Who has trouble sleeping

[Jules22871]

I have what is called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome or DSPS for short. If left alone to sleep when I want to sleep I can get a good 5-6 hours of sleep. If I have to go to sleep at a normal time, it's darn near impossible to do. I have to take some kind of sleeping pill to do it and then I will only sleep a couple of hours.

Here are a couple of links about it...

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome - sleepdisorderchannel

Delayed Sleep Phase - Diagnosis and Treatment Options at Mayo Clinic

I know wiki is not the best place to get info but they are pretty reliable on this subject

Delayed sleep phase syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I've had this as long as I can remember but it has gotten worse the older I've gotten. Now that I don't have to work I just let it run it's course and sleep when I'm ready. We plan appts and such around it as much as we can. I can't take Ambien for it, it makes me hallucinate and having little green men follow you to the bathroom is not that much fun,lol

Does anyone else have trouble like this sleeping?

 

[Walrus]

me... part of it is chronic pain. The other part is that I just can't get my brain to shut down. I lie in bed with my mind going 1000 mph. Back when I was a programmer/analyst I did some of my best problem solving in bed. Of course, then I'd have to run downstairs to my computer and work on it before I forgot what I thought of.

My doc gives me Trazadone, which used to work... but now, not so much.

 

[Jules22871]

I've been trying to find it since I made this post but so far no luck. There was a study done on people with chronic pain and sleep. The part of the brain the shuts down and lets you sleep is the same part of the brain that deals with chronic pain. If you have chronic pain, then that part of the brain won't stop running leaving you asleep but not getting real rest. I hope I can find it. It was a fascinating article.

 

[Jules22871]

Chronic Pain Linked to Depression and Sleep Problems

 

[Christina]

Well I'm still up, again. It's almost 3 in the morning. Jules I saw you mention Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome previously so I had to look it up. It fits me to a tee except that when I was an adolescent I don't recall having THIS much trouble. I think I always was a night owl but it seems worse over the last 5-10 years.

I've been given Seroquel to help me sleep but really anything leaves me with a sleep hangover in the morning, if I'm even up by morning. I'm trying to be cool about it since stressing sure won't help. I don't like feeling out of sync with the rest of the world. Catch 22 I suppose.

I feel fortunate to not have to cope with chronic pain, but I do suffer from a brain that won't quit.

Do you both just deal with it as it comes or do you try to fight it? So far for me fighting it only makes it worse.

 

[skullsoup432]

I can relate to Walrus and the rapid fire brain. I will toss and turn for hours, my head going over the bills, stuff to do, that funny clunk the washer made, that squeal the car made, did I turn off/on the...ad nauseum.

My girlfriend can fall asleep almost instantly. She says that she doesn't think of anything, just clears her head.
Must be nice.

 

[Mary Kay]

This is just getting worse for me! I am tired of going to bed at 4 or 5 am and sleeping til 1pm. I have always had a problem getting to sleep but now it's impossible! I don't have cronic pain, just a mind that will not quit. I have planned a whole house..room by room in complete detail (I like to draw floor plans) before I fell asleep. Recalled my whole 1st grade class, remembered each song from Calamity Jane..ect. Once my mind latches on to something..that's it.
If I try to go to bed as soon as I get sleepy, let's say 11pm, I will sleep for an hour and I am back up.
I do walk every day (as weather permits) and I keep a halfway clean house and yard..so it's not total lazy days around here.
I will force myself up at 9am and all that happens is that I fall asleep at 5pm for an hour. I figure if i keep this up, maybe I will just start going to bed an hour later every day until I get back to midnight and find some peace..sleeping midnight to 6am or 9am. yeah, Like that will happen.

 

[skinnie]

Know the feeling.. Everyone else falls asleep as soon as the head hits the pillow. Wish it was that easy for me. I will sometimes take an excedrin pm if im really wired up. Seems to help. But I always make appointments for afternoon just to be on the safe side.

 

[Christina]

Mary I love your whit. You keep me in smiles every single time I read one of your posts.

On a serious note I really feel I identify with what you have said. This crazy sleep cycle really messes up my day. Or more specifically messes up the days I need to be up and alert with the rest of society. It's a vicious cycle falling asleep at the "wrong" times.

My doctors don't seem to have an answer for it other than to give me pills which don't help me get up in the morning. So the cycle continues.

I'm going to force myself into bed as usual in a moment. I hope you all can find some peace and restful sleep tonight... this morning.

Happy dreams

 

[JABLUES]

Same here walrus..the chronic pain is a real sleep killer..sometimes headphones with some good music helps, if anything else it keeps my mind from racing just getting into the tunes..JABLUES

 

[Walrus]

Same here walrus..the chronic pain is a real sleep killer..sometimes headphones with some good music helps, if anything else it keeps my mind from racing just getting into the tunes..JABLUES

I've done that... but then end up listening to music for hours. And wondering what's next on the playlist... and thinking of little bits of trivia having to do with the song or the band...

 

[prr2freya]

I rarely ever sleep. Rarely more than 4 hours at a time. I easily go 48 hours before sleeping a few hours. I cat nap once in awhile. On rare occasions my body just quits on me and I sleep 6-9 hours (about once a month). It is impossible for me to set a sleep schedule, I cannot sleep on command, it just has to happen when it happens. Sometimes that will be in the afternoon, sometimes 4am, there is no telling. I was diagnosed with insomnia along with other things 15 years ago. For 10 years straight i was on sleeping pills then took myself off of them as i was just groggy and tired and never restful.

Now i have Valium if i REALLY need to force myself to sleep a few hours.. but they don't really do much and i wake up 3 hours later. I have a lot of Valium in reserve because i do not take it as prescribed.

When i do sleep, my dreams are extremely vivid and i can even feel pain... from memory I would assume. Sometimes the dreams are good... More often than not, I am living in a horror movie. It has been this way as long as i can remember. I wake up crying and talking out loud on a regular basis. I used to sleep walk but have not done that in a few years. Sometimes i have very vivid conversations with people in my dreams and have a hard time recalling later if it was a dream or a real conversation and have to ask people.

I prefer to just not sleep.

edit: Luckily I work from home and set my own schedule and have done so for many years. If I didn't manage this, I would go completely bonkers.

 

[JABLUES]

Lol..I know..right now the birds are singing and and its getting light. 6:00 am is usually when i make an attempt but then its like "one more vape, then sleep"..

 

[JABLUES]

vaping over..5:20 am calling it a night

 

[Jules22871]

I didnt get to sleep until after 5am this morning then my daughter shows up at 8am just to hang out. Oh well, another day's sleep shot,lol

It is so hard to function in a normal way when you don't sleep in a normal way. I've tried to have most of the jobs I've had to where I can work at night or late afternoons. It is just not in me to be able to work at 8 or 9 am. I refuse to take sleeping pills. They are evil. I take Elavil for depression and chronic pain. If I know I just have to be somewhere early I take it with a Valium 3 hours before I know I need to be asleep and that usually works. I am scared to death of drug addiction so I don't do that very often. The last thing I need on top of everything else is rehab.

Edit to add: Maybe we ought to start a Night Owl Vapers club,lol

 

[prr2freya]

Edit to add: Maybe we ought to start a Night Owl Vapers club,lol

Yeah! I'll join a day one and a night one. Except for Thursday nights and some weekend nights when I'm out... or when I am making graphics, or working, or playing a game, or reading... or petting my kitty... or editing machinima, or texturing a 3D environment... well.. you get the point. I'll be here.. lol

 

[Christina]

Well I just blew it. I passed out for several hours this afternoon. I'll be seeing you "in the club".

 

[Mary Kay]

Chris, You mean your little hamster blew it..lol
I almost gave in and went for a nap myself..It's so hot! The A.C. is cranked up but the humidity and the lack of wind makes it feel like we are in the 100's. besides I made a big pork chop dinner.
When I can't sleep, sometimes I put a book on C.D. on, one I have heard a hundred times so my mind can wander a bit and hopefully wander right into the book in a dream. One of my problems is that when I am into something..like this board, I tend to dream about it. That's one reason I wish people wouldn't post scary avitars.. That Black cat one with the scary eyes..

 

[Christina]

OMG Mary, once I finally did fall asleep last night I dreamed I was on here and posting. Oh dear... like I need another addiction

 

[Closet Toker]

Same here, can't sleep for crap. I work the graveyard shift. Much trouble sleeping in the daytime. Been doing it for about 2 1/2 years now. Lie in bed, mind is going 100 mph. The economy, our government running rabid, bills to pay, stress at work, unhappy marriage..... it all adds up. Definitely should see a Dr., can't afford it, must buy sleeping pills and Vodka. They work good, except for the Depression part.
Must keep control.... arrrgh!