Posted by dusty on July 09, 2009 at 13:42:47:Nearly every day for the past six months or so, I've been having the problem that I feel like I can't concentrate during the day. It's a distinct feeling that always comes on a few hours after I get out of bed, no matter how long I sleep (usu. 8 hours) or what time I get up (usu. 9 AM).
The problem is difficult to describe: it's like a brain fog mixed with slight physical exhaustion. I can't keep focused on my work, I have a hard time remembering words, I get slightly jittery, when I try to speak it feels more jumbled than it ought to be, and most disturbingly, I have an odd feeling of distance from what's happening around me. The only thing I can think to compare it to is when you pull an all-nighter, then when the following day rolls around you get a second wind and you're awake, but you're still not fully yourself.
When I get home from work I almost always feel like I have to take a nap, which is helpful if I can fall asleep for a few minutes. The strange thing is, the feeling typically subsides at around 9 or 10 in the evening, or later if I woke up later than usual. If I get more than 8 hours of sleep (such as during the weekend), I find that the accomanying sleepiness is less severe, but the jitteriness is worse.
I've pursued several means of diagnosis and treatment: first I went to a sleep specialist who started me off with a standard sleep study and then an MSLT (narcolepsy test). The only thing that was out of the ordinary for either test was that I tended to fall asleep more quickly than normal for daytime naps. My doctor called it 'idiopathic hypersomnia,' which is a fairly useless descriptor except to rule out other common sleep disorders. He had me go on Provigil for a while, but I stopped taking it after a couple of weeks because a) it didn't help and b) it made the jitteriness much worse. I went to my GP to see if she thought I should any other type of specialist, but instead she wrote a prescription for Wellbutrin, suspecting that the problem could be depression-related. I've been on this medicine for several months and it doesn't seem to be doing much of anything.
To give some background, I'm a 25 year old male and I'm in otherwise good health. I get regular exercise, have a decent diet, and get what should be enough sleep. As for the depression part, I probably do have some form of it, but it's never been severe for long enough that I've been compelled to talk to a doctor about it.
I should mention that this problem started when I got home from a vacation to Europe last winter. As a result of the time zone difference and a grueling set of return flights/layovers/delays, my sleep schedule was turbulent for the whole trip, to say the least. I don't know if this incident is the cause of the problem or if it just stirred some existing but dormant condition. Admittedly, I was a lot worse for the first few weeks after I got back, but since then my symptoms have leveled off.
Does anybody have any idea what this problem could be? I know my doctors had ideas for further courses of action, but I feel like it's going to be more of the same. I am at a loss.
Thanks to anybody who takes the time to read this, I greatly appreciate it.