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What Causes Excessive Sleepiness In An Elderly Person?
Question: My husband is a 69 years old is in pretty good health. In 2005 he was in a petrochemical plant explosion and received back fractures & heal crushed & repaired. He has had quadruple bypass surgery and both carotid arteries a some years back. He sees a cardiologist twice a year. He does play golf approx. once a week. He takes meds for high blood pressure, cholesterol, blood thinning, chronic back pain, & anxiety. But I know something is wrong and not sure what. He sleeps about 7 hours at night, takes about 3 hour nap mid morning, 3 or 4 hour nap in afternoon. It seems like he is asleep most the time or talking about going a laying down. I afraid of what he is doing to his body by sleeping so much and he does now have a trimmer in his hands. I am wondering what type of doctor or test we have done?
Brief Answer:
Some thoughts on this:
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,
I have a few thought for what might be going on and what next steps to take:
1. If there have been any medication changes or dose changes prior to the onset of his increased need for sleep, in particular the pain or anxiety meds, consider looking into that.
2. Given his cardiac history, if he has not recently had a cardiac evaluation, consider returning to his cardiologist about these symptoms.
3. Does he snore or gasp during sleeping? If he is not getting quality sleep at night, it may be causing excessive daytime fatigue. A sleep study with a sleep specialist physician would be the next thing.
4. Consider getting a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) level and thyroxine level as thyroid problems can cause a lot of fatigue.
5. Consider getting a complete blood count (CBC) with "peripheral smear" to assess if he has an underlying infection, anemia, or other problem.
6. Depression can, in some people, make them want to sleep all the time. If this is something that you think may be a possibility or correlate with the onset of his symptoms, a psychiatrist can help with medications, and a counseling psychologist can help with dealing with depressing issues.
I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.
Some thoughts on this:
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,
I have a few thought for what might be going on and what next steps to take:
1. If there have been any medication changes or dose changes prior to the onset of his increased need for sleep, in particular the pain or anxiety meds, consider looking into that.
2. Given his cardiac history, if he has not recently had a cardiac evaluation, consider returning to his cardiologist about these symptoms.
3. Does he snore or gasp during sleeping? If he is not getting quality sleep at night, it may be causing excessive daytime fatigue. A sleep study with a sleep specialist physician would be the next thing.
4. Consider getting a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) level and thyroxine level as thyroid problems can cause a lot of fatigue.
5. Consider getting a complete blood count (CBC) with "peripheral smear" to assess if he has an underlying infection, anemia, or other problem.
6. Depression can, in some people, make them want to sleep all the time. If this is something that you think may be a possibility or correlate with the onset of his symptoms, a psychiatrist can help with medications, and a counseling psychologist can help with dealing with depressing issues.
I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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