just cant stay awake. Any ideas?

This seems to have started about the time I moved back to my beach side apt,2 weeks ago. At 1st I thought the move just did me in but this is way more then that.

I'm sleeping 16 hrs out of 24. When I am awake my eyes burn just like I've been awake for too long. I'm not able to read or watch TV without falling asleep ten minutes later.

Its as if I'm drugged or something and just can't keep my eyes open. Its really starting to worry me.

No Med changes,same dose of methadone for 2 yrs,no changes in lyrica or anything.

I have no other symptoms really other then some shortness of breath but have COPD and the amount of downtime would cause those problems as well as stiffness from my arthritis and lack of doing anything more then lying in bed all day.

I can only recall one other time I slept like this,was in ICU for low potassium levels and they wouldn't move me out to the floor because they couldn't keep me awake.

They assumed it was the IV morphine they were giving me now I'm not so sure. Feels the same.

I truly fight to stay awake but usually just wake up hours later with my reading glasses in my lap along with whatever I was doing at the time.

My daughter says I'm really hard to awaken too.

Anyone have a clue?

Vickie, I would get into the dr ASAP. You have COPD & some shortness of breath you say, sounds like you are having some issues with that. When my oxygen level drops I either fall asleep or pass out, depending on how low I am.

Vickie, I know I have brain fog, some times its really bad, lol. I noticed you joined in 2008 and I honestly do not remember you being here, but like I say, brain fog is my friend, were you on one of the the other forums here at HW?

Take care.....Susie

Thanks all. I'm just mystified or maybe more baffled as it came on so suddenly. Like I said I had just moved back to the beach side apt and when I say that I mean like 200 yds from the deck. Never caused problems in the past but I did notice its kind of mildewy from being closed up for months.

I thought about mold but couldn't see it making me sleep. Yes I've had blood twice for anemia but both times it was from placental abruptions.

I take B12 but not a vit of any sorts. I feel some better today and actually have only been asleep once for an hour. I did eat some fruit this morning and had only 1 cup of coffee and made my tea with about half the sugar. I was reading an article that said sugar and caffeine worked at higher amounts to cause lethargy.

I did have gestational diabetes with my last 2 pregnancys and never was tested after. Possible there is a family history.

Anyway if it gets worse or no better I will have it checked out.

Susie to answer your question, probably not brain fog. I joined HW at a difficult time amid all my 6 surgeries in 2 years,raising 5kids and trying to accept that everything that defined me was over. I would never again work,nursing was not my job it had always been who I was not what.

I had tried to go back to school so maybe I could teach,my hearing loss at that point was too great. I lurked a lot in those early days and most of the time in the headache forum as I was not resigned yet that the rest of my life was going to be filled with chronic pain.

I did eventually drop in and out here,posting some but mostly taking. PAlady,chutz,and yes you were all changing lives without even knowing it. I even think Michael was here but went by something else., Whitebeard and many more. I recall reading and learning.

That's why I say so many times that the advice and support we give the few who post is nowhere near the many we reach who don't.

I will be forever grateful for the many of you who drug me thru a most difficult time and brought me here full circle.

Well, if I can't remember sometimes from one hour to the next, I am sure much of 2008 is a blur for me, lol. I do miss Chutz & wish we would hear from her once in a while. I am guessing she got burned out, she had this forum pretty much by herself and did such a wonderful job. She devoted a great deal of her time here every day, so I would be surprised if she wasn't burned out.

Another thing I thought about with the breathing is humidity, you mentioned moving to the beach.

And before I forget again, congrats on becoming a mod. There is very little to it except catching the spammers, lol.

Let us know if you get in to see your dr.........Susie

I've been in similar situations and am sorta' in one now so my advice would be, increase your potassium intake. Maybe there's something emotional that causes you to doze off like that. My therapist said (when I told her I was either sleeping a lot or not sleeping at all) that over sleeping can be a mechanism of avoidance to life if that makes sense.

Of course, always consult your doctor about these things. Even though there has been no change in medication, there could be a change in your body that causes the medications to act differently. I hope this helps.

Good luck to you.

- Rainy/DD

I'm on nowhere near as many opiates as you however I go through phases like this with my oxycodone where it'll knock me out and all I can do is sleep. There are hormonal changes which happen with long term opiate use so it's possible it is down to these.

As for supplements, I was going to suggest a few we're all deficient in however I'd be careful if you're taking potassium as you don't want to mess with the levels of that. I'd consult your doctor before taking any extra vitamins or minerals.

I'd definitely see your doctor to rule out anything sinister but it's worth remembering that morphine can easily do this to you and from personal experience you can go through phases of fatigue with these kinds of meds.

Hi Vicky, I am very new to this, but I can remember a few years back, that I went to sleep sitting up, at the table, just anywhere ! It was terrible. One day, I was driving and went to sleep & hit about 10 mail boxes. I was awake then. I made an appointment with my dr. & she said "its the lyrica". She switched me to gabapentin & it the sleepiness stopped right then. See your dr. Good luck

Both Zantac and methadone list drowsiness as SEs in "Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses, 5th Ed. My wife is Dxed with ADHD and is Rxed dextroamphetamine for it. She's also Dxed with myriad CP issues and is Rxed methadone. The dextro really helps with the drowsiness . . . Q