how to deal with debilitating sleepiness?

[bops_mama]

In the past 6 months I have had to take a nap every single day. And the tiredness hits me so quickly ...I feel like I get so little done during the day and it is just.......depressing I have a toddler and we wake up at 8ish and then nap at around 1ish for at least a half hour then we stay up and go back to bed at around 10pm.....that is my life and I want to get more out of it

My husband doesn't seem to understand and tells me to just get up and drink coffee or take a 5hr energy ......it is so irritating and if I could lessen it I would the caffeine doesn't seem to have a whole lot of an affect on me.

My question is: for people that deal with this...what helps make it less debilitating? I want to live he most "normal" life possible for as long as possible......I feel lazy and like I should be doing more.. its just so hard and I hare being so tired all the time i also feel like if I didn't sleep so much I'd get so much more time with my daughter and hubby...

[Thinkimjob]

You sound as though you're doing pretty well, to me.
There is nothing wrong with a nap. Whole countries have siestas!
No doubt people will recommend Ritalin.

[WillyNilly]

I'm just curious if hubby has ever spent a couple of weeks as the sole caregiver to a toddler? Until it's something he's done day in and day out (for more than a day or two), no he won't understand.
If your exhaustion is truly debilitating you NEED to make sure to explain to your doctors just how debilitating it is, they may be able to help.
Alot of times you'll find that parents of older kids tend to forget how exhausting the little ones can be too, so parents of older kids might not be the ones to talk to about it. I think I only remember because of more recent experience with grands- and believe me, if gson is here for more than a couple of hours and asks for a video and blanky? I lay down with him or have him crawl into my chair to nap with him!
I really think you should talk with your dr's and find out if this is "normal" toddler/mommy exhaustion (which is VERY REAL and much worse for some people) or more to do with your other issues, one thing that will surely be suggested is "depression" which is also very common with parents of young children, they DO change everything about who we thought we were pre-parent.
Let us know how you're doing?

[BigA]

Have patience with your husband He may be expressing his own difficulties with your disease. But you do need to be firm.

Before diagnosis, my wife would get upset when I napped. Something in her felt very frustrated with seeing me in bed in daytime (ah, what a wonderful pleasure) or before her at night.

After diagnosis... little changed. She had a problem. The trick for me was giving up the idea of getting her to understand and just declaring quite clearly that I will rest when i need it and she is not to wake me unless the bed is on fire.

That did the trick, somehow. Sometimes, I think we don't know ourselves well enough to know why something upsets or offends us. In my case, I didn't have the time to wait for her to figure it out. I just defined the rule, not the feeling and she seems to understand it now.