[AncientMelody]

Has anyone experienced excessive daytime sleepiness that is NOT a direct symptom of their mental health condition or medication? I've been dealing with this for years, and it's grown more pronounced recently, actually leading to a relapse of my depression because the fatigue was dragging everything down.

I saw a sleep specialist recently and did a home sleep study which checks airflow and apneas. It was essentially normal although I do have allergies and small nasal passages, so there is some possibility that I have upper airway resistance which can affect sleep quality. So we're doing basic nasal care (saline, antihistamine) and I'm planning on trying the breath right nasal strips as well. Possible repeat sleep study in the lab if I'm not improving.

Was a diagnosis ever found in your situation? If so what were you diagnosed with? if a cause wasn't found what was your treatment or coping mechanism?

[bluekoi]

AncientMelody, Has your doctor done a complete physical with blood work? Have you had your thyroid tested?

[AncientMelody]

Thanks for the response . Yes, my doctor has been very thorough. Thyroid checked a couple of times actually, inflammatory markers even, and several other labs. That's why we've turned towards suspecting inadequate sleep quality. Thanks for your thoughts!

[geis]

Did the home sleep study monitor heart rate and brain activity too, or just breathing? I ask because my excessive daytime sleepiness is caused by a combination of a weird heart thing (not dangerous, but it keeps waking me up just enough that I don't remember it but that it keeps me from getting restful sleep) and a neurological sleep disorder where my sleep phases are the wrong length/out of order/don't go into deep, restful sleep naturally.

I don't know if they can monitor those things at home--I had to spend a night in a sleep lab to have mine done. Mine's only partially treatable, but it helps to have an explanation other than "I'm just lazy."

[AncientMelody]

No, the home one can only monitor pulse oxygen and breathing. They may have me follow-up with a sleep study in the lab, but suggested optimizing my nasal passages first (nasal saline, nasal strips) I've been going to bed earlier which has helped to some degree, but obviously not resolved it. I just bought some nasal strips to try and will touch base with them in a month or so.

[Perna]

Did your doctor do vitamin tests? Not enough vitamin D gets me tired during the day.

Do you sleep normally/enough hours or not? If you are not sleeping enough or work shift work or something, that would make a difference. How about diet? What you eat (carbs) can tire you midday/after lunch, etc.

[Lexi232]

Is there a reason why he hasn't done a sleep study for more than just the basics watchings? while night time allergies can play an effect in sleep loss, or sleep quality lowering, the antihistimine isn't going to help with the being able to be alert and awake during other hours of your day.. and after prolonged use of them, it can start causing a person to have brain fog during the waking hours.

there are more than just the sleep studies they can do too. I can't remember what test they did with me after the sleep study but it was a 4 letter something.. maybe 5. it started with a M and there were an R and a T in there somewhere.. but that test was done after the sleep study between 8am-1pm. I'm sure there are other tests too that could be done.

I'm diagnosed with sleep disorder nos, and hypersomnia. the sleep disorder nos, is that i "never ever, not even once, through any of the tests, went into the REM cycle sleep stage", and the hypersomnia he said "means your really sleepy. and in the tests, an average person falls asleep between 10-20 minutes, whereas you fell asleep between 3 and 7 minutes each time" (that test they did after the sleep study).

Stimulants are the only thing that help with me. literally most of my medication are to wake me up, and keep me awake during the day, and then to put me asleep and keep me asleep during the night. I drink a lot of Red Bull energy drinks as well (mainly when my stimulant (generally add/adhd type of meds) is too low of a dose).
Sleep deprivation can come even if you are sleeping. its the quality of sleep that matters. and if your waking up sleepy, or sleepy through most of the day, it's likely due to the quality of sleep your getting is lacking. Which can worsen almost any other illness.
There's only been 2 days out of my entire life that i've woken up and was awake.. once in high school, and once a few years ago. and i was almost borderline of being hyper those two times. otherwise, i wake up, and lay there.. thinking that i might fall back to sleep.. and usually I do.. but i wake up, and i dont wake up being awake, I wake up being ready to sleep again. feeling just as i did the night before i fell asleep.

Was the sleep specialist a neurologist? (mine is a neurologist).
The diet thing that Perna mentioned is a good suggestion too (along with the other suggestions), but if you eat too much sugar items, you'll crash, and might not feel so great when you wake up (high blood sugar).. if it goes up real quickly, it will go back down just that quickly.
Starches and greasy foods also can cause sleepiness.

[AncientMelody]

Thanks for the additional thoughts!! Yes, my primary care physician has been very thorough in the vitamin checks....in fact I did have Vitamin D deficiency, but use a high quality supplement and my levels are good now. I tend to do a pretty good job with diet, and in fact she talked about increasing my protein at the time which I have done.

Regarding the in-lab sleep test, my insurance is the main problem. They have specific criteria for which they allow the complete sleep test. If I show a month or two of no improvement with the "nasal hygeine" measures, then I'll likely qualify for the lab test.

[AncientMelody]

Originally Posted by Lexi232

there are more than just the sleep studies they can do too. I can't remember what test they did with me after the sleep study but it was a 4 letter something.. maybe 5. it started with a M and there were an R and a T in there somewhere.. but that test was done after the sleep study between 8am-1pm. I'm sure there are other tests too that could be done.

I'm diagnosed with sleep disorder nos, and hypersomnia. the sleep disorder nos, is that i "never ever, not even once, through any of the tests, went into the REM cycle sleep stage", and the hypersomnia he said "means your really sleepy. and in the tests, an average person falls asleep between 10-20 minutes, whereas you fell asleep between 3 and 7 minutes each time" (that test they did after the sleep study).

Stimulants are the only thing that help with me. literally most of my medication are to wake me up, and keep me awake during the day, and then to put me asleep and keep me asleep during the night. I drink a lot of Red Bull energy drinks as well (mainly when my stimulant (generally add/adhd type of meds) is too low of a dose).
Sleep deprivation can come even if you are sleeping. its the quality of sleep that matters. and if your waking up sleepy, or sleepy through most of the day, it's likely due to the quality of sleep your getting is lacking. Which can worsen almost any other illness.
There's only been 2 days out of my entire life that i've woken up and was awake.. once in high school, and once a few years ago. and i was almost borderline of being hyper those two times. otherwise, i wake up, and lay there.. thinking that i might fall back to sleep.. and usually I do.. but i wake up, and i dont wake up being awake, I wake up being ready to sleep again. feeling just as i did the night before i fell asleep.

Was the sleep specialist a neurologist? (mine is a neurologist). .

Your symptoms describe mine very well. I rarely feel "rested" from sleep, it's more like sleep is just a break but not a refresher. I have become much more strict with my bedtime in the last couple of weeks though, and I am more functional from that. I notice too that my antidepressant, while not giving me more energy, makes me more functional in spite of the fatigue.

Is the test you're referring to a multiple sleep latency test? I'll talk to my doctor about that. My one concern with stimulants is that I am very anxiety prone, that I worry about that causing anxiety. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Thanks again for everyone's thoughts, I'll update as I go!