Hi all,

I (25F) was diagnosed with Idiopathic Hypersomnia over the summer and it took months to get my insurance to approve me for Modafanil. I got it, started taking it, and I fell right into the side-effect of severe depression within two days. Let my doctor know, stopped taking it, and she prescribed me Wellbutrin instead. I've been on Wellbutrin for a little over a week and it's helped with getting out of bed and staying awake -- truly an incredible feeling to feel normal and like I can actually start my day before noon and work a full-time job -- but then I noticed that I've been having heart palpitations that are abnormal and concerning. I messaged my doctor about this and she's now recommended that I try "non-medication approaches" including scheduled naps and bright light exposure. This sounds ridiculous and I can't help but feel so frustrated and sad and hopeless. I have an extensive history of getting bad side effects from all kinds of medication (I've gotten migraines, nausea, severe depression, memory loss, and other effects from meds that are regularly prescribed to people w/o concern) so I get why she doesn't want to prescribe me more after getting heart palpitations from an antidepressant. But there's no way I'm going to go ahead with scheduled naps and bright-light exposure. I have absolutely no interest in letting my job know I have a sleeping disorder and I know myself (and the nature of my sleeping disorder) well enough to know I'm not going to turn on a lamp to wake myself up in the mornings.

I feel so hopeless and like I'm never going to get out from under the sleepiness. It makes me feel like I'm never going to advance in my career or ever feel confident in myself. I almost wish I had never gotten a diagnosis since I was so hopeful there'd be something to help but maybe there isn't and this is just something I'll always be stuck with, and be asleep for most of my life.