Sleep Disorder

[whimsically.aberrant]

I've always been a sleepy person. From the normal teenaged antics to today. I've never considered it very problematic. My boyfriend recently demanded I go to a dr about my sleep problems. I sleep for long hours but usually quite interrupted sleep. I'm exhausted all the time; I forget to do basic things. But some of the most disturbing things are the dreams. Some are crazy vivid, some I can't remember once I wake up but I KNOW I was just dreaming something (usually terrifying). I'm not always able to tell whether something really happened or if I was asleep. I've begun to fall asleep... anywhere. I've always napped at parties but recently I've noticed more falling asleep on buses, during exams, during sex, while standing up, in malls etc. I did a sleep test, my sleep efficiency came back low at 71% and I didn't have any significant apneas. Truthfully that's mostly all I can remember from the consultation with the doc. I was tired. He mentioned hypersomnia and gave me an Rx for Modafinil (Provigil) 400mg a day. I'm just confused and getting hold of the doc is proving to be very difficult. I've been reading online that Hypersomnia is a diagnosis of exclusion. Is there something else my dr should be doing? Or I should be doing? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

[MG (Admin)]

How many hours of sleep do you get?
Please post the full results of the sleep study (polysomnography and MSLT if tested)
You may be interested in this page about narcolepsy

[whimsically.aberrant]

These are the results of my polysomnogram. No MSLT was done.

Total Sleep Time/ Time Available for Sleep: 302/420.5
Wakefulness after sleep onset- 105 minutes
Stage 1 - 25 minutes / 8.4%
Stage 2 - 174.5 minutes / 57.8%
Stage 3 - 35.5 minutes / 11.8%
REM - 66.5 minutes / 22%
Sleep efficiency: 71.8%

Sleep Onset Latency: 13.5 minutes
Stage REM Latency: 61.5 minutes
Sleep Stage Shifts: 126
Number of Awakenings: 18

Respiratory Events
AHI/hr 3.4
RDI/hr 9.1
My oxygen levels never dropped below 90%

Arousal Summary
ARO RES 28
ARO Limb 10
ARO SPONT 24
for a total of 62 or 12.3 per hour

The report I received said that everything was normal with a "slight elevation in cortical arousals at 12 an hour. Events were a mixture of respiratory arousals, spontaneous arousals and PLM arousals. Apnea hypopnea index was minimal at 3 events an hour. Minimal non significant PLM episodes." He includes that "other possible differential diagnosis will be considered". But I won't see him until February.

I usually get around 11-12 hours of sleep a night with several naps during the day. This naps are from 20 minutes to 3 hours depending on fatigue. At this point I'm wandering around in a brain fog. I write notes to myself to remember basic things. I'm 24.

Is there anything I can be doing (besides the basic sleep hygiene and Modafinil)?