Hypersomnia

Does anyone else suffer from hypersomnia? What has helped?

Normally my depression is atypical and lasts for 5-14 days with insomnia. But this time it's acting like melancholy depression, has lasted almost 3 months, with hypersomnia. It's killing me. I'm so tired, I'm falling asleep driving home from my T and Pdoc appts. I have no energy to shower, do chores, etc. My T's hw (doing something for 10mins out of bed every day) feels impossible some days. My life has been completely halted. My Pdoc thinks the depression is centered on the hypersomnia. So if I can get out of the hypersomnia, I might get out of the depression. My Pdoc did give me a new med to try to help, and my T gives me hw. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this and how they tried to treat it.

what med he give you to try to help?
pdoc tried to tell me wellbutrin would give me a little energy - some people it does, for me it takes alot more than normal so.. didnt work for me...

i have insomnia and hypersomnia... some times ill go days without sleeping and then days sleeping 14 hours a day...

it fluctuates for me... i dont like either side because when i have hypersomnia i dream more... and i have night terrors so i cant wake up...

i have bad habits though so i tend to do things to keep me awake when going through hypersomnia phases..
i've heard of some docs prescribing ritalin for depression sometimes so maybe thats an idea... its an offlabel treatment so alot of docs probably wont do that...

i know what is like - this stuff takes over...
dont really have any good advice besids try to ride it out and be as acttive as you can...
moving (excercise even ligth) around produces different chemicals in the brain which might help the hypersomnia...

all i can say is it sucks and i want to know what to do about it too
i dont hate the insomnia as much as the hypersomnia but thats because i have night terrors...

sorry you are strugglying with this... i hope you can find relief soon, posting here may help relieve some emotions and tensnions that may be contributing to hypersomnia...
so if you want to talk about things going on then im all ears

My Pdoc prescribed me Remeron. I haven't felt a change yet, but it's only been a week.

It's hard. One day last week, I slept for 24 hrs. Today I slept for 19... I do try to do things, but I really don't have much energy. I don't mind sleeping excessively except that it interfers with responsibilities like appts. But the lack of energy is killing me. My house is a mess And falling asleep while driving is scary.

my brother takes that for sleep, he says it helps him a bit but helped more in the beginning...

i know when i started seroquel it made me really tired like 10 mins after taking it i could not stay awake... that lasted for months... but seroquel is a little different than remeron, i think seroquel is more sedating even... are you taking other meds that may be adding to the sedative effect?

since remeron does make you tired i would wonder why he put you on it if you are having trouble sleeping to much already?

would think a more stimulating med would be called for... abilify? ( i never tried abilify.. )

did the sleepiness get worse when starting remeron?

You sound exactly like me. I frequently sleep 18-20 hours a day. I am disabled with a neuro disease Multiple Sclerosis which may cause this. I always schedule appointments as late as possible and frequently have to re-schedule from oversleeping. My house is a mess. I don't take good care of myself. I feel lazy and want to change. Adderrall, Ritalin, Provigil, etc don't work on me cuz you have to wake up to take them! How do they expect me to do that? How arenyou doing? Any luck with medicine or root cause determined?

You could try Adderall, I take it but it affects me in a way that is simply to help me focus and help with my depression. Most people, instead, wake up and feel they have more motivated energy. It helps people who have narcolepsy so it could help with the hypersomnia. With me, if anything, it makes me sleep more because I'm not constantly distracted but I don't think it does that with non-ADHD people. Might work for you enough to stay up just a few more hours at a time.
I've been dealing with hypersomnia for some time now but the doctor thinks it's more of something physically wrong with me. He thinks it's either an infection or my cancer has relapsed. I couldn't really give advice more than I have on the subject. I hope you and your doctor can find a solution soon, though.

This used to be my BIGGEST problem with depression & it's actually what forced me to make the decision to finally get help. My sleep patterns changed drastically when I was 15. I thought it would just last the summer & then when the school year started, there were many days when I had ZERO energy to even get out of bed. Fast forward to when I was 19 going on 20, I started going to a T & I was really skeptical about meds in general b/c I feared the side effects would be worst than the benefit (common misconception). A year and a half later, I began taking 50mg Zoloft which did help me with energy but there was a sexual side effect. Then Wellbutrin was next. I've been on it since the summer of 2014 and it's helped me TREMENDOUSLY. I no longer wake up groggy. I have energy to complete tasks such as cleaning, studying, coming to work and appointments on time etc. I was a wreck a couple years ago as I was sleeping a third of my days away, making it almost impossible to get anything done. Plus, it tends to push you further into depression. The excessive sleeping can REALLY affect everything in your life to a point where you become accustomed to it. Meanwhile, it's something that MUST be taken care of as quickly and effectively as possible. I'm truly sorry this has affected you in such a way & I really hope my story can be of some assistance/support. Take care of yourself!

in my 11 years of depression i've had been through the phases of hypersomnia.it goes away on its own after few days when my mind and body gets tired of sleeping all day..