Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinny
Thanks so much @ Yaowen I appreciate your kind words 
I slept all morning until 12pm today then drove home and then had a nap for an hour before dinner. Im just back from walking the dog and Im changed for bed and lying on my bed. Yawning my head off 
I know that I get hypersomnia because Ive had it in the past, but this is pretty intense. |
Ruling out diseases and conditions like hypothyroidism and MS and sleep apnyea, which is what your blood labs should do; the causes are most likely the following: your depression and not working (the body has a 24 hour clock circadian rhythm that when out of sync, stops working and sleep disturbance results), a nasty side effect of your current medication for your depression, and what happens to me which is genetic - delayed sleep phase syndrome.
Now, humans naturally slept in two phases for centuries and did stuff when they were awake from 3 am to 7 a.m. like read, cook, study, do laundry, sew, you name it then slept again from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and started their day then. Totally normal until the industrial age and factory schedule for the working class of 9-5 was invented.
Many of us still sleep in two phases and a sleep study could rule that out for you. Of course, there's nothing to do if your body is phased to sleep in two portions of time except do what I do: get 4 hours of sleep, wake up for 90 minutes, then fall asleep for another 2-3 hours then get up and start my day. No OTC sleep meds.
If you think it started when you took time off of work, then it's likely your lack of a schedule and your depression is causing your sleepiness as a way of healing your physical exhaustion from being depressed. Does that make sense? When I had a heavy depression, I slept 10 hours a day and my sleep phase syndrome disappeared due to my depression and I slept straight through the 10 hours. That ended once I mentally felt better and my sleep phase syndrome returned.
Test yourself. Keep a journal or write on your phone, tablet or laptop or desktop every night as a routine. Just vent about your day. Write total nonsense. Just get your thoughts out and then go to bed. Start scheduling your sleep and wake times now, 10 days before your return to work.
Even if you want to sleep until noon, get up like you were returning to work. It takes the body about 3 to 4 days to reset sleep-wise. Adding a wake up routine will help you get ready for your work schedule again, although you may have insomnia the night before your return to work due to natural anxiety of returning. Don't fret. It will be alright.