My son, 17, very sleepy and drowsy, even though sleeps a lot

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My son has also had two seizure at 13 and since then takes 500mg of divalproex sodium at night and 250mg in the morning.

He has been very quiet and passive with very small voice. His muscle is also weak compared with the same age boys.
He doesn't like physical contacts and has no friend to contact outside of school. He also has no special interests, So he lives a quite isolated life, attends classes and stays in his room doing homework.
He never has caused any panic or disturbance. He got diagnosed quite late at the age of 13, just before his two seizure.

The problem is he has become more tired and sleepy recently, maybe from the last year, even though he sleeps 9 hours every day and 12 hours on Sunday.I have told by many of his teachers that he was dead asleep during classes. But he insists he doesn't sleep in classes. His voice is so small and he looked extremely tired all the time. His energy level is very low. He put on a lot of warm clothes.

He misses a lot of information, not only by listening but also on prints or on computer.
He used to be excellent in Math, but recently his math mark has also dropped significantly. But what I worry is his slow response, weak voice, lack of energy, no likening, no special interests and this daytime sleepiness.

I wonder what the cause of his extreme fatigue, lack of energy and sleepiness.

Does he have mini epilepsy? Side effects of his epilepsy medicine? Some other sickness? Depression? Or his Asperger?

Is there any good remedy to alleviate his condition?

Firstly, there's a chance could could be mixing up "Meltdown" and "Seizure" as it might be possible. Someone else should probably sort that out.

Social interaction tires us out, so a lot of us end up sleeping to regain the energy lost from it - it's one of the reasons so many Aspies have such a weird sleeping pattern.

The only way to fix it I can see would be to reduce the amount of social stress in his life; which could also very well be a solution to the math thing - the social aspects and our emotional stability level of the time greatly effect our cognitive abilities, so maybe the key part happens before his math class?

Lastly, it's said Aspies tend to be good at it - but that learning it in the first place is another issue. I've heard some say it's far limiting to the mind. Maybe see if there's a better way for him to get the information?

As for sleeping in-class - it could simply be putting his head down, as I do it a lot too. Not having to process visuals gives us more time to think and lowers social distress - It's the same reason we don't make eye contact (Theoretically, I know there are those who do)

I've heard that some others on the site tend to have dropped the drug-related stuff; maybe look into if it really helps?

You should take him to see a doctor about this.

Anti-seizure medication can also cause tiredness.

There's also a thing called a sleep hangover. It's where you sleep so much, you end up getting tired and wanting more sleep.

You really need to take him to the doc who prescribed the meds. He or she can tell you if the symptoms you are seeing are side-effects of the medication or an indication of something else all together. If it is a side-effect of the meds, perhaps you can talk to the doc about changing the dose or the type of medication. It sounds like his degree of lethargy is affecting his ability to function normally. I think in most situations, the doc would say this is not an acceptable trade-off. Epilepsy and other seizure disorders can be so tricky though since you must weigh the risk of seizures vs the side-effects of medication. Please take him to the doc as soon as you can.

Check the meds with the doctor and consider depression. Depakote can precipitate or worsen depression in some people, and the low voice, weakness and loss of special interests were how I showed depression at that age.

And, also consider an overload of overload. There's a paper I read that showed that if an ASD child was overloaded and given no way out they would become drowsy and eventually fall asleep (which resonated with my experience). I'll see if I can find a link to that paper (authors were Loos and Miller, IIRC).

Have you considered the possibility of narcolepsy.

The following is from a website on narcolepsy.


Narcolepsy symptoms usually first occur during ages 15 to 30.

The most common symptoms are:

Periods of extreme drowsiness during the day. You may feel a strong urge to sleep, often followed by a short nap (sleep attack).

These periods last for about 15 minutes each, although they can be longer.

They may happen after eating, while driving, talking to someone, or during other situations.

Most often, you wake up feeling refreshed.

Dream-like hallucinations between sleep and wakefulness. They involve seeing or hearing, and possibly other senses.

Sleep paralysis. This is when you cannot move as you start falling asleep or when you first wake up. It may last up to 15 minutes.

Cataplexy. This is a sudden loss of muscle tone while awake that makes you unable to move. Strong emotions, such as laughter or anger, can trigger this.

Most attacks last for less than 30 seconds and can be missed.

Your head will suddenly fall forward, your jaw will become slack, and your knees will buckle.

In severe cases, a person may fall and stay paralyzed for as long as several minutes.

Like Eureka-C says, I'd be considering narcolepsy. But, there are a lot of conditions that could be causing him to be sleepy. He could be anaemic, which is easily treated. Or he could have some other underlying condition. I'd really advise taking him to see the doc, for a thorough examination and blood tests.

So, it seems there are so many possibilities.

The only one we can dismiss is cataplexy, since he doesn't feel strong emotion.
If NT has 10 to minus 10 gage of emotion, he might have 1 to minus 5. Basically,
a little bit unhappy but not so terrible.

We start consulting our family doctor first, but to get her appointment takes 2 to 3 weeks.
His neuro specialist doctor soon retires and anyway recommended to change from children's hospital to an adult one. Our family doctor said she was going to contact to the new doctor at an adult hospital. Every process of getting medical service takes a long time in Canada.

Also cosider that he might have depression.I was the same wayin high school.The social aspect drained me and the bullying and isolation made me apathetic to most things in life.just my $0.02.Depression has a very high comorbidity with ASDs

I was the same way when I was 17. I had undiagnosed depression and I was tired all the time. There were other factors caused by my peers and school environment.

I think all the key things have been mentioned, so I'll just add that you should be careful to give the FULL story when you see the doctor. The thing is, it is quite normal for once active 12 year old's to seem like lumps as 15 year olds, because all the physical changes tire them out. But in your post, I saw something more than that, and you may need to emphasize the "more" with the doctor.

I don't believe you stated the current age of your son. From my personal experience, science and math classes became more difficult as I got progressed through school because of the limited light that was primarily fluorescent. Maybe its just a coincidence, but interior rooms and rooms with small windows were typically used for science/math. Also, the acoustics were awful with VERY hard synthetic tile floors that were very reverb/echoey. You should maybe interview all of his professors and see if you can get a better handle on what is going on. Don't forget that he is getting older and perhaps he's possibly being distracted by girls.
FWIW, All situations are unique, but personally I'm very anti-med. They add extra variables, especially for someone so young and developing.

consider thyroid problems too. there is much connection between thyroid and daytime sleepyness.

Thank you for all your advices and suggestions.

The epival medicine for epilepsy will be reduced by 125mg a day.(750 to 625mg)

He got blood tests and told it was OK.

I will be careful about the possibility of depression.
He will meet the psychologist and family doctor in late January again.

By the way, I had mentioned his age in title. He is 17 years old now.
So he has been seisure free for more than 4 years.

Merry Christmas and wishing wonderful holiday season to all Aspies and their families.