DP keeps falling asleep.....what could it be??

[zephyrcat]

He's been doing it for a while now. He works very hard which makes him tired but when he's home at the weekends, if he sits still for long enough he'll fall aseep. It's driving me mad because the kids don't see him all week then he spends the weekend asleep!! He went for bloods about 2 years ago which showed nothing obviously wrong although he was warned he could become diabetic in the future. We were talking about it yesterday and what could be causing it and as soon as we stopped talking he was gone again!

Does anyone have any experience of this or clues as to what it could be??

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The first thing that springs to my mind is underactive thyroid, although diabetes could do that too. Would be worth sending him back for some more blood tests, I think.

could be overactive thyroid too.... I have this and it makes me exhausted although it seems more common to assume tiredness is related just to an underactive one. Other things may be present with this though... losing/gaining weight, shakes etc.

nope but Id get him to the doctors - maybe needs a pep

sleep apnoea maybe? does he snore? sometimes they stop brathing for a couple of secs in the night, and it means the sleep is constantly interrupted, and so fall asleep a lot in th day.
my dad does this.

Hmm - I remember him telling me that his Mum has a thyroid problem and had violent mood swings when he was little but I can't remember if she is underactive or overactive. I did think for a while that it was a culmination of depression/stress/lack of exercise etc but he's picked himself up a bit and now does a very physical job. He does do ridiculous hours - leaves by 5.30 am and sometimes not home until 8pm

I also wondered about sleep apnoea. He snores an awful lot...which makes me tired too!!

My dh falls asleep lots too - hence MN evenings for company. He recently went to GP and they thought he might have overactive thyroid but turns out its high blood pressure - which, amongst other things, can also make you tired.

Hi Zephyrcat - I seem to have the same probs my dp works very hard but he can not help falling alseep at any given chance he has, i am now beginning to think there is more too it & so is he, he hardly gets to see our kids is well its such a bummer thought because i get sooo bored when he is busy sleeping.

zephyrcat, my dh has just been diagnosed with sleep apnoea. Loud snoring and falling asleep frequently are classic signs and it's well worth him getting a referral for a sleep study. Be aware, though, there tends to be a long waiting list so it can take some time to reach a diagnosis.

Does he stop breathing in the night? It's most common in men from their thirties onwards who are overweight. If he's drinking quite a lot of an evening it's worth cutting down on this too as it affects the quality of sleep (not much fun though, esp if he is working hard).

Depending on how much this is an issue for you, and whether you can afford it of course, it's possible to have a sleep study done privately, my local Bupa hospital charges £350 for it. Obviously your GP can advise better on whether this is the most likely cause or whether following up with more blood tests etc. is worthwhile.

Sorry I suddenly realised I had to take dd to school and wasn't ready!!

I'm not sure about the stopping breathing in the night although I'm 99% certain there's been once or twice when I've gone to bed later and he's been snoring then stopped and I've looked at him for a couple of seconds waiting for him to breathe, but then he has and It's gone out of my mind. He doesn't drink at all but is about 3-4 stone overweight and is 41 so it could be a likely thing. I'm just having a trawl through some sites to find some info....

He does need to go to the docs though doesn't he? I keep telling him but he's always got an excuse not to!