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Excessive sleep, days to weeks
Hi, I'm trying to find answers about my wife. She goes through phases where she is anywhere from disoriented to comatose for days at a time. As of this writing she has been in bed for more than 6 days and asleep for 99% of that time.
During this episode the "best" she has been is awake, coherent and alert for 20 minutes straight. At worst she has been virtually impossible to wake up. If I can wake her it lasts for about 10 seconds, and she usually falls asleep again in the middle of a sentence. Most of the time she seems disoriented, slurs her words, or chooses wrong words (asking repeatedly for the toaster when she wants the TV remote). There have been at least 2 instances when she seemed to be halucinating, thinking I was her mother or convinced she was currently pregnant.
She has fallen and hurt herself more than once just going to the bathroom. She is very unsteady on her feet at the best of times, and appears to fall asleep while walking. Last night she spent 20 minutes attempting to dial a phone number.
She has had a number of these episodes over the past 2-3 years. The frequency is about 1 every 1-2 months. They can last as little as 2 days and as long as 2 weeks. Typically they are in the 4-5 day range, the current one is longer than most. At other times she seems to sleep a normal amount, and can wake up in the morning and be active for a typical day.
She also has phases when she can force herself to stay concious, interact with people, etc. but seems to entirely loose the memory of these events. We think that these may happen more than we know, but it only becomes apparent when something significant or unique happens that people around her remember and she does not. The first obvious such occurence was a trip to the vet. She was active during this, talked at length to the vet about one of our dogs. Days later she was sure we had missed the appointment. Even after repeating sections of the conversation, describing events, etc. she did not recognize any of it. She was there, but had no memory of the event. We have paid closer attention since then and I think it is happening all the time, but most of the time it's mundane things (not remembering what we had for dinner 2 days ago) so they seem innocuous.
She has a host of other medical problems and is on a bucket of medications, which only complicate the situation. The conditions include: asthma, hypertension, anxiety disorder, and some connective tissue that has defied diagnosis for 3 years. It has been call adult Stills, palindromic rhumatism, psoriatic arthritis, and a couple of genetic disorders (two syndromes particular to Caribbean and Scottish populations respectively).
She is taking blood pressure medication, antidepressants, and opiates. Originally I thought these episodes were opiate overdoses which would snowball because she couldn't remember if she took a dose and would just keep taking more. For the past 3 months I have been holding here pain medication and administering it on a strict schedule. I am convinced that these episodes are not related to fluctuations in opiate dose because I know that the dose has been consistent for as long as I have been controlling it. During that time she has had at least 3 of these episodes, and between them she functions normally for weeks at a time.
She refuses to talk to any medical professionals about these symptoms because she is certain that the first thing they will want to do is take her off the pain medication. This, of course, will involve weeks or months of tapering during which time her joint pain will go from bad to unbearable. She is deathly afraid of going into a hospital for this detox, primarily because of the anxiety disorder. She is terrified of being branded and "judged" as a drug addict, as well as terrified of being in unfamiliar surroundings and without her family around her 24 hours a day.
From my perspective I would love to get her into a hospital for a couple of weeks, let them monitor and administer all her medication, and let them see her go from completely normal to virtually unresponsive and back again. If a group of medical professionals could see this and believe it, instead of just sending her away with a regimen and telling her to come back in a month with results, then maybe they could do something about it. As it is, though, I don't know how to deal with it or get a diagnosis or treatment.
In some ways she does not even know how bad this is. I can attempt to explain how much of life she is not present for, but she actively avoids such conversations. The times that she is unconcious, disoriented or has memory lapses are all non-events for her. The rest of us have to live through these, take care of her, keep the family going, go to work and school, etc. and take care of her as an invalid at the same time. She comes out of these events and has little or no memory of them, and avoids/buries the knowledge that a week or so has disappeared from her life.
I have one theory, and I am trying to document enough to prove or disprove it. I think that these episodes may be a migrane symptom. She has had migranes in the past, but has not had a migrane headache per se in quite a while. I have noticed that I can often predict the onset of one of these episodes because she will go through a period of about 12-24 hours of hyperactivity (shopping, cleaning, making grandiose plans) and then she seems to "crash" and go into this comatose state for days. These episodes also seem to come one after the other in the summer and can be directly related to weather changes, particularly pressure drops preceeding storm systems. I have found some descriptions of the migrane "hangover" that seem quite similar to what she is experiencing, though probably not on the same scale.
Whatever this is it makes my life hell, and hers virtually non-existent, when its happening. I would appreciate any insight anyone may have, or any similar experiences.
Thanks
During this episode the "best" she has been is awake, coherent and alert for 20 minutes straight. At worst she has been virtually impossible to wake up. If I can wake her it lasts for about 10 seconds, and she usually falls asleep again in the middle of a sentence. Most of the time she seems disoriented, slurs her words, or chooses wrong words (asking repeatedly for the toaster when she wants the TV remote). There have been at least 2 instances when she seemed to be halucinating, thinking I was her mother or convinced she was currently pregnant.
She has fallen and hurt herself more than once just going to the bathroom. She is very unsteady on her feet at the best of times, and appears to fall asleep while walking. Last night she spent 20 minutes attempting to dial a phone number.
She has had a number of these episodes over the past 2-3 years. The frequency is about 1 every 1-2 months. They can last as little as 2 days and as long as 2 weeks. Typically they are in the 4-5 day range, the current one is longer than most. At other times she seems to sleep a normal amount, and can wake up in the morning and be active for a typical day.
She also has phases when she can force herself to stay concious, interact with people, etc. but seems to entirely loose the memory of these events. We think that these may happen more than we know, but it only becomes apparent when something significant or unique happens that people around her remember and she does not. The first obvious such occurence was a trip to the vet. She was active during this, talked at length to the vet about one of our dogs. Days later she was sure we had missed the appointment. Even after repeating sections of the conversation, describing events, etc. she did not recognize any of it. She was there, but had no memory of the event. We have paid closer attention since then and I think it is happening all the time, but most of the time it's mundane things (not remembering what we had for dinner 2 days ago) so they seem innocuous.
She has a host of other medical problems and is on a bucket of medications, which only complicate the situation. The conditions include: asthma, hypertension, anxiety disorder, and some connective tissue that has defied diagnosis for 3 years. It has been call adult Stills, palindromic rhumatism, psoriatic arthritis, and a couple of genetic disorders (two syndromes particular to Caribbean and Scottish populations respectively).
She is taking blood pressure medication, antidepressants, and opiates. Originally I thought these episodes were opiate overdoses which would snowball because she couldn't remember if she took a dose and would just keep taking more. For the past 3 months I have been holding here pain medication and administering it on a strict schedule. I am convinced that these episodes are not related to fluctuations in opiate dose because I know that the dose has been consistent for as long as I have been controlling it. During that time she has had at least 3 of these episodes, and between them she functions normally for weeks at a time.
She refuses to talk to any medical professionals about these symptoms because she is certain that the first thing they will want to do is take her off the pain medication. This, of course, will involve weeks or months of tapering during which time her joint pain will go from bad to unbearable. She is deathly afraid of going into a hospital for this detox, primarily because of the anxiety disorder. She is terrified of being branded and "judged" as a drug addict, as well as terrified of being in unfamiliar surroundings and without her family around her 24 hours a day.
From my perspective I would love to get her into a hospital for a couple of weeks, let them monitor and administer all her medication, and let them see her go from completely normal to virtually unresponsive and back again. If a group of medical professionals could see this and believe it, instead of just sending her away with a regimen and telling her to come back in a month with results, then maybe they could do something about it. As it is, though, I don't know how to deal with it or get a diagnosis or treatment.
In some ways she does not even know how bad this is. I can attempt to explain how much of life she is not present for, but she actively avoids such conversations. The times that she is unconcious, disoriented or has memory lapses are all non-events for her. The rest of us have to live through these, take care of her, keep the family going, go to work and school, etc. and take care of her as an invalid at the same time. She comes out of these events and has little or no memory of them, and avoids/buries the knowledge that a week or so has disappeared from her life.
I have one theory, and I am trying to document enough to prove or disprove it. I think that these episodes may be a migrane symptom. She has had migranes in the past, but has not had a migrane headache per se in quite a while. I have noticed that I can often predict the onset of one of these episodes because she will go through a period of about 12-24 hours of hyperactivity (shopping, cleaning, making grandiose plans) and then she seems to "crash" and go into this comatose state for days. These episodes also seem to come one after the other in the summer and can be directly related to weather changes, particularly pressure drops preceeding storm systems. I have found some descriptions of the migrane "hangover" that seem quite similar to what she is experiencing, though probably not on the same scale.
Whatever this is it makes my life hell, and hers virtually non-existent, when its happening. I would appreciate any insight anyone may have, or any similar experiences.
Thanks
Your wife may be reacting to medications. Don't know the dose, or how long used. But I do know, anti-depressants, opiates can make a person feel severly fatigued.
My experience: I took Klonopin one time a night for sleep, on/off for 8 months, I was always tired, after I stopped the med completely, I became bedridden for months, at some points I wouldn't get out of bed for 6 day's straight, after 3 years of testing I was diagnosed with OSA, contributed by Klonopin w/d & damage (long story), if you would like details, refer to my journal or pm me.
Try contacting the National hotline or a local drug rehab center, they can provide lots of assistance and provide guidance.
But as of right now, you need to call an ambulance, and have her taken to the ER. Her condition sounds serious.
Hope she recovers soon. Good luck !
My experience: I took Klonopin one time a night for sleep, on/off for 8 months, I was always tired, after I stopped the med completely, I became bedridden for months, at some points I wouldn't get out of bed for 6 day's straight, after 3 years of testing I was diagnosed with OSA, contributed by Klonopin w/d & damage (long story), if you would like details, refer to my journal or pm me.
Try contacting the National hotline or a local drug rehab center, they can provide lots of assistance and provide guidance.
But as of right now, you need to call an ambulance, and have her taken to the ER. Her condition sounds serious.
Hope she recovers soon. Good luck !
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