Idiopathic Hypersomnia (IH) is a chronic neurological condition that typically begins in adolescence or young adulthood. Night-time sleep can encompass 10 to 11 hours, yet once up, multiple naps are still desired with no amount of sleep providing relief. Patients find it difficult to awaken from both night-time sleep and naps typically experiencing “sleep drunkenness”. This is a prolonged and pronounced period that is more extreme than normal sleep inertia. Another symptom of IH is cognitive dysfunction. Memory difficulties, such as one’s mind going blank, and attention problems are common. IH can have serious consequences, such as missed work/school, poor performance, or automobile accidents caused by drowsy driving. The cause of IH is not known, and there are no biomarkers to date, which can make diagnosis challenging.
Some IH diagnostic criteria include sleeping 11+ hours per 24 hour period, experiencing unrefreshing naps and sleep inertia for 3 or more months.
Have you ever diagnosed a patient with IH or had a patient you referred diagnosed with it? How do you determine if a patient’s poor sleep habits might be indicative of a sleep disorder that needs to be treated pharmacologically?
References
- Trotti, Lynn Marie. “Idiopathic Hypersomnia.” Sleep medicine clinics vol. 12,3 (2017): 331-344. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5558858/?report=reader
- “About Idiopathic Hypersomnia” Hypersomnia Foundation, Published March 18, 2020, Revised February 27, 2022. https://www.hypersomniafoundation.org/ih/
