I've done some (very limited) internet research on this "phenomenon".
I suppose little is understood, still, about it.
I'll tell you about my brother in law. I believe he has suffered for years with undiagnosed depression. His wife left him about 9 or 10 years ago
because she just couldn't handle it/him.
About 7 or 8 years ago or so he worked for a LARGE Globally recognized company and had fantastic health insurance. He had began experiencing bouts of
narcolepsy. They had become very severe. One example is when his brother loaned him his truck to run to his house (20 miles away) because his wasn't
running right. He left, went to a corner store about 2 miles up the road, went in and bought some cigarettes and a drink, came out, got in the truck,
and fell asleep pulling out of the parking lot. There was an accident, no one was hurt but, it sure was scary. The police didn't believe his story of
falling asleep so he went through the usual DUI checks and, of course, was not charged with DUI.
The old man has always kept the boys (his brothers) on our insurance so, thankfully, we didn't wind up bankrupt either.
Back to the fantastic health insurance.
He was diagnosed with sleep apnea. He was set up with a CPAP machine and a prescription for Armodafinil (Nuvigil) which he promptly became addicted
to.
Armodafinil
Our (limited) understanding of the drug was that it was to increase his alertness and wakefulness and along with the CPAP, give him a better quality
of sleep and life.
Nuvigil is used to treat excessive sleepiness caused by sleep apnea, narcolepsy, or shift work sleep disorder.
Nuvigil may also be used for purposes not listed in this medication guide.
DRUGS
He worked nights at this manufacturer. Days would go by when we didn't hear from him. No matter what time of day we went to his house, he would be
asleep, using his machine but, it seemed as if he was sleeping 14 hours out of the day. Above, I mentioned him being addicted to his medication and by
that I mean, if he didn't have the money for the "co pay" at the pharmacy he would be nearly unbearable, begging, complaining of aches and pains,
sickness, we would always get it for him.
This went on for some years...Eventually, he began self medicating with street drugs. Amphetamines. He had become a recluse, except for work, and was
spending tons of money on the drugs, eating out, general wastefulness, etc. There was a large (100 people) random drug screening at his employer. He
got "popped". He lost his job. In all fairness they did offer him treatment options. The was an EAP where he worked but, he sunk into depression and
just let the 90 days go by. We encouraged him to take advantage of the opportunity and to no avail. He wouldn't hear of going to a "professional"
after all he was prescribed an "amphetamine" type drug and he just needed a stronger dose. The Doctor disagreed. Well, he lost his job, house, and
wound up moving in with their ageing Mother. She had become ill (cancer) so it was a blessing in disguise really.
She died and he wound up losing her place within a year. He is not very forthcoming with information so by the time we found out he was losing the
house, it was too late to be saved. Since then, for the past maybe 3 or 4 years, he has been living off and on with us. We rented him and one of my
other BILs a house for a while so I can't speak personally on that time however my youngest BIL did relate to us some odd episodes during the time
they lived together in this house.
He just turned 50. He is about 6'3" and weighs in close (pushing) 300 lbs. He is a large framed man. His hand could make 2 1/2 of mine.
I encouraged him a few months ago to start seeing a Doctor at the local mission. He comes in once a week to see the people that live at the mission as
well as the general public who have no health insurance. He was prescribed some blood pressure, prostate, and depression (prozac) medications. I
really am not seeing an improvement in the depression category. He is sleeping about (most days) 20 hours. He will get up, eat, or take food to his
room, and go back to bed. I've "caught" him binge eating throughout the night. I have insomnia often so, we meet in the kitchen. I making tea and
him cleaning out the fridge. If I had to guess, I would say he is consuming around 4-5000 calories a day not including drink.
Nocturnal Sleep-Related Eating Disorder
He isn't bathing regularly, he doesn't use the bathroom regularly, he doesn't clean or wash his clothes. He stays hidden away in his bedroom.
He has applied for the local hospital's charity fund. If he is accepted, they will see him for a year, get him back on the CPAP machine, and provide
his medications at no cost.
Over the years, we have heard him when he's sleeping...sleep talking.
Sleep talking (also know in the sleep field as "somnliloquy") is a sleep disorder that involves unconscious talking during sleep. Sleep talking
varies in its content and presentation, ranging from mumbling, gibberish and nonsensical words to full, complicated, coherent narratives. Sleep
talking can be spontaneous, but may also be induced by someone else who talks with them while asleep. This nocturnal language can even sound different
from their wakeful speaking voice!
The medical term is:
Somniloquy
Now, it is on the increase as of late. I would say the past two weeks it has really gotten bad. We have heard many different voices.
I heard him yelling last night he just yells "Hey!" then gibberish. My daughter heard a woman laughing. On Thursday night, he had many bouts of
this. The old man heard knocking, fast rapping and a child's voice, he went in to wake him and he was nowhere near the wall to have made those
sounds. He woke him up, and within 10 minutes, it started again. The voices range from deep mumbling, something that sounds like foreign languages,
women's voices, children, sometimes almost demonic. I've never heard a demon but, whatever that voice is, it will make the hair on your body stand
up.
Now, we could call these "night terrors" except for I can not find any information about the different "voices".
Night Terrors
I am suggesting that the years of Nuvigil COULD have led to something "wrong" in his brain or a type of "neurodegenerative disorder".
I found a study dated 2010 that suggests there to be no long term effects of this drug but,
National
Institutes of Health
Armodafinil remained effective and was generally well tolerated. Increased monitoring of blood pressure may be appropriate in patients on
armodafinil. Armodafinil represents an option for long-term treatment of patients with ES associated with treated OSA, SWD, or narcolepsy.
These voices! How could a person's voice change so much?!
Listen, I have thought demonic possession, etc. I am hoping for something a little more toothsome.
Any ideas?