Doctors Answers (5)
I'm sorry about your husband.
You could have multiple reasons for sleepiness: sleep deprivation, obstructive sleep apnea, situational depression, or a multitude of other reasons.
I'm sorry to give such general advice, but I recommend talking with your primary health provider about your recent and long term history.
You say that on two days a week you sleep from 10 in the morning until 8 the next morning. Maybe you meant to say you slept from 10 PM until 8 AM. Regardless, you are most likely sleep deprived. We are generally born with how much sleep we need. Some need 6 hours and others need 10 hours. Your current situation, with your husband in the hospital, obviously interferes with both your time to sleep and the stress which may prevent a good night's sleep. There are many other factors such as what your sleep pattern is during the nights you sleep for six hours. Six hours of good sleep is better than 10 hours of bad sleep. You may benefit from a short acting sleep aide or, if a sleep study reveals that you are deficient in the restorative stages of sleep, there are medications which can enhance these stages.(Both deep Stage 3 sleep and REM sleep).
Thank you for your questions. Even though it seems impossible, it is always best to try to have a regular bedtime and awakening schedule. Awakening un-refreshed and frequent awakenings during the night are typically related to a sleep disorder that disrupts your sleep. Please feel free to contact me.
Excessive daytime sleepiness is usually a result of inadequate sleep- either short sleep (less than 6-7 hours per night) or so called fragmented sleep where you do not go through normal sleep cycle (this may be related to breathing problems in sleep among other causes). It may be also related to use of certain medications that can cause sedation. The best approach is to start either with sleep specialist consultation or directly go through overnight sleep test to decide on the best treatment plan.
There are a number of possibilities. For starters, on week days you are not getting the 8 hours your body needs. On the week ends this is better. Also your number of awakenings are abnormal making me question the quality of your sleep. Consider the symptoms for sleep apnea and if they fit what you are experiencing.
