How can you tell a narcoleptic driver from a normal sleepy driver, who usually can control his drowsiness? Although the main complaint of narcoleptics is sleepiness, they may also manifest such transient symptoms as these: sleep paralysis-the person wakes up from a terrifying dream but is unable to move; catalepsy-the awake subject can be placed in any position but cannot move; cataplexy-following strong emotion, person is unable to move.