Isn’t this what they call a Fugue state?
Stuff like this is exactly why I have a problem keeping my suspension of disbelief on that thing. Who wouldn’t, after realizing they don’t remember something for 24 hours, go to the doctor and have plenty of tests?
The OP, apparently!
And honestly, I suspect me. I don’t have health insurance at the moment, and if I knew I’d been exhausted for several days, that seems like an obvious answer. It’s not at all uncommon to forget waking up briefly during sleep, nor to forget things or operate semi-consciously when extremely tired. I’ve never slept for 24 hours, but I’ve slept around 12 hours plenty of times when I hadn’t been up for three days. I could easily imagine sleeping off-and-on for 24 hours with brief periods of wakefulness in which I went to the bathroom, took the dogs out, even ate or watched tv, that I wouldn’t remember on fully awakening.
I’m doubtful that a doctor would be helpful without more to go on than a one-time blip. He could order an MRI to look for a tumor or some other gross physical abnormality of the brain, but that seems unlikely to be the cause of something so acute. And other neurological conditions are hard to spot and don’t always have neat tests to detect them. I suspect a doctor would say, “That sounds upsetting but there are lots of possible causes and most of them are nothing to worry about. Try to pay attention to your routines over the next few weeks and maybe see if someone can stay with you and watch for signs of anything unusual. If you find that you’re blacking out a lot or having trouble remembering ordinary things, or notice unexpected changes in mood or personality give me a call. Otherwise, try to get lots of sleep and don’t worry too much unless it happens again.”
Since this has turned into a discussion of possible medical diagnoses, I’m going to move it to IMHO.
twickster, MPSIMS moderator
I had that happen to me not long ago. I have three jobs all part time and the hours have been crazy. I went from one job to another to another and worked almost 24 hours straight. Just so I could get a whole day off. I went to bed at 10am on Tuesday and woke up at 8am on Wednesday. Almost lost a whole day. I was way overtired.
I’m maybe call my doctor’s assistant and tell them about it.
When I was in the military it would happen, not uncommonly. You go for days and days, weeks and weeks etc. with little sleep. Eventually I’d get a day or whole weekend off, crack open a beer in the early evening, relax on the futon and wake up the next afternoon with a full, warm bottle of beer sitting there. I think the subconscious finally just says “look, this is getting silly. I’m going to have to defrag half your brain now. You’re staying unconscious for the whole process this time, buddy.”
Have you checked your internet history? If you were awake and using the computer during that time period, your history would reflect that.
That is what I was going to suggest.
I learned back after we moved to Ct - we stopped having roommates, and mrAru was on shore duty for 18 months, and it was fine. He was home every night except for nights he had duty. Then he went back to sea, and I had an Amiga with a few games. I would send him off to sea, and come home and settle in to a game of Eye of the Beholder or something, and next thing I know it is 2 or 3 days later. I obviously ate, slept and went to the bathroom, and even showered and changed clothes.
Before I pretty much always had roommates, I like having roomies, it makes life interesting having someone at home to interact with. So, with a roomie around, there are always interruptions. [we free feed the cats, if they are raised with free feeding they don’t tend to overeat. Or at least we have been lucky with out cats.] No roomie, the freedom [
] to obliviate. After a couple deployments of this happening, we decided to get a roomie to keep me company and to keep me from fugueing. I always figured that it was my aspergers-linked ability to concentrate on something totally.
I can fugue out watching TV or reading a book also. Pretty much anything that requires a fair amount of detail work can do it.
Though fugue states are not normal for regular healthy people, you might want to check in with a doctor if it happens again.
Sleep deprivation can do weird things. Back in my internship days, before they mandated more humane hours, I had been functioning on, well let’s just say a long time with very minimal sleep. Laid down at night on call and woke up hours later. At my bedside was my clipboard with a checklist written out on it, in my handwriting, to check on the results of the septic work up (including spinal tap) I did in the middle of the night on a cancer patient with very low white count and fever. In the chart was my interval progress/procedure note. All appropriately (meticulously even) done and documented but with my having no recollection that I had done it.
(Yes, I am glad they changed the rules and that that sort of sleep deprivation as part of “medical training” is relegated to the dustbins of history. Although to be fair, it was not the program’s fault that was also a new father and that my wife was experiencing severe postpartum depression at the same time. Not the best time of my life.)
So seriously sleep deprived, especially if also otherwise stressed, you can have partially aroused to take care of the whiney dogs in need of food and a chance to go out and gone back to bed with no recollection of every having done it. It happens.
I reckon this. I once had a nightmare project that led to sleep deprivation over many, many weeks. Once it was handed off, I can remember having two pints on the Friday evening after work, and the next memory was waking up on Sunday around midday. It happens.
Sounds like an alcoholic blackout, but without the alcohol.
Like DSeid mentions, I have had times when I was woken up in the middle of the night with a call from work, signed into the system, diagnosed and fixed the problem, and communicated it to the user and went back to sleep. All without ever coming fully awake. And having no memory of having done so until I signed in the next morning and saw the e-mails I sent.
My son told me of being awoken for a fatigue march during basic training, doing the whole thing, doing his other duties, and then going back to sleep without remembering any of it.
It’s a little weird, but not completely unheard of, even for 24 hours in a row. I suspect you functioned on some reasonable level for that time, but just don’t remember it.
If it happens again, see a doctor, especially if you are not sleep-deprived when it happens, but don’t worry if it doesn’t.
Regards,
Shodan
I once lost about an hour. I was driving into the parking lot of the local grocery. Then things got fuzzy and the next thing I knew I was home eating dinner. There was food in the pantry that I had no recollection of buying (and at least one item I bought rarely and would have had to have made a conscious decision to pick it up). I was clearly functioning during that time, but I couldn’t remember anything I did – not even vaguely.
I went to the doctor as soon as I could. Nothing showed up, and it hasn’t recurred.
You woke up on the same couch? My bet is you slept for 26ish hours. Having suffered terrible amnesia for several days prior, I can’t see how there could possibly be a better explanation.
Was the TV on while you slept? I’ve had bizarrely deep, and long, naps while sleeping with TV or the radio on. But yeah, get checked out with a doctor to be safe.
If one is sound asleep, the kidneys don’t make as much urine. A chemical transmitter called ADH (Anti-diuretic Hormone) is released upon falling asleep. It stops when one awakens. That’s why urine is darker in the morning.
Ha! I always meant to ask why I don’t pee as much overnight when I drink the same amount of water day or evening. So does production of that start getting iffy later in life, causing people to need to wake up to pee?
Hi all: I’m liking all the theories and suggestions! Thank you.
I spoke with my doc today and she said not to worry unless it happens again. She’s rolling with the “sleep deprivation/body finally said ‘Hell, no’” theory. I’ve also been under some hideous long-term stressors that were finally resolved this week.
This posted question is a bit upriver, but I thought it interesting. I have been in several car accidents, but as an adult (nothing too serious). As a kid I was twice knocked out cold (line-drive softball to the forehead and running into a brick wall). However, the insomnia pre-dates any injury – from earliest memory I’ve had trouble getting to sleep and sporadically waking throughout the night. It comes and goes, sometimes I have a few weeks of normal sleep, then a few days of virtually no snoozing.
I checked my spending, phone, and internet records and nothing happened during my “fugue state” – phew! I did fall asleep on the couch with the TV on and obviously must have got up to feed and pee pee the pups (and maybe myself). Ironically, I fell asleep watching a Liam Neeson flick about amnesia 
You were asleep…roll with it. yawn And brush your teeth.
You can’t remember your awakened life, because this is the dream state.
I’d go more into it, but my computer is turning into a unicorn whose horn is an all-day lollipop.
I was thinking that as well. A couple of times in college, when I’d been up for 24+ hours cramming for an exam, I had actual phone conversations (someone called me, I didn’t sleep-dial) that I had no recollection of, after I finally got to sleep.
It wasn’t any 24-hour period, however; that sounds a bit extreme.