not sure if i have it

i dont have a doctor but i dont know if i have this or if it's some other problem
i do take medications (for schizophrenia and depression) and one of them does make me sleepy
but ive been taking it so long i dont remember how it was before the medication
i need around 14-18 hours of sleep to feel okay and if i get 8-12 i mostly feel horrible like i have gotten no sleep. id rather stay up all night than get 8 hours of sleep.
the longest time ive ever slept was 23 hours and i think if i DID work id lose my job because of sleep
i was late to school every single day since 6th grade because i could never wake up and was constantly tired
even if i went to bed at 6pm the day before i still couldnt get up in the morning and would want to sleep more
it doesnt bother me, i love sleep, but i do think it's out of the ordinary

Which medications do you take for your other ailments? I know from experience some antidepressants can cause hypersomnia.

Oliveira wrote:Which medications do you take for your other ailments? I know from experience some antidepressants can cause hypersomnia.

i take risperidal and the generic zoloft

I looked up the side effects of both and hypersomnia is not listed even as a rare effect. Of course there is a possibility you are really really unusual in this aspect -- I am not a specialist, I just googled "risperidone side effects" and "zoloft side effects" and looked at a few pages.

I would suggest speaking to a psychiatrist about it -- you say it's been long -- if there's one psychiatrist who has your entire file perhaps there is a mention of your sleep patterns earlier on. You say you don't have a doctor but you had one in the past that put you on those meds, right? Possibly they just stopped being right for you. I don't know. Risperdal in any case is a rather heavy med and taking it for years just seems somewhat unusual.

Big hug -- hope it gets easier soon.

Hi, I can sympathise with you. I am always tired, and would love to sleep my life away, but I also want to live. I have found that I am better if I get up, or at least stop lying down in bed, (I can sit up and watch TV, or read, but not lie down) at no later than 9.00am, and lie down to sleep @ 11.00PM.
Your brain and body need to get into the rhythm of when they should be asleep and when not. i rarely sleep during the day, but, just occasionally the fatigue beats me and I have to rest in the afternoon.
I do not take medications that would make me tired, if the doc wants to put me on meds, that is the first question that I ask - will it make me tired - and if the answer is yes, I ask for something else, or refuse the meds.
I cannot work because of the fatigue (and severe memory loss), but try to ensure that I always have somewhere to go during the day (like a therapist, dentist, hairdresser, shopping) which means that i cannot lie down, and have to keep pushing myself, and, I hope, re educating my brain.
My life has never been the same since the fatigue started, now 21 years ago, but, I still keep hoping that I might one day be able to leap out of bed, glad to greet the day
Good luck

I also have that sympthoms too. I work really hard ( i m a dentist and i have little time for my family and when i come home, i m completely dead. I don't know whats my problem is. I mean, other people work hard too, but they seems much happier than I...