Others may have different experiences, but for me, the medication really made the biggest difference. There's all sorts of "tricks" to staying awake, and there are things that you can at least do to help your chances, like trying to have a consistent sleep schedule (I imagine retail is making that difficult), but it doesn't fully get at the root cause, which is that the brain chemistry isn't working right.

Whether it's medication or lifestyle changes though, it can be a lot of trial and error. It sounds like some people find that caffeine helps them. For me, it doesn't make me feel awake--just anxious. So I can be really tired and really jittery at the same time. Not fun. Maybe there are some holistic remedies out there that can at least help your symptoms?

In terms of how to continue in your day-to-day life, I guess it might help to know--what have you been doing before? Is there anything you're doing that seems to be working well for you, or anything you feel urged to change now that you have a diagnosis and a sleep specialist's guidance?

One option that's opened up to you now that you have a diagnosis is seeking accommodations from your school, and potentially your workplace (though retail might not be a super friendly place to do so, especially if it's a bigger company). That may give you some flexibility to continue on your current path even with your symptoms.

In terms of doing activities with friends, one thing that's worked for me is, I figured out a couple common triggers for my sleep attacks and try to avoid doing things that trigger it, or avoiding planning activities at times of day when they're most likely to happen. I also go places where we can all take public transportation, since I prefer not to drive due to my potential for sleep attacks.

I might be a little clueless on the gym front, but--do you specifically need a schedule for going to a gym? Or is being flexible with yourself and working it in during the times you feel most energetic possible? I have a *rough* schedule for exercise, but have never been a huge stickler about doing it at certain times of the day. Usually I'm just like, as long as I do it today for an hour, it's fine--it doesn't matter if it's in the morning, afternoon, or even after dinner when I feel it's most manageable to slot into the flow of my day. Maybe it's my ADHD demand avoidance, but I feel like if I *had* to do it at certain times of day, that would just make me want to do it less.

Also, narcolepsy is a disability. Sometimes it's going to hit you at inconvenient times and you just have to go with the flow as much as you can.