Sleep Disorders

[HUmani]

Hello! My name is Humani and I`m seventeen. For the past several years I have had (and still do) a problem about the number of hours I sleep. Unless if someone wakes me up or I need to go to school, I don`t wake up at all. I can sleep for more than twenty hours a day, only waking up once for a meal and on a few occasions to go to the toilet. I recall one time when I went to bed after supper at 20:33 and woke up the next day for supper at 19:37. I have talked to my grandpa about it but he said it was just a habbit and all I needed to do was to kick it (as if it`s that easy!). I have very few days a week (now that I spend some of my days sleeping). I loose a lot of time to do my assignments and projects during the weekend. I`ve tried setting up an alarm clock and it wakes me up, but I find myself glued to the bed and never get up; eventually I fall asleep almost immidiately after the alarm goes off. Can anyone please tell me what to do.

[Circadiabsurdium]

20 hours at a stretch? That's a long time! One thing it could be is an underactive thyroid; before mine was diagnosed I would sleep every second I possibly could, about 14 hours on weekdays, and almost constantly on the weekends, and felt like dirt every second of the day. Depression is another thing that comes to mind (and that's probably the first thing most doctors will think of). Really, though, without knowing more info, I (a non-doctor) would say that it could be from any number of things. I hate to pry, but are you having any other symptoms such as feeling cold a lot or gaining weight, joint pain, or ANYTHING else out of the ordinary? Has your family noticed anything weird you do in your sleep, such as snoring or sleepwalking? How's your diet? (Food allergies can cause fatigue, but I doubt it could cause 20-hour sleep periods...) And do you sleep that much every day, or just once in a while? Does it get worse in the winter?

In any case, sleeping 20 hours is serious, and with something that bad that is affecting your school performance, it's important to get to a doctor because they will know way more than the people on this forum. If your family won't take you for an appointment, I would say talk to the school nurse or psychologist and maybe they can help.

Please let us know what happens, or if you want us to guess some more about what you have, tell us about other symptoms.