Asymmetrical Information

You were Roofied! Were you hanging out with Julian?

Based purely on the information you have given, withnail's hypothesis is the simplest fitting all of the data.

Everyone we know appears to be sick. I don't seem to have got whatever's going around, but that may be a sign you're either coming down with it or fighting it off.

And please, this business about roofies would only make sense if there were someone who didn't want to sleep with me. Let's keep our speculation moored in reality, shall we?

... I just slept for over eighteen hours, with a couple of twenty minute breaks for checking email and drinking water. Is that really weird? Because I could totally go back to sleep right now....

How does that make you different than the typical teenager? Or me, now that I think about it...

Yes, but we fucking won, didn't we? And isn't that what matters?

Narcolepsy?

You're going to die.

(OK, not for several decades, but still...)

Food poisoning. Where have you eaten recently? Oh, wait.

Isn't that a symptom of Ebola?

(why do you even bother asking us, you know what kind of Snarky answers we'll give)

Since you ask: seems a perfectly fine way of spending a day to me. Sort of thing that would happen at th eDrones Club all the time...

I want a job where I can sleep 18 hours on a weekday.

I like the Ebola suggestion. Even *I've* never managed that one!

I feel your pain Ms. Galt.

I had a cold or flu or something that I could not shake for a couple of months. Every now and then it would flare up into sinus trouble or a chest cold, but its main affect was to leave me feeling tired all the time. I even felt tired when I did not seem to have any outward symptoms.

I know many other people who have had similar problems.

This was the main reason that I stopped writing essays for awhile. It's tough to write when you're tired all the time. I couldn't imagine needing to write for a living and going through something like that.

I hope you get over it far faster then I did.

I feel like I could easily sleep for 18 hours straight, if the world (reduced, for my purposes, to my employer and my incredibly noisy upstairs neighbors) would only let me. My recent constant fatigue can be chalked up to exhaustion brought on by stress, I think. I would suggest the same diagnosis for you, but the rapid onset seems to distinguish your case.

Reading this back, it seems I posted it just to prove that I'm not a doctor, or even someone with a moderate knowledge of how he feels and why.

In any case, get better soon.

Ah, you again! You know if it wasn't for the fact that American Idol has left me, well, idle, and Cuddy has shut down the clinic because of a staff infection - (No, not staph, staff -- the whole department has something, and why not, there are sick people all over this place) - and Cameron is back to turning tricks with Chase, . . . where was I? Oh, yes, YOU AGAIN!

Occam's razor would argue in favor of the roofies - the sudden onset, the languidness - or is ennui? -let's just say fatigue. You don't mention whether you ended up in bed with a strange man, so I'm just going to assume you didn't, though I did just have a mental image. So you were not drugged - I mean you hang out with libertarians, and surely people who believe in the freedom of individual and the rejection of the state wouldn't be involved with drugs.

Wait, no, I take it back. I don't think it was roofies, but not because of the crowd you go around with (they seem like perfectly harmful degenerates) but because the episode would be over, and I've not made one single misdiagnosis.

So, what else? Ah, I seem to recall that you have a history of thyroid difficulties. Odd for a thyroid condition to manifest itself so quickly, so I'll dismiss this, but if it turns out to be the problem, I'll take satisfaction in the fact that I mentioned it so early on.

What does that leave us?

On Sunday, you stepped on glass, which was removed by the same Julian who claims he doesn't need drugs to get women. (I'm assuming he doesn't count alcohol and hashish.) Did you soak it when you got home Sunday night? Probably should have soaked it twice a day in an Epsom salt foot bath, unless the cut was not very deep and you applied an antibiotic ointment. The foot is very prone to severe, lingering infections. Ask any soldier - I know, you like Navy men but should you happen on a soldier, through him a bone and ask.

Trench foot can lead to gangrene which would mean no open-toed sandals in your future. But, of course, you don't have trench foot - not unless among all the other calamities on Sunday there was also a pipe leak at Julian's house and you stood around in water the whole evening.

But what about tetanus. While a piece of glass normally wouldn't have clostridium tetani, it's a misnomer to think that tetanus comes only from rusty nails. ClostriwhateverIjustsaid is also found in dirt. And where is dirt found? In the kitchens of chronic drug users, like Julian. [Insert impressive grahics of tetanus infection resulting in muscle spasms.]

Nah, that unlikely. I'm sure his kitchen floor is as filthy as everyone else's, but the fact is that you don't mention any symptoms consistent with tetanus. Besides, I assume that you've had a tetanus booster within the last eight years. If you haven't, you should. That goes for all you hikers and outsdoorspeople, too. I hope Cuddy gives me credit for this PSA.

What's left? All sorts of nasty diseases that no one wants to hear about, so why don't you get your self to a doctor in the morning (or the ER tonight if you spike a fever).

Jane: Despite the good Dr. House's eloquent diagnosis, above, it is probably more likely that that you have simply contracted a case of The-Weird-Not-Quite-A-Cold-That-Makes-You-Sleepy that several of our acquaintances in NY have complained of - myself included: I actually had to take a daytime nap the past couple of days: an incident which I think last occurred when I was in nursery school. I wish I could tell you how long it lasts but I've tended to nod off unexpectedly, and...

It is probably linked somehow to the bottle of Bushmills you consumed in said noisy bar. Just a hunch; I've noticed a correlation with myself between sleepiness and that specific action.

actually, I've gotten that same sense a couple of times this past year, and it struck me as very unusual, too... usuually i've gotten like that after feeling a little weird, and then i'll go to something early in the morning, come home thinking to take a nap, and end up sleeping through the day (yes, i'm a student, yes, this is a bad thing.)

but it seems like either people are collectively evolving a coping mechanism for post-modern society and information overload that means sudden-onset sleepiness, or there's some new bug going around that's mostly benign. did you have really vivid dreams during said eighteen hours of sleep? 'cause that also happened to me.

Well,

My co-workers would immediately ask you a question.
They are a gossiping lot too, so they'd probably argue with each other about your condition all day.

Me, being a Christian, Southern, and sometimes a gentlemen- I'm afraid I must refrain from asking a lady such a thing.

In case anyone's wondering, the question that August won't ask is, "Any chance you could be pregnant?"

Early pregnancy is renowned for the profound fatigue it induces.

Don't rule out a thyroid problem, either, especially if you're already on meds. If you've forgotten your meds for a few days, or if you just refilled a prescription and the new pills were below spec (it happens way more often than it should), that could explain it.

Also, if you're hypothyroid, have you eaten a lot of soy lately? Back when I still had my thyroid, eating out at the fabulous Japanese restaurant put me into a stupor for two days -- to the point where it was good my husband was driving us home from the restaurant, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I haven't had the courage to try it again because I can't afford to sleep for two days. If you're hypothyroid, you really should avoid soy altogether... it can interfere with your meds and wreak havoc.

Whatever it is, hope you're feeling better soon.

Were you overcome with fatigue after your 20-minute breaks, or did you lie down again on the couch watching TV/reading a book and fall asleep again? That's no great feat if you were tired from sleeping for 10 hours already and you "work from home."

Another vote for the code/flu, it's the right time of year. I just had a spell that only made me feel nasty for about 3 (non-consecutive) days out of nine, but was also accompanied by the need for 9-10 hours of sleep a night while still feeling tired some of those days.

If it persists...thyroid. Time for a fasting physical that includes standard blood tests.

It's the Dream Police

When I was a kid and complaining about any ailment, my mother would tell me, "You get like that just before you die."

Hmm,

I diagnose low grade narcolepsy.

You should be O.K as long as you don't make outrageous claims about inventing the question mark or develop a penchant for buggery.

Otherwise the outcome might be evil.

"...the secret ingredient is cheese..." popped up in a post right before the unexplained somnolence.

Calcium, in great abundence in cheese, interferes with thyroid medication. I love me some pizza, and always overindulge when it is available, but it knocks me out.

Did you eat a lot of cheese?

Mono.

Njorl's right about calcium interfering with thyroid meds, but that's only if you eat it in large quantities within four hours of taking the meds. Ditto birth control pills (which should be taken as long a time away from the thyroid meds as possible -- you risk getting pregnant and messing up your thyroid levels if you take the meds at the same time), iron supplements, and also high fiber foods.

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