Are you feeling too sleepy at day time and are feeling it difficult to wake up in the morning? Then you are suffering from idiopathic hypersomnia. What is it? It is a sleeping disorder in which you feel extremely sleepy during the day time and feels it hard to wake up in the morning.
| Narcolepsy | Idiopathic hypersomnia |
|---|---|
| You may lose muscle control. | You may not lose muscle control. |
| You may experience vivid dreams and hallucinations. | You may not experience hallucinations and vivid dreams. |
| You may have interrupted leading to poor quality of sleep. | You may have a continuous, uninterrupted sleep throughout the night. |
| You do not have a rapid eye movement (REM). | You would have a rapid eye movement (REM). |
| Naps are refreshing. | Naps are not refreshing. |
The symptoms commonly develop during teenage or adulthood, which includes:
Other symptoms of idiopathic hypersomnia include:
Your symptoms due to idiopathic hypersomnia are not self-limiting. So, you would require special medications to alleviate the symptoms.
MedicationsYour doctor may prescribe the same medication which is used in the treatment of narcolepsy, as there are no special medications designed for idiopathic hypersomnia.
Your doctor would prescribe CNS stimulants that keep you awake and active during the day time, these medications include modafinil, methylphenidate, and dexamphetamine.
Your doctor may also prescribe antidepressants if there are any emotional problems disturbing your sleep.
Your sleep specialist would carry out some tests to evaluate the exact underlying cause for your over sleepiness.
The two most important tests include:
PolysomnographyPolysomnography is a nighttime sleep test. It helps your sleep specialist to rule out other sleeping disorders such as narcolepsy or sleep apnea. For this, you will be kept in a separate room and is observed from the other room all the night. A set of electrodes are attached to your face, head and the body to record the brain waves, eye movements, brain activity, breathing pattern and snoring.
Multiple sleep latency testIn this test, your sleep specialist asks you to take naps throughout the day and observes the period it takes for you to fall asleep. Usually, if you have hypersomnia, it does not take more than 8 minutes for you to fall asleep.
Your sleep specialist may confirm the diagnosis as idiopathic hypersomnia if no other cause is found that makes you sleepy throughout the day and makes you take frequent naps during the daytime.
The exact cause of idiopathic hypersomnia is unknown. Although this disorder is similar to narcolepsy, it does not cause sleep attacks, and more over the naps during idiopathic hypersomnia are not refreshing like the naps in narcolepsy.
