Crashing sleepiness and overwhelming fatigue...what is going on?
Posted , 3 users are following.
About 6 months ago I started noticing that out of nowhere I would suddenly just get uncontrollably sleepy. I couldn't keep my eyes open no matter what was going on around or to me. I didn't usually fall asleep at first because whenever I would drift deeper some part of my body would jerk/twitch. This jerking never made the sleepiness go away, but it would happen repeatedly. I first noticed these symptoms while in school. Soon after I started falling asleep in class.
My family and friends have reported that sometimes even shaking me won't wake me up because I'm fully unconscious. Mind you, I used to be the kind of sleeper who would jump immediately awake if somebody so much as opened the door to my room. Now I can sleep through the loudest most disruptive environments when I crash, though I have become increasingly easily startled.
I could go from super animated and chatty one second to unable to keep myself awake the next. These symptoms have remained regardless of the amount of sleep I have gotten the night before and napping doesn't help as much as it should - in fact sometimes I feel worse.
I have a panic disorder, my autonomic nervous system is disrupted (still being looked into), and I have really bad insomnia that will keep me up all night if I don't take all my medications.
Recently, even when I'm normally falling asleep (and not crashing), the twitches/jerking has increased in frequency. It's completely uncontrollable and can range from just my leg or just my finger jerking to my whole body lurching and sending things flying off my desk. Usually the full body twitches leave me feeling as though I have just been subjected to a jump scare, even when absolutely nothing happened to trigger it.
Initially my therapist suggested that my super active imagination might be behind it. She didn't mean that to say I was making it up, but to say that even when I'm sleeping my brain is going. I have super vivid dreams that often play out with full stories and plots and I can usually remember them. I agree that that probably lends itself to the rest of the issues, but I feel as if something bigger is behind it.
My family and I are looking into it but I was hoping one of y'all might have any ideas.
0 likes, 4 replies
apu91247 brie37444
Posted
brie37444 apu91247
Posted
I take many different medications but the doctor who prescribed them looked into it and said they're not what is causing these issues.
vric brie37444
Posted
Your doctor didn't suggest a sleep study? I have sleep narcolepsy, a condition where you can't stay awake. There are different facets, of course, but I can drop out so fast it's like passing out. Driving is difficult. I'm going for another sleep study (my first was ten years ago) as the Nuvigil I'm on seems to be not as effective. I woke up one day doing 55 on the Interstate...in the median. Ask for a recommendation for a sleep doctor. Take care!
brie37444 vric
Posted
Oh goodness thank you for the suggestion! There are a lot of issues going on and the fatigue hasn't been priority but we're working on it. My therapist suggested that as well and I think I'm gonna pursue it more aggressively.