Living with Idiopathic Hypersomnia
What has it been like living with idiopathic hypersomnia? I’ll explain as best as I can.
One of the first questions people ask me when I talk about idiopathic hypersomnia is, “what’s it like?” That’s a fair question. The first way I answer is, imagine sleeping for an entire night and feeling like you’ve gotten no rest at all. That’s the first “feeling” I experience when I wake in the morning.
Then, there’s that yawn that’s always trapped in the back of my throat. It’s waiting to come out. Always there. I can feel it right now as I write this explanation.
So, what do I do? I yawn to try to get rid of the feeling. What happens? It’s replaced with another yawn trapped in the back of my throat.
It’s a vicious cycle I battle throughout every single day.
After that? (Yes, there’s more.) Inside my body, I feel like I’m running a marathon while I’m standing still. I don’t know how else to explain the exhaustion and pain.
What I’ve found most interesting is that, when I talk about idiopathic hypersomnia, few people realize it has anything to do with pain. However, when your body is always fighting to stay awake, it’s painful. Every muscle in your body is struggling to help keep you awake. It starts in your…
