Can anyone help?
I’m 19, about to turn 20. This started when I was around 18 and has gradually gotten worse. I’m very active/fit, around 11% body fat, and usually sleep about 9 hours a night. I don’t normally nap.
It’s hard to remember exactly what I felt like when this first started, but initially I described it almost like dissociation / constantly feeling out of it. More recently, the biggest thing I notice is that I am sleepy and mentally foggy all the time, even after sleeping plenty.
My main symptoms are:
Constant tiredness/daytime sleepiness
Zoning out very easily
Bad memory and recall
can’t bring myself to do things
Forgetfulness
Doing things on “autopilot”
Getting lost in my thoughts while doing something and then suddenly realizing I’ve continued doing the action without really paying attention
Generally feeling mentally “out of it”
(examples for context:
I walked into the locker room specifically to weigh myself. While I was standing on the scale I got a phone call, stepped off, and started walking away. A few seconds later I realized I never even looked at the number.
Another time I was washing my face and repeatedly scooping water and splashing it on my face. I started thinking about a show I had watched earlier and then suddenly realized I was still washing my face. I couldn’t tell how long I had been doing it.)
What I’ve had checked
I first went to a doctor and had bloodwork done. I was told everything looked normal and was diagnosed with ADHD. I tried short-acting Adderall. It didn’t make me suddenly feel amazing or euphoric — the best way I can describe it is I felt like myself, but on Adderall. It helped me function, but it didn’t answer why I feel so bad normally. I also don’t want the solution to just be taking a stimulant every school/work day while feeling terrible whenever I don’t take it.
A few months later I saw another doctor took bupropion for 30 days, felt no difference, and had another pretty extensive set of labs done. Again, nothing obvious showed up.
Recent results included:
TSH: 1.63
Free T4: 1.4
Vitamin D: 42
B12: 983
Folate: 16.5
Ferritin: 81
Iron: 95
Iron saturation: 29%
Hemoglobin: 15.5
A1c: 5.6%
Fasting glucose: 86
Total testosterone: 390 ng/dL
Free testosterone: 63.4 pg/mL
CBC/CMP were basically normal as well.
I also did a home sleep study, which diagnosed mild obstructive sleep apnea. My AHI was 5.3, RDI 9.6, average oxygen saturation 94%, and minimum oxygen was 89%.
I went to an ENT afterward and was told my airway/anatomy looked fine.
I tried CPAP for about two weeks. I didn’t notice any improvement in how I felt during the day. If anything my actual sleep felt worse because the mask/CPAP kept waking me up, so I eventually stopped using it.
Please Any help or ideas are appreciated, thank you very much 🙏