I think I need to get diagnosed
I'm 21F and I've always been a fairly tired person. I currently work as a new grad in the operating room, but while I was in nursing school my friends quickly noticed how often I would nod off in class. Sometimes it wouldn't even be out of tiredness but my eyes would involuntarily close and I'd feel myself go in and out of being awake and asleep no matter how hard I've tried to fight it. When I started residency a couple months ago, my coworker who got hired at the same time as me also quickly noticed how often I would fall asleep while working on our computers. And now that I think back I now see that this has occurred a lot. When I was doing my prerequisites around 18-19 while taking notes I would nod off and I could see in my notes where I started to fall asleep. And before that when I was a freshman in high school I remember frequently falling asleep in class. I've realized this has become more of a problem now that I've started working. As a new grad I don't have much responsibility while I'm at work (much of is is watching my preceptor and absorbing information) however, when a case starts and we've completed most of our work, I sit on a stool and watch the the case. try not to use my phone or get distracted which does leave me staring into space half of the time, but before I know it I start nodding off involuntarily. My supervisor told me that people have noticed it and she brought it to my attention, she told me l wasn't in trouble or anything but now I'm concerned and embarrassed and want to work on it.
I don't think I fall into the criteria of narcolepsy or idiopathic hypersomnia because I don't experience the vivid dreams or loss of muscle function so I'm not sure what it is. I don't sleep for long hours at a time at night. I go to bed a 10:30pm and wake up at 5:25am. But when I take naps they are usually longer than 1 hour. I am cold all the time so it may be iron deficiency or thyroid related. However with my schedule I'm unable to go to the doctor because blood draws are required to be fasting and I start work at 6:30 in the morning 5 days a week and no doctors offices are open earlier than that. My parents are also the type who don’t like to disclose medical history. Like I recently found out that like half of my family have hypertension and take medication for it. They also stigmatize need to be on medication in general which doesn’t help
Any tips on staying awake at work are greatly appreciated because I would love to keep my job!!