# Sleeping away stress and constant drowsiness



## SilentScream (Mar 31, 2011)

The last few weeks, I find myself extremely tired and unable to function at all. My mind is seizing up right before me. My thoughts are a lot more scattered and my brain seems unable to seize real life opportunities or even analyse them. 

Everything about my world is slowly converging to a transfixation with my inner-self, seeking inner-peace and rejecting everything that would disturb the inner-peace even in the slightest. 

I'm a long-term sufferer of untreated PTSD and emotional abuse that stemmed out of a crippling accident and an emotionally and physically unhealthy marriage (almost 9 years). Recently, I have not been able to make any rational decisions about myself, my present and my future, because everything seems to be collapsing inward. I have suffered in the past, have been under extreme stress before but was able to manage it without shutting down like this. 

Up until last month or so, I was able to deal with the stresses and the traumas a lot better - still managed to function in life the way I needed to in order to survive. But lately, I don't want to leave the comfort of my home and my immediate surroundings. Anything new is greeted with caution and fear. At the same time, my mind seems to shut down a lot, and a lot more frequently than it used to.

By shutting down, I'm referring to wanting to sleep away the stress. Even as I type this, it's the middle of the day, and I can't concentrate properly. There's a constant nagging drowsiness even though I slept a good 16 hours yesterday. I can't function at my job because of this, and I'm getting thoughts of quitting. And doing so without even talking about it in a professional manner - kinda like wanting to fall into a deep sleep and reviving only when everything is taken care of.

The only reasonable way forward seems one of complete and utter escape, introspection and seeking professional help. I want to run away and escape reality. I know this is not normal behaviour and it's never happened to me before. I'm not on any medication whatsoever, and I don't even take pain-killers for my knee pain.

One sort of corelation I can think of that could be unrelated to emotional stress is that I've been on a heavy diet for over 2.5 months and have lost around 12kg. But I've done in the past as well without any signs of weakness and fatigue. It's not something I'm considering as a cause of this. 

The only thing that comes to my mind is that I feel the need to escape my current situation and put myself in a temporary exile from the real world. I don't know how helpful that would be. It's definitely unproductive - but I've almost convinced myself that that's best course of action.


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## Siggy (May 25, 2009)

Time to seek some help ASAP; a psychiatrist, a psychologist. None of this sounds good and untreated PTSD only gets worse. Take the first step, make a phone call.


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## Khar (May 21, 2011)

The heavy diet could be making things worse, but it's only exacerbating an incredibly severe underlying issue. I'd increase the amount of carbohydrates and vitamins you are taking in, especially anything with a good amount of Vitamin B in it -- many foods, including cereals, now have a good dosing of that in it. 

The first thing I wanted to mention otherwise is, although this is the advice forum, none of us are doctors. *Your first and foremost action should be to immediately contact a doctor, even if this requires you to have a family member or a friend take you there. If there is anything untreated, it should be getting treated.* None of us are medical experts with an MD sitting on our wall, so the best course of action is seeing someone who does. I know for most people this sounds like nothing much, but in your situation, this is a lot to handle -- when I saw the doctor, it took me two weeks to muster the will to do it, and she was about five blocks away. Don't wait two weeks. 

*The rest of this post is simply a discussion on the symptoms and potential treatments which may be suggested -- the salient point is bolded, in red, and the only piece of advice you need at this time, which is why it is identical to @Dear Sigmund is saying. If anyone is uninterested in reading, I am doing this only as further commentary for those potentially interested. *

These symptoms are largely consistent with PTSD. They could also be the beginnings of a secondary (derived thereof) depressive state. I am not sure where the line is drawn between avoidance and social withdrawl, but I do know there are connections between PTSD and depression. 

From memory, this does sound similar to both PTSD and depression, which sometimes comes along following PTSD episodes if memory serves me right -- I am sure going untreated is a risk factor for development of such problems. In fact, it correlates exactly with my depressive state, before I eventually went on anti-depressants. I've also gone through a similar situation to PTSD called PCS, or post concussive syndrome. Some experts insist it is actually PTSD, and is not a different thing at all, but it is brought about my a concussion and has after-effects similar to that of PTSD. From the sounds of things, this has possibly begun to deteriorate and could continue to get worse. I speak from experience that if you don't do something about it, it will get worse -- I don't even remember a good portion of a year, just a long streak of being in this sort of situation. 

I think it's a foregone conclusion that the one and only thing we can recommend is going to see a doctor. Do not hold back on any specifics. Be clear, make sure all symptoms and problems are in the open, and be sure to note how long term this is. Remember to note your diet. He may want to put you on vitamin supplements, or over the counter pills to help remediate some of the problems, and that is a cheap and effective way of helping, but it won't be his base treatment. 

When I sought treatment for my PCS, there were several avenues open to me. Luckily, at the time, sleep correction worked for me. Simply getting rid of anything electronic in my bedroom and setting a schedule helped. However, I knew I was having problems again when that no longer worked, and it was some time before I admitted I had a problem -- and months before I actually began treatment for depression, when that popped up some time later. You are well into the point where sleep correction did diddly for me -- since I was already nocturnal, and sleeping most of the day away at the time. 

The other avenues are psychotherapy (seeing a psychiatrist or professional can help a ton, they often aren't as people expect) or antidepressants. I have talked about antidepressants a fair amount on the site before, and can link you to a few previous discussions, if interested. In cases of PTSD, most often they use SSRIs (what I currently use for depression) to help alleviate these problems. The efficacy is fair, and while there are sometimes side effects, usually working with a doctor can get you to the right drug with the right dosage fairly quickly. There are various other treatments that they may prefer or try, like beta blockers. Regardless, *you should seek help immediately*. 

If you have untreated PTSD, you should be seeking treatment for that already. That you could be developing secondary problems only increases the severity.


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