I'm always one to see the funny side of tragic situations. It's probably for my own protection, but it's a bit of a curse actually. In reality I fully appreciate that I have an easier life than most, and that I am very lucky indeed. However, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at one of those Horizon-type documentaries on telly the other day.
The program was about narcoleptics and dealing with narcolepsy (that's not the one where you cop off with dead people, but the one where you nod off without any warning). Now let me say this first - the program brought home to me that living with narcolepsy is a terrible thing in many ways. The sufferers fall asleep with no notice something like 30 or 40 times a day - this can be while eating, walking, shopping - anytime at all. They also suffer disturbed night-time sleep, so all in all it's pretty debilitating. For partners of sufferers, they often have difficultly believeing the true extent of the condition, and as their partner is asleep much of the time, they feel very much alone.
The program followed several sufferers with the condition, and culminated in them travelling to a conference in the US where they could meet other sufferers, which was great for them to learn more about how to live with the condition and how to treat it.
So - not very funny so far right? Right. Well, at this conference there were some very experienced doctors giving lectures on certain aspects of the condition. But I just couldn't stiffle a laugh when the camera panned from the doctor on stage giving the lecture, round to the audience who, of course, are all asleep. Oh the irony. Does that make me a bad person?
The program was about narcoleptics and dealing with narcolepsy (that's not the one where you cop off with dead people, but the one where you nod off without any warning). Now let me say this first - the program brought home to me that living with narcolepsy is a terrible thing in many ways. The sufferers fall asleep with no notice something like 30 or 40 times a day - this can be while eating, walking, shopping - anytime at all. They also suffer disturbed night-time sleep, so all in all it's pretty debilitating. For partners of sufferers, they often have difficultly believeing the true extent of the condition, and as their partner is asleep much of the time, they feel very much alone.
The program followed several sufferers with the condition, and culminated in them travelling to a conference in the US where they could meet other sufferers, which was great for them to learn more about how to live with the condition and how to treat it.
So - not very funny so far right? Right. Well, at this conference there were some very experienced doctors giving lectures on certain aspects of the condition. But I just couldn't stiffle a laugh when the camera panned from the doctor on stage giving the lecture, round to the audience who, of course, are all asleep. Oh the irony. Does that make me a bad person?
1 comment:
I don't know if this is an urban myth or someone else's joke, but somewhere in the recesses of my memory I wonder if I once saw a documentary on narcolpsy where they filmed their meeting and four of them were charged with the duty of taking the minutes to cover for snooze breaks.
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