We’ve been spending the evening trying to diagnose Mr. Yenta, and by “we” I mean my sister and me. Mr. Yenta is asleep, and is likely to stay that way for some time. That’s the problem. As I’ve mentioned before, Mr. Yenta has a number of things wrong with him. Physical things, I mean. This is not a critique of a husband. There’s Type I Diabetes with related complications including an unusually bad case of neuropathy. To complicate matters he lost a kidney to cancer and has phlebitis. Naturally this all involves a lot of different medications and getting to the cause of something new can be complicated. Which is why we’re working on the diagnosis ourselves. Doctors have done tests and not found anything that explains it yet. But he sleeps. And when I say sleeps I mean he sleeps deeply for a couple of days at a time. Sometimes more. He gets up only to answer nature’s call and when I wake him for meals. In between these bouts he’s reasonably energetic, busy and – well – normal. But this episodes have been getting more frequent and lasting longer since right after the holidays. They usually come right before or after a painful bout of neuropathy, so I’m assuming it’s related, but since it can be before or after it’s probably a little complicated.
This is completely contrary to his normal nature. He’s been an early riser since we’ve been married. Sure he might take an afternoon nap or fall asleep earlier than he plans in the evening, but this is a whole different thing. The closest we’ve really come is finding a rare syndrome that normally affects adolescent boys. Of course we have to go back to the doctor and probably get a new referral to a neurologist for this, but being sure he’ll be awake to keep an appointment is a challenge. I mean, once this takes hold, he cannot be moved.
So that’s a lot of what’s been keeping us busy of late. Sleeping.
I have to be gone for a while today.. but I will do some checking with some of my resources and see if I can find something.. It sounds like a form of Narcolepsy of some kind. But, that's just a guess off the top of my head..
ReplyDeleteI hope you can come up with something, or the doctor/doctors can. I have never heard of someone sleeping for days at a time. This seems very strange and very troubling.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about all of this. Please consider checking in with a cardiologist.
ReplyDeleteLooking at my post, I didn't mean to be so blunt. It sounds like he's suffering from chronic fatigue, which is often a symptom of something else.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate it K. Actually, I can see where it does sound like congestive heart failure. It's possible and you're right. He should see a cardiologist. His PCP does keep a close watch on his heart, though, because of the diabetes, and so far all tests on that have been good. This always comes right before or right after a terribly painful period with his neuropathy, so I'm betting on the central nervous system or something odd relating to that. However, I'm not a doctor and you're right. We need to be sure.
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