where do i even begin

I’m a late diagnosis. Parents have always been anti-meds anti-modern anti-city whatever. I have always, and always, felt tired, all day, all night, no matter how much sleep/caffeine/exercise, tiredness never went away. The fatigue was never on the level of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I can lift, walk around, run without collapsing, but staying awake? Fuck no. 14 hours of sleep is not enough!

Diagnosis

I genuinely do not remember the details, other than countless many times I went to several different doctors and hospitals on the count of feeling tired. However, after graduating from college and starting work at a somewhat decent company and position, I noticed that sleeping mid-day at desk is not something I wanted to live with, thus began another round of doctor visits.

This time diagnosis went.. A bit smoother. Thanks to advancements in Claude (yes, this was around time of Sonnet 4.5 release and I was testing it, kinda got attached to it and holy heck it really pushed me into getting proper diagnosis), I was able to at least have some idea what I could be suffering from. This was not to tell the doctor “hey doc I know I have this medical conditions so please do this for me”, but rather to have some context around known medical conditions, such as Idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), or Adrenal insufficiency.

After 3 doctors (internal medicine, endocrinology, and neurology), and 4 sets of tests, be it blood and MRI, with them all coming negative, neurologist finally prescribed me the modafinil on November 13th, 2025.

holy fucking shit

I feel alive? What the fuck? This is the normal energy? I don’t need to combat sleep anymore? What?

I- Huh???

I can’t explain in words just how effective it was. Doctor told me to start at 50 then gradually increase, which I obliged to, by taking 100 mg on day 1. In the two months I used this miracle of a drug, I noticed that everything just…Makes more sense? I code for a living, code now makes more sense. Syntax makes more sense. Libraries are easier to understand. Bugs are easier to find. Systems are easier to design. Everything is just- easy.

but… what if this is a fluke?

This thought stuck to me, what if it wasn’t the drug but me? What if I was being a baby about it? What would happen if I-

I did not take it on February 7th, 2026, intentionally. Then I proceeded to forget my meds at work so could not take it on February 8th, today.

I slept for a grand total of 30 hours in two days.

conclusion-ish?

It’s a drug, one that works wonders if you’re suffering from this niche of a brain disease, but won’t help you otherwise (at least according to some people online who have nothing wrong with them). If you or someone you know is saying they feel tired or you notice them sleeping mid-day, please let them know IH is a real medical condition. It’s not them making things up, we genuinely can’t stay up.