Sleeping Disorders (Home) > Sleepings Basics > Idiopathic Hypersomnia
Idiopathic Hypersomnia: Reasons and Features
Idiopathic Hypersomnia Apparently a new condition just classified for those of us who just either need more sleep or are just sleepy a lot. People with the alpha delta abnormality seen in CFS & FM would fall into this category. Interesting reading by the Columbus Community Hospital Regional Sleep Disorder Center Accredited by the American Sleep Disorders Association.
One could be chronically sleepy for the following reasons
- There is something wrong with sleep that makes it non-refreshing.
- There is a problem with the brain mechanisms which normally should keep one alert (whether caused by primary problems within the brain or its chemistry, or by other factors such as sedating medications or thyroid problems).
The most common causes of severe sleepiness beginning or progressively worsening in adults are Sleep Apnea and Related Breathing Disorders During Sleep.
If the problem instead is a primary disorder of brain chemistry, Narcolepsy is the leading diagnosis. As outlined elsewhere on this web site, people with narcolepsy are diagnosed either by a clear-cut history of their having had cataplexy, or via their demonstrating REM sleep in two or more daytime naps on a Multiple Sleep Latency Test.
Idiopathic CNS hypersomnia (or hypersomnolence. as it has been called) is a diagnosis applied to people who are excessively sleepy--but not because there is anything apparently wrong with their sleep, and not because of narcolepsy or any other identifiable cause.
It is basically a diagnosis of exclusion made by excluding all other possible diagnoses.
- Idiopathic is a more dignified way of saying that we don't know exactly what causes the problem.
- Hypersomnia is not the commonest diagnosis...but it is not rarely made, either.
- Hypersomnia does not appear to be one single entity. Various abnormalities of brain chemistry have been suggested in studies of such patients or suspected as being potential causes.
The brain is complex to the point that there would be many different possible ways to impair alertness.
Features of patients diagnosed with Idiopathic Hypersomnia
- People given this diagnosis are likely to sleep for long periods of time without feeling refreshed. They often do not feel any better after taking naps. It has been said that a history of not feeling refreshed after sleep will reliably differentiate sleep apnea and hypersomnia from narcolepsy, but I personally don't believe it. I have a number of patients with definite narcolepsy who find naps unrefreshing, and who also wake up feeling groggy and exhausted in the morning.
- People with idiopathic CNS hypersomnia often have family histories of this same sort of problem, of true narcolepsy or of both entities. Not infrequently, hypersomnia seems hereditary.
- For the most part, patients diagnosed as having hypersomnia report that their sleepiness began late in childhood, during their teen years, or in their early twenties.
Hypersomnolence resembles Narcolepsy in its typical age of onset.
For this reason, I am hesitant to make this diagnosis in people who develop sleepiness later in life. There is a greater possibility that people with late onset of sleepiness instead suffer from a specific underlying cause: one that should be identified and managed with specific treatment. They deserve a thorough evaluation.
Bookmark This Page: Add to Favorites | Add to Del.icio.us | Send to a Friend
VISITOR COMMENTS on "Idiopathic Hypersomnia: Reasons and Features":
 |
More Articles |
 |
| 1. Sleep Disorders Sleep Disorders Obstructive Sleep Apnea Sleep apnea means episodes of cessation of breathing during night time sleep that can occur as often as several hundred times in a [...] |
||
| 2. School Age Children Problems School Age Children Problems School-aged children still need somewhere between 9 and 12 hours of sleep at night. At this age, kids usually start a [...] |
||
| 3. Nocturnal Myoclonus: Unusual Movement during Sleep Nocturnal Myoclonus: Unusual Movement during Sleep Just before some people fall asleep, they experience an uncomfortable, but not always painful, sensation deep in the thigh, calf, or feet. [...] |
||
| 4. Know About Night Waking Know About Night Waking Infants and night waking Does everyone always ask you: ”So, is your baby sleeping through the night yet?” Sleep is often [...] |
||
|
Recent Searches increased |
Recent
Newborns and Infants
Sleep Problems of Children
Problems for Seniors Causes
Excessive Sleepiness Causes
Sleep and Aging Diery
Child Resists to Sleep
Nocturnal Myoclonus
Night Waking
Narcolepsy Diagnosis
Know about How Babies Sleep
Random
Night Waking
Insomnia
Hard to Get in Morning
Sleep and Aging Diery
Excessive Sleepiness Causes
Idiopathic Hypersomnia
Ideal Sleep Time
Sleep Problems of Children
Newborns and Infants
Problems for Seniors Causes
How Long to Sleep
Nocturnal Myoclonus
Parasomnia Tests
Happens During Sleep
Help for Sleep Disorders
Teach Child Good Sleep Habits
Dreams Psychology
Know about How Babies Sleep
Sleep Apnea
ALL
