Excessive daytime sleepiness treatments include self care at home as well as medical therapies as prescribed by a doctor.
Go to a Doctor First for Evaluation
Before anyone can begin to choose the best treatment for their excessive sleepiness, they need to head to their doctor for examination. Ideally, you should also keep a journal of how you have been feeling and how much you sleep each day. This will give your doctor a broader picture of what your daytime sleepiness looks like. Try to keep track of foods and drinks which seem to keep you awake or whether there are any remedies which help you to stay away for extended periods of time. You might also find that your doctor thinks you have an underlying medical condition which might need treatment. In those cases, you might have to undergo a long list of tests to find out exactly what the problem may be.
Some medications have also been approved to treat EDS:
- Modafinil
- Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid
- Ritalin
- Adderall
- Cylert
- desoxyn
Self Care at Home
You can begin to manage EDS at home by trying to get as much sleep as possible at night, without interfering with your work life or your home life. Maybe sure that you are sleeping in a room which is comfortable and cool, as well as adhering to a basic sleep routine. This will allow your body to know that this is the time to sleep, rather than during the day. You might also find that medications like melatonin can help you reset your sleep schedule to something more normal and restful. Sometimes Excessive Daytime Sleepiness is a genetic disorder which might simply need to be managed instead of treated.
Treating Underlying Disorders
If you have a medical condition which is causing your sleepiness, your doctor can work with you to ensure that you are getting the treatment you need. You might also be on a medication which causes you to be too sleepy, so you might want to try a different drug or you might want to take a lower dose, depending on what your doctor thinks you should do. In some cases when a doctor is stumped, you might be asked to sleep in a sleep lab for a few days to see whether there is something happening when you are actually in bed.