Excessive Daytime Sleepiness Treatment: Is There Any Way To Live a Healthy Life Again?
Excessive daytime sleepiness, often ignored as just another excuse to be lazy and slothful, is a rare but serious and persistent health condition, which, if not treated, may remain a life-long disorder. Perhaps the worst part is that idiopathic (means no known causes) hypersomnia (means excessive sleep) happens without any apparent cause!
Worst still, the ailment affects people aged between 15 and 30. Idiopathic hypersomnia has been officially declared as a ‘rare disease’ by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and affects less than 200,000 people in the US.
Hypersomnia treatment: where does one begin?
Since, most of the time, there are no apparent causes for the ailment to develop, idiopathic hypersomnia treatment invariably involves taking approaches that provide symptomatic relief. In fact, doctors normally combine several treatment methods to cure the condition. Over and above drug therapy, doctors rely more on making several lifestyle alterations and coaching the patient many self-help strategies using which, he or she can get sustainable relief from excessive daytime sleepiness.
Excessive daytime sleepiness treatment: involvement of others
The nature of the condition is such that the patient is highly likely to be misunderstood by family and friends as being a work-shirker, lazy, etc. If married, hypersomnia may also seriously jeopardize marital harmony. Hence hypersomnolence treatment invariably requires the involvement and joint effort of people who make the patients’ immediate surroundings like spouse, close friends, colleagues, etc.
Such close people are meticulously counseled for extending their cooperation and support to the patient undergoing excessive daytime sleepiness treatment. A helping hand and an understanding attitude from loved ones can go a long way in giving the victim the mental strength to live through the disease condition.
Excessive daytime sleepiness treatment: importance of changing the way you live life
At times making poor lifestyle choices can seriously damage health. By making some seemingly simple changes in the way you live can go a long way in helping the doctor involved in hypersomnia treatment. Changes include:
- Keeping regular sleeping hours; avoiding late nights and other socializing events that result in staying up late.
- Stop rushing in an out of sleep. Sleep is a relaxing activity that should not be rushed, as it causes sleep deprivation.
- Quit alcohol. This liquid poison is behind several sleep disorders.
Quit smoking. Nicotine withdrawal makes one wake up early.
Excessive daytime sleepiness treatment: help yourself to help the doctor
- Do regular physical exercise for at least 20 minutes per day.
- Avoid foods and drinks that contain nerve stimulants like coffee, aerated drinks, chocolate, diet drugs, etc.
- Undertake activities before bedtime that relaxes both the mind and the body, including a warm bath, etc.
- Make your bedroom more sleep-friendly.
Excessive daytime sleepiness treatment: what are the drugs used?
Hypersomnolence treatment uses several types of drugs, depending on the severity and duration of the condition.
- Modafinil, sodium oxybate, amphetamine, methamphetamine, dextroamphetamine, methylphenidate, and selegiline are common drugs used for idiopathic hypersomnia treatment.
- Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), clonidine, levodopa, bromocriptine, amantadine, and methysergide are also used for the treatment of this condition.
Is there any way to find a doctor who takes this seriously and prescribes the necessary prescriptions? I have been to 3 doctors and really don’t have the patience to keep looking. One tells me to drink coffe or take 5 hour energy. The other tells me “everybody has that”. Any info would be appreciated. I was fired from an 18 yr career at a telecom company for falling asleep at my desk. Now on SSDI.
What type of Doctor’s have you gone to? Have you had the sleep studies to be diagnosed? I was just diagnosed this summer. I started taking Nuvigil and it seemed to help at first but now its effect has worn off. I am meeting w/ the neurologist next week to explore other options, sometimes you need a combination of meds.If you have a confirmed diagnosis thru a sleep study, you can’t be fired or at least you can go on disability.
it makes me feel sad to see that so many others have this illness, i feel that people find it rather funny! I have noticed the odd little giggle or two but i dont find it amusing at all it is like going into deep depression, it has had me thinking i dont want to live like this. (Involantary bedridden)I have tried to fight it but it just overpowers my mind. I sometimes feel that it has a lot to do with the eyes so have tried to do eye exercises and find it very difficult to keep them from closing.I am hopeing that the doctors will find me another type of antidepressant that will work, as the very first antidepressant (efexor xr) helped me for six years but stopped working.At the moment i am on pristiq it is working for the emotional side of depression but its not helping the sleepiness. I sleep up to 16hrs a day. questions i have asked myself! Coul it be dehydration? Is it linked with major depression? Nightmares? Dreaming too much? My nightmares aren’n as bad since i swapped from taking my antis at night instead of during the day it makes a BIG differance. hope all of you keep up the fight untill there is an answer and to all those people who think it is so funny just try and put yourself in someone eles shoes. Maybe if we said we go into a coma (which is similar) maybe then people would understand how serious it is. Wishing you all the best. te
Hi! I swear there is a link with the eyesight too! I have been fighting this thing and it really does push you into a depression if your personality is more of an up and go type and you can’t! I live in MN and find that I struggle so much harder in the winter! I was on Provigil and felt great on it, but ended up on 800 mg? a day and worried that it would damage my liver or kidneys and to make it worse I was building up an immunity to it. When I quit it was horrible…I felt like I just wanted to lay down and sleep forever. My eyesight felt so strained and I felt almost intoxicated in a bad way. Do you notice problems with your grip or being clutsy when it is hitting harder? Still struggling… this is the first time I have seen a website dealing with this. It feels like I am on an island with this thing sometimes!
[...] unusual developments get noticed by the patient. These include rapid and unexplained weight gain, excessive daytime sleepiness, mood deterioration like depression and irritability, reduced libido, need for frequent urination [...]
I’m pretty sure doctors don’t prescribe methamphetamine. I’m sure the author meant Methylphenidate or Ritalin. My mom read this and asked if I’m like the guy on tv all strung out from smoking Meth. This disease sucks, haven’t found a cure yet. Meds partially work but have side effects.