If you have a bed mate you can do this if they are OK with it. They stay awake while you fall asleep. They watch you for signs of REM sleep, if you wonder what it looks like I am sure there are examples on Youtube. Then after 5-10 minutes of sleep they wake you up and ask if you woke from a dream.

This is absolutely NOT a test for narcolepsy, but very many people with it go straight into REM. This is something you can observe without a sleep study. Now there are OTHER conditions where you also go straight into REM sleep, but if it happens often, I would say it is a good reason to have a sleep study. This is hard facts a doctor can take into count when they ask themselves how to go on with investigation.

There are different treatments for narcolepsy, and when I knew my friend, tricyclics and stimulants were the only thing they could offer. Instead of deepen you sleep they worked on keeping you awake in the day. These days there is a medication that works opposite, it deepens night sleep so the person might get a little less sleepy in the day.

Whatever this is I hope you get some answers because it is so frustrating being tired all the time.

About meds I have to say this though... I took Effexor (but it could have been any med, I was just sensitive to this one) and it ruined my sleep. It made me sleep like a narcoleptic almost. It did NOT stop when I stopped the med. It took me three years after I stopped to heal my sleep.