Always Sleeping.

When I'm in a low state, I sleep a lot. That's not really abnormal from what I understand. But I get so tired that even when I'm able to get in my car and get my errands done, I end up pulling over and taking a nap. Sometimes I don't even make it out of the driveway. Does anybody else deal with this?
I'm not on any meds, so that can't be a contributing factor.

Have you had a physical or medical follow-up for this extreme sleepiness?
It's really important to be sure as to whether or not there may be an underlying medical problem.


WC

No, 'cause this isn't a normal problem with me. I know I should have it checked but I know what's going to happen. The PET scans, MRIs, blood work up, all of it. Every time something's mildly wrong with me, they assume my cancer has relapsed. All of those tests cost way too much and I'm still paying off the last round.

Excessive daytime sleepiness can be caused by sleep apnea. Have you ever had a sleep study done?

I deal with chronic fatigue unless I'm manic or hypo. I've had lots of tests ran and they cannot find a reason and blame my depression. I am more tired when depressed but also when stable. But I'm also always sick which makes me tired.

Talk to your doctor about this. They can give you non stimulating drugs to give you energy. I plan to talk to my doctor about this too.

Good luck. Requiring so much sleep sucks the life right out of you. (((Hugs)))

No, I've never had a sleep study done. They've wanted to but with my issues of waking terrified from nightmares and the like, it wouldn't be a good idea.

As bioCHE suggested you should definitely check for sleep apnea. My father had similar sleeping and snoring problems (he's also a type 2 diabetic) and in his case loosing weight helped a lot. You mentioned that you sleep a lot and you still feel tired which probably means you're having a restless sleep. If nothing else comes up you should just check for this and rule it out as a potential problem.

I use a BiPap at night. but I've been sleeping practically the entire last 2 weeks. I might be up for a couple hours then have to lay back down again. It has sucked. Because the erratic sleep schedule is making me go manic.

I'm always tired no matter how much sleep I get. I've required 10+ hours to function in a day, but also take naps throughput the day. Lately I haven't been able to sleep. I wake up with my heart pounding and jumping awake in terror. Now I'm on the opposite side and it sucks! I've had a sleep study, and I didn't have sleep apnea, but they did say i only spent 13% of the time in REM sleep. It also takes me 205 minutes to get to REM sleep. It's not liw enough to be a disorder I guess, but it does explain my excessive sleepiness.

When you say you are in a "low state" do you mean depressed? I sleep a lot (14 hours) when im depressed. My sleep isn't restful though during these episodes so I'm tired and sleepy all day. Not being on meds, if you need them, could be a problem. Depression can ruin your sleep, causes body pain, digestion problems, all kinds of yucky stuff.

Have you had your thyroid checked? That will make you drag big time-consuming low thyroid. Lithium can do that but there are other reasons too.