For context I have narcolepsy. Although some if not most of you probably know what that is, I've found that it's hard to understand how it impacts quality of life unless you know someone with it or have it yourself. For that reason I want to give a little context, someone without narcolepsy would have to be awake for 48-72 hours consecutively to feel how sleepy/tires someone with narcolepsy feels. There's a lot of other symptoms people have, but that's the most pervasive for my personally. A perfect example of how this specifically impacts my relationship is that my SO as a resident is one of few people without narcolepsy who can tell me they feel as sleepy and I can feel true empathy towards them. We actually had a huge laugh when his residency program shared some "wellness" data they were collecting and the only people who outscored residents on the Epworth sleep score(scale?) we're narcolepsy patients.

That being said, there are times when my SO talks about how tired he is, which normally doesn't bother me because it legitimate, but they once in a while if he asks me to help with something because he's too tired to do it I feel a brief twinge of resentment----- not so much at him, but society in general as there's this myth/notion that because someone with narcolepsy has learned to function so chronically sleep deprived, that some how that it makes it easier for us to do so... Or that we feel less subjectively "crappy". I really wish that was the case, but it's not. Over the last 3 years since being diagnosed I've had to give up dreams and ambitions of mine because realistically it just isn't possible for to do so while being responsible. I've had to work day in and day out to refine coping mechanisms and lifestyle changes to manage my disease (technically a disorder I guess) because there's only treatment to mask symptoms, not to get rid of them and not to address the root cause of narcolepsy (hypocretin/orexin deficiency). And so when my SO sometimes asks to do something because he's too tired or can't help me with something I ask for help with, I empathize and I respect that that's true, but a part of me feels that resentment that I never get to say I'm too tired unless I'm falling asleep standing up (which has happened).