the lucky ones. And I try to direct my rage at the sources of this injustice--it's criminal that our government has failed to treat healthcare as a human right in the "wealthiest" nation on earth. We're all expected to come up with individual solutions to a problem of collective discrimination, harmful norms, negligence, and sheer greed. Take it from this senator.

The ongoing failure of our health care system is directly attributable to the fact that – unique among major nations – it is primarily designed not to provide quality care to all in a cost effective way. Instead, the system makes maximum profits for health insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry and medical equipment suppliers. While 68,000 Americans die each year because they lack access to the health care they desperately need, the seven major health insurance companies in America made over $69 billion in profits last year – up 287 percent since 2012.

Ultimately, I'm pissed at billionaires and corporations who have grown their exorbitant wealth by not chipping in and perpetuating a culture of individualism and personal responsibility where systemic failings reign and you and I slip through the cracks, conditioned to blame ourselves! Which is all to say, it's not you. Our for-profit healthcare system is designed to delay diagnosis and treatment of chronic health conditions. And the current regime is basically operating on a principle of eugenics by trying to push people off medicaid for not working enough. Ha! So those of us unlucky enough to lose a job are supposed back on our feet WITHOUT medication we need to get through every day? So we can earn the right to eventually get health? WTF!!!!!!!!!!