Excessive noticeable daytime drowsiness
November 3, 2010 | 10,00 EUR | answered by Dr. med. Ralf Berg
For some time now, I have been suffering from increasingly severe daytime fatigue. This means that if, for example, I fall asleep at 11 pm in the evening and wake up at 7 am in the morning, I could easily lie back down at 9 am and sleep for another 4-5 hours. I do not necessarily attribute this to the occasional depression or mood swings that I experience.
It has gotten so bad now that when I wake up in the morning, I have no desire or motivation to get out of bed at all. I keep trying to fall back asleep in half-hour intervals, but I can only manage to do so for a short time. When I finally get up, my eyes hurt so much after 3 hours as if I had been up for 2 days straight.
Because of this, I went to see one of my local doctors here in the province and explained the problem to him. He scheduled me for a blood test, EKG, and blood pressure measurement a crazy 10 days later.
Since I am about to start a business supported by the employment agency and still have a lot of work to do for it, I am eager to be able to perform my work as soon as possible.
I informed my doctor about this, but still only got an appointment in 10 days.
On Tuesday, 11/02/2010, I had the appointment for the blood test, EKG, and blood pressure measurement at a laboratory. Today, I should have received the results over the phone, and a receptionist told me that all values were within the normal range.
There was no mention of any further appointment from the practice.
Now I am seeking a doctor who can describe the next steps for me, provide me with a possible diagnosis based on the information I have shared, and suggest the fastest possible healing option.
Dear patient,
In your current situation (starting a business), it is clear that the condition you have described is very inappropriate.
However, I must honestly tell you that an informal diagnosis and therapy cannot be given in this way because your symptoms are too unspecific and the potential causes are too varied.
Nevertheless, I would like to attempt to present possible further steps from my perspective. Even though you initially indicated that you do not see a connection to your depression/mood swings, I believe that this possibility should not be completely disregarded.
Starting a business can also be very mentally taxing. (What do I need to do, have I forgotten anything, is it really the right thing, etc.) The cardinal symptoms of fatigue, lack of drive, deficit in motivation, difficulty in starting in the morning, physical symptoms (eyes) already raise suspicion of mental stress, more than an organic issue. Also, the fact that all blood tests and examinations at your primary care physician have been normal so far supports this. If you have seen a psychotherapist (or have in the past) or are taking medication for this condition, my first advice would be to seek help there.
Another organic cause for your symptoms, not detected in the ECG/blood test, that comes to mind is sleep apnea syndrome. In this case, the first step would be to see a neurologist/psychiatrist who could arrange further diagnostic tests in a sleep lab. If you have a partner, ask them if you snore heavily at night. This could be a clue in that direction. However, most people develop symptoms of sleep apnea slowly and do not have motivation issues.
Therefore, in your case, seeing a psychotherapist, especially since you have already had several tests done by your primary care physician, seems more promising.
Best regards, R. Berg
Warm regards, R. Berg
