How to Diagnose Hypersomnia

Hypersomnia is a sleep disorder that can adversely affect the quality of a person's life. A person is likely to feel tired a lot during the day and have a distinct lack of energy. Hypersomnia can cause a person to feel sleepy at the worst possible times, including at work and driving. Diagnosis of the condition will need to be made by a physician.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Speak to your doctor about your constant sleepiness. He can decide to diagnose you himself or send you a sleep specialist for further studies.
2. Relay your symptoms. If you have hypersomnia, you feel sleepy throughout the day and therefore have an overall lack of energy. Confusion is another common symptom of hypersomnia.
3. Give your doctor a detailed description of your sleep patterns. Sleep patterns will give the doctor an idea of whether you are suffering from hypersomnia or insomnia.
4. Let the doctor know if you are taking any new medications or suffering from emotional problems. These factors can be linked to the cause of hypersomnia.
5. Go through any testing that the doctor orders. If a doctor suspects that you have hypersomnia, he'll order sleep study tests. These include a polysomnography and an EEG. The results of these tests can give a more definitive hypersomnia diagnosis.

Tips & Warnings

• There are additional factors that can cause a person to suffer from hypersomnia. These include being overweight, narcolepsy, or drug and alcohol use.
• If you have a family member that suffers from hypersomnia, then you are more likely to have the condition.