I was so happy when I got my scholarship for MIT. It has been my lifelong dream to study at MIT and I can honestly say that I have done everything in my power to get into this college. I studied hard ever since I was in grade school, because I knew that my parents most probably 
won’t be able to afford my studies. So, I worked hard, throughout my grade school and my high school. I guess that I have missed out on some of the stuff that other people enjoy in when in school, but I had just one goal and luckily. Luckily, I managed to see that goal through and when it was time, I was granted a full scholarship and I enrolled the university of my dreams. The reason why I always wanted to enroll MIT is that I have always known that if you are interested in cybernetics as I am, there is no better place on Earth to start your journey at.
The first day at MIT was a blur, as I guess it is to most freshmen. I could barely wrap my head around what was going on. However, after a week or two, I started to find my way round the campus and I even managed to find a few classes. Up until then, I thought that I was the one kid from my generation with the most knowledge about basic physics and mathematics. However, when I started attending the classes, I realized that I was average at best. There were kids there who seemed to know more than all my teachers from high school put together, and then some.
This meant that I was going to have to work much harder than I thought. And for a while, things went great. I was studying like crazy, avoiding almost every social contact with other students as I believed that this will only hold me back. The professors started noticing me as someone who has great potential, but who is also hard-working and ready to put in hours others just didn’t. It all went great until the middle of my second semester there.
Namely, I started feeling very fatigue during the day. I also started having troubles sleeping. I would wake up and have troubles falling back to sleep. I attributed this to one huge paper I was working on, but something just wasn’t right. The sleepiness became chronic and I started dozing off at lectures, dozing off when studying or in library. I started to get quite worried.
So, I went to the campus doctor who told me he suspects of narcolepsy. I was speechless. I knew something about the condition, mainly from the movies in which it is always that hilarious illness that gets tons of laughs. I went to the specialist and she confirmed that I am actually suffering from narcolepsy.
She also asked me if I experienced sudden loss of muscle tone, jaw dropping, extremities failing to respond and stuff like that. I said that I didn’t notice this and she told me that I should count myself lucky. Namely, a large percentage of people with narcolepsy also suffers from cataplexy, which is characterized by the loss of muscle tone.
The next order of business was what we were going to do about it. She suggested certain lifestyle changes, like short naps every now and then. This didn’t help me and she decided that I should try with Ritalin, a medication that is most commonly prescribed for narcolepsy. I started taking the medication and I have to say that it has saved my life. I can once more attend all the classes and study and work for as much as I need. I honestly think that I would have had to quit my studies if it weren’t for Ritalin.