re: the thread about those who qualify as a sleep specialist. This is my own opinion, based primarily on working with different doctors at the hospital.
Pulmonologists are those that deal primarily with respiratory problems. There is long list of those diseases and disorders that fall in this catagory, some heart related. Because most pulmonologist over see sleep labs, we as narcoleptics have been forced into that group. We do not belong in that group. These pulmonologists have been forced in a way to deal with us. In large cities they may have a handful of patients with narcolepsy. They may even do some over the top reading and studying of this disorder. The pulmonologist in my area, the only one, has never dealt with naracolepsy until I was dx. I certainly did not expect him to treat me effectively or even understand the other symptoms of my disorder.
Neurologists, now one would think that these physicians would have studied a little more intensely about narcolepsy, given it is a neurological disorder. But, no. Neurology is a far reaching field and given the rarity of narcolepsy, it is obviously the lowest of priorities to a neurologist. After my dx I made an appointment with two of our local neurologists and both told me they do not deal with "sleep disorders".
When you go online to the big sleep research hospitals, you find that narcolepsy falls under the catagory of "Psychiatry", because naracolepsy is in the BRAIN. EDS is only one symptom of narcolepsy, if that is all you suffer from and no other symptoms, then your PCP could probably treat you effectively. But the other symptoms, I feel a psychiatrist is more qualified to handle. Like Stanford, Dr. Mignot is the professor of Psychiatry and the leading research specialist in the field of narcolepsy. There is a great deal of psychological aspects to our disorder.
Now as we move on with research and the new findings that narcolepsy is an immune system disorder, I would like to see Immunologists the primary physician for treating narcolepsy. Maybe the medical schools going forward will include narcolepsy in the training of immunologists. So many of us have to deal with other autoimmune disorders too, and this would consolidate our care under one physician. So many specialists do not work with other specialties, but I think no matter what so called sleep specialist you see to treat narcolepsy they should work in conjunction with a psychiatrist who specializes in sleep disorders.