what is up with me.. - Sleep Disorders Message Board

emma j · 05-30-2007, 07:59 AM

hi all,
Well looking for a bit of advice really. i don't have insomnia but i've having terrible trouble sleeping. Since i started working in a pub when i was 18 my sleep pattern just went out the window..
Now these days i'm usually still awake till at least 4 in the morning.But once i nod off i could then sleep for maybe 11-12 hours straight. It hink its down to te fact that i sleep then most of the day but when people wake me up i simply just fall back aslep again.. I got up today at 11.30 because i was stayingin a friends and i'm here now at 3 and i'm half asleep having only gotten to sleep i reckona little after half 3. when i'm in college though i'm up early but won't get to sleep till around 2 ish..
Is there anything anyone can recommened to getting to sleep but bearing in mind that i can't swollow tablets. i'm just shattered and i've no energy. i'm 23 now and just fed up with either having 4-5 hrs sleep or the other end of the scale being 11-12hrs sleep. i also have a nap during the day to most days.

any ideas.

Just found this in another thread ---"This doesn't sound anything like Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS) to me. In DSPS, the person is often described as a "night owl." It is as if their biological clocks are just out of synch with the rest of the world. Usually people with DSPS can't fall asleep until late (like 1-2am) and then can't get up in the morning for work."

emma j · 05-30-2007, 08:11 AM

wow ok..I just looked up that Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome and it describes me to a tee..

Suecat · 05-30-2007, 05:44 PM

It also sounds allot like me, when I can finally get to sleep I tend to sleep maybe about 12 hours, when people don’t wake me. And when I am awakened I can have conversations and not even remember it and fall back to sleep as soon as they leave. If left alone for an entire day I can sleep from three or four in the morning to nine or ten at night and only wake up a hand full of times to fall right back to sleep. But at night it is so hard to sleep I can lay awake up to five hours before falling asleep or just giving up, even if I am exausted and I'm about ready to hit myself over the heads with a 2x4. On a daily basis for normal weekdays I tend to run on four to six hours of sleep. Plus I also tend to sleep through almost anything including alarm clocks and people yelling at me. I usually have to be shaken, nearly violently awake.

It started when I was 14 or 15, and its gotten a little better since but sleeping pills and other things tend not to work. I have learned to wake my self up but still have the help if needed and I still run on four to six hours besides on my days off.

emma j · 05-30-2007, 06:12 PM

I've been doing so much research on the net which i showed to my mam to which she laughed and said i need to just go to bed earlier or get up earlier..Its not that easy..like you when i was in college i had to get up early.I'd have maybe 4-5 hrs sleep and wouldn't function till at least 12.
ITs funny thought cos if i know i HAVE to get up i get up after about half an hour..But if i set and alarm telling myself i should get up and try regulate my pattern its hopeless.
I've also come across Hypopnea.This is really interesting to me..i breathe in general VERY slowly and smally(can't think of the right word!!) i've had comments that when i'm in bed you wouldn't even know i'm breathing.This is all so interesting.
I said to my mam do u think i should go to a sleep specialist she laughed and said no u just need to get up earlier..
SO i'm gonna do that for a week and try regulate myself but i was thinking even when i was like that(when i can remember) i was still ALWAYS tired no energy..Could this be Hypopnea.
ITs just gone ten past one in the morning and i'm still awake..i was up today at 11.20 which to me is like 8 in the morning!! i'm tired but i'm not gonna fall asleep.SO as i said i'll try my mams way for a week and after that i'm going the doc and getting referred.
Everyone calls me the night owl of the family and i've realised i do my most work at night after 8 maybe. All my college assignments where done as all nighters.. This is ALL becoming so clear now.maybe my night is my day!!

JasonFMX · 05-31-2007, 02:31 AM

I'm trying to figure out alot of issues with myself. My problems all revolve around symtpoms of Bipolar, ADHD, and DSPS.

some symptoms go back as long as I can remember but vast majority started around late teens and then when I was in my early 20's till now (26) have done nothing but grow worse.. Actually right before my 26th B-day is when I realized something was up with me and right after turning 26 I started to get treatment. That was back in January. I would say Late 2005 is when I realized I had something wrong with me.

I have thought Looooooooooooooong and hard about all of my problems and how I have felt on each medication and I keep getting the chicken and the egg scenario. I can't help but think that a sizable chunk of my problems if not all of them result from sleep problems. I also wonder if it wasn't from my own doing.

When I was in college I worked full time plus went to college full time. Many nights I only got 4 hours of sleep, sometimes 3. This is after very hard long vigorous days of doing farm work and intensive class studies. Very tiring on the mind and body, only to be rewarded by a whopping 3-4 hours sleep. Bountiful nights were 5-6 hours but those were rare. And this wasn't 5 days a week where i could catch up on weekends either... this was 7 days a week. because the weekends Id have to work all day then write papers or study all night if I wanted to pass.

I'm just wandering if I didn't either do some sort of permanant damage to myself/brain... or if theres no damage but reset my circadian clock and its near impossible to get back.