Hypersomnia, also known as idiopathic hypersomnia, is a rare sleep disorder that affects your ability to stay awake during the day. People with this condition can sleep for normal or prolonged hours at night and still be exhausted throughout the day. As such, they will struggle to keep a job, perform well in school, and do other activities of daily life to the best of their ability. Essentially, people with hypersomnia feel like they had a sleepless night, despite getting plenty of rest.
Unfortunately, hypersomnia is a very misunderstood condition, and doctors have not been able to develop a cure or solid treatment plan. Doctors also do not know what causes this condition in the first place. Therefore, most current treatments available are designed to ease your symptoms and help you feel alert during the day in spite of your hypersomnia.
Currently, medications are the only FDA-approved treatment for hypersomnia. Medications are used to keep you awake and alert during the day so that you can function normally.
Wakefulness-promoting agents are currently the drug of choice for treating hypersomnia. Wakefulness-promoting agents, including pitolisan and modafinil, keep you awake and alert during the day and improve daytime cognitive function. They do not have as many side effects as stronger drugs, which is why they are tried first.
If wakefulness-promoting agents are not powerful enough to keep you alert during the day, you can also try stimulants, such as amphetamine and dextroamphetamine. These drugs are much more powerful than wake agents and have more unwanted side effects. However, they are your best option if milder drugs cannot do the trick.
In addition to medications that keep you awake during the day, you can also take medications to help you sleep at night, such as sodium oxybate. Sodium oxybate is a powerful sleep medication that induces a deep and restful sleep in the hopes that improved sleep will help with your hypersomnia.
Unfortunately, although medications are the best treatment for hypersomnia, they also have the most side effects. Side effects are worse with stimulants than other drugs but are present, nonetheless.
In addition to medications, it is also possible that lifestyle changes can improve your hypersomnia. Doing things like getting plenty of exercise, eating a healthy diet, and having a sleep schedule can improve your sleep at night and alertness during the day.
It is also best to stay away from night shift jobs, stay out too late, and consume drugs or alcohol. Each of these things can affect your sleep schedule and worsen your hypersomnia.
Because of how unknown hypersomnia is, experts still are not certain that cognitive behavioural therapy can help. However, because hypersomnia is part physical and part mental, therapy can help you cope with your symptoms, get better sleep, and understand why you feel the way you feel. It is also helpful for dealing with stress, depression, and anxiety, which are common side effects of hypersomnia.
While hypersomnia is a fairly misunderstood and unknown condition, it is serious, nonetheless. Therefore, it is important to see a doctor if you think you have hypersomnia so that they can perform further testing and possibly give you a diagnosis. Then, you can start the appropriate treatment plan for hypersomnia and get the help you need.