You have been experiencing excessive sleepiness during the day for some time now and fail to understand why you are feeling the way you do. The problem has gradually seeped in to your workplace and people are already whispering behind your back. In fact, even when you are with your loved ones, excessive daytime sleepiness symptoms are showing up while you are in conversation!

Before the situation goes completely out of hand and the condition worsens into something more serious, you need to find out whether you are suffering from hypersomnia symptoms and seek medical attention without any delay. Idiopathic (the term means ‘no known cause’) hypersomnia is an uncommon but serious type of disorder, with far-reaching consequences, many of which are fatal.

Hypersomnia symptoms: what they are and what they are not?

One of the primary hypersomnia symptoms is excessive sleepiness during the day, coupled with prolonged sleep during the night. Such symptoms of hypersomnia are not the same as sleepiness as felt after a couple of sleepless nights, a hard days’ work or just tiredness. When you are experiencing hypersomnia symptoms, you can go off to sleep involuntarily, mostly at improper times like during a meeting, lunch or dinner or even while you are in conversation with someone.

Hypersomnia symptoms: the most common ones

• Excessive sleepiness during the day for at least one month on a continuous basis.
• Frequent but long naps, waking up groggy and drowsy.
• Undisturbed and inordinately long sleeping hours in the night
• Waking up looking and feeling ‘drunk’, confused and disoriented.

Hypersomnia symptoms: other manifestations

• Anxiety
• Irritability
• Reduced energy
• Restlessness
• Slow reflexes including diminished thinking ability
• Slurred or slow speech
• Reduced appetite
• Hallucinations
• Poor memory

Symptoms of hypersomnia have major impact both on the personal like, personality and professional life of the sufferer. Often patients withdraw from meeting other people in social or family gatherings as they find themselves inept to handle any situation satisfactorily.

Idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms: are they same as symptoms of narcolepsy?

This is a condition that usually manifests before the age of 30. Idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms are the same as hypersomnia symptoms where even repeated naps do not refresh or revive the sagging energy levels of the victim. You might feel completely disoriented or confused (called sleep drunkenness) after such long or short naps and feel like going back to sleep again.

Some typical idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms include:

• Major difficulty in waking up in the morning.
• Sleep paralysis: a condition where the patient finds it impossible to move or speak while falling asleep or after waking up.
• Hallucinations: waking dreams that happen as part of excessive daytime sleepiness symptoms
• Frequent forgetfulness

While many of the idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms may appear similar to those of narcolepsy, here the patient does not suffer cataplexy – a condition that causes sudden loss of muscle tone of the face or limbs. Additionally, while both the conditions result in frequent and excessive sleepiness during the day, narcoleptic naps are shorter in duration and leave the victim refreshed; which differs from idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms.

Hypersomnia symtoms: when are they likely to show up?

Symptoms of hypersomnia may be due to some other kind of pre-existing sleep disorder like sleep apnea or narcolepsy, malfunctioning of autonomic nervous system, alcohol abuse, drug consumption, etc. Body injuries involving the head or physical problems like tumor or injury to the central nervous system could also trigger hypersomnia symptoms.

Some underlying medical conditions are at times responsible for excessive sleepiness during the day and are called hypersomnolence symptoms. Such medical conditions include multiple sclerosis, depression, encephalitis, epilepsy, etc. Even obesity is considered to be one of the leading reasons for idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms to show up. Genetic factors could also be responsible.

Young adults as well as adolescents are the normal victims of symptoms of hypersomnia.

Hypersomnia symptoms: symptoms of depression?

According to one school of thought, hypersomnolence or hypersomnia is one of the leading outcomes of depression. While idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms occur 5 times less frequently than narcolepsy, hypersomnolence symptoms are primarily related to excessively long phases of sleep. One of the identifiable symptoms of hypersomnia is problem faced by the victim to remain awake.

Many consider the idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms to be caused by impairment of the central nervous system and can remain life-long with very slow or no improvement in the condition despite therapy.

Drugs that treat hypersomnia symptoms are more or less the same as used for the treatment of depression and include stimulants, like amphetamine, methylphenidate, and modafinil. Other drugs used to treat hypersomnia symptoms include clonidine, levodopa, bromocriptine, antidepressants, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

Hypersomnia symptoms: what are the risk factors?

• Impaired autonomic nervous system
• Obesity
• Drug or alcohol abuse
• Certain prescription drugs including tranquilizers and sedatives
• Withdrawal of certain medications
• Hereditary factors

Hypersomnia symptoms: conclusion

Excessive sleepiness during the day can cause serious impediment to anyone trying to lead a normal life as it adversely affects both professional and personal lives. It can be dangerous to drive and operate machinery if the symptoms of hypersomnia are not brought under control with the right therapy. Affecting mostly teenagers and young adults, idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms need to be addressed without any delay, as soon as they are noticed and before the situation takes a turn for the worse.

As you understand the implications of symptoms of hypersomnia, it is worthwhile to remember that the entire situation could be fallout of some underlying conditions like multiple sclerosis, depression, obesity, chronic fatigue syndrome, head trauma caused by accidental injury and affecting the central nervous system, side effect or withdrawal effect of certain medications, or even genetic factors.

Following factors are taken into consideration while diagnosing hypersomnolence symptoms before therapy is initiated:

• Experiencing excessive sleepiness during the day for at least a month.
• Severity of hypersomnia symptoms is causing serious impairment to social and professional life of the patient.
• Hypersomnia symptoms are not due to physiological effects of any drug or medical condition.