Delayed Sleep Syndrome

[auburngirl]

Hi

I was just wondering if anyone here is experiencing Delayed sleep syndrome and if they would share their sleeping pattern.

Every since I was born its been hard for me to go to sleep. Now in college I take sleeping pills EVERY night. I have been taking otc sleeping pills for almost a year now.

Its like my sleep pattern is backward. At night I am awake and full of energy and its impossible to sleep unless I take my sleeping pill. Sometimes in the morning its impossible for me to wake up. I have to set 3 or 4 alarm clocks to go off, I just get up and turn them off( later I don't remember doing it and it doesn't help to put them across the room.) I can fall asleep during the day really easy. It takes me maybe 10 minutes to fall asleep compared to 2 hours at night.

I am about at my wit's end. I just want to know what to do about this.

Thanks!

[SUEzie]

I am not sure what it would be called - but it sounds a lot like what you described - I have always been a "Night person". Insomnia has just made it worse. I've had it the worst since my early 20s (I am 50 now ), but even when I was a child, I can recall being a "Night person" - if I had a bed-time of 8:30 or 9p.m., I'd not fall asleep for at least an hour, to an hour and a half later, a lot of the time. Everyone else (like my sisters) was sleepy at bed-time, except me.

I have never, ever been a "Morning person". I have a sister who bounces out of bed at 7a.m., when we go on fmaily vacations together - the whole idea is foreign, to me. I can't imagine anyone doing this voluntarily.

I do have Ambien I can take, but I don't take it unless I start feeling pretty sleep-deprived, because I don't like how it makes me feel almost dead the next day.

Sometimes I try to just read a boring book, until I can feel myself nodding off. I seem to fall asleep a lot with my bed-side light on. Sometimes taking Melatonin caplets (OTC, from the local drug-store) helps me, but not usually.

During the day I am usually at least slightly (if not more) sleep deprived, so I can nod off easily during the day as well. Not to the point I am falling asleep without trying, but I can find myself making a real effort to not lay down and nap (if I cannot do it then), and to make myself stay awake by drinking more and more coffee, etc.

Sorry this is such a downer of a post - but I wanted to answer your post, and that's what I have to say about sleeplessness, as it relates to me. Maybe I can try another sleep med - I guess I should maybe try to have more faith they might actually work. I know I need to get more sleep. If I had a job right now, and had to be "Up and awake" for it at say, 6a.m., I'd be screwed.

My P-doc has suggested I make a concerted effort to reverse my sleeping patterns - Like have a set bed-time (like 11pm or so), go to bed same time each night, and get up the same time each day. Darken the room, no noise or "white noise" in the room only (no tv in the room), no coffee after 4pm, no heavy physical exercise after 6pm, etc. I've tried some of this, but have to admit I've maybe not given it all my best effort. Maybe it's time to try again...right now, it's one of the few things I can think of to do, to try to remedy this.

Good luck, auburngirl,

I wish you well,

- Susan

[Artemisia]

If you have a decent insurance, you could try to see a sleep specialist (an M.D.). I suspect he/she would ask you to keep a sleep diary and/or send you for a sleep study. The sleep study could rule out sleep apnea and some other problems--if you managed to actually fall asleep.

I could never fall asleep under the conditions required for a sleep study (hooked up to wires, in strange environment, and without my 1 mg of yummy sublingual melatonin), so I really think it'd be a waste for me. And I have a pretty high deductible on my health insurance for testing.

By the way, is your "sleep hygiene" all right?

http://www.umm.edu/sleep/sleep_hyg.htm

[auburngirl]

If you have a decent insurance, you could try to see a sleep specialist (an M.D.). I suspect he/she would ask you to keep a sleep diary and/or send you for a sleep study. The sleep study could rule out sleep apnea and some other problems--if you managed to actually fall asleep.

I could never fall asleep under the conditions required for a sleep study (hooked up to wires, in strange environment, and without my 1 mg of yummy sublingual melatonin), so I really think it'd be a waste for me. And I have a pretty high deductible on my health insurance for testing.

By the way, is your "sleep hygiene" all right?

[link=http://www.umm.edu/sleep/sleep_hyg.htm"'>http://www.umm.edu/sleep/sleep_hyg.htm" target="_blank]http://www.umm.edu/sleep/sleep_hyg.htm[/link]

thanks I think this will help me. as for going in for sleep test i doubt I could do it either. I've never been able to sleep at other people homes because I was so uncomfortable.

[Anodyne Oblivion]

Never been diagnosed as so or anything, but I've always been backwards. My mother would tell me how I'd kick her all night when she was pregnant with me, and sleep all day. She'd wiggle her stomach to try & wake me to reset my schedule, but it's continued ever since I was in utero.

I sometimes wonder if I moved to a place 12 hours off from -5 GMT, would my sleep still be backwards? Or does light tell my body to sleep?

[Twitch]

I've always been a "night person" and I was always "mommys little sleeper". At 2 days old until I was in school I slept from 12am to 12pm. (And look at me now 130am and wide awake). Anyway...

I will get on this schedule to where one week I'll sleep from 1am to 1pm, then the next will be 2am to 2pm, and so forth. After a while I will get stuck on a pattern from about 3am to 3pm and stay there for weeks. I just cant get to sleep at night! Well I did a sleep study and never slept. Probes and a bleach smell who would? So that was a bust. BUT my sleep doctor (whatever you call them) made me do my own schedule to write down my patterns. He saw a pattern apparently and diagnosed me with Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome and Hypersomnia (IH).

A big thing is sleep hygeine. Like dont listen to the radio when youre trying to sleep, dont drink caffinated drinks before bed, dont eat before bed, dont exercise before bed, try not to talk on the phone before bed, etc etc.

[Maceo]

I have suffered this for years. I've always been a night-owl. Problem is I have both the delayed sleep phase and insomnia. It doesn't really matter I always take hours to fall asleep it's always difficult. If I don't fight it my sleep schedule will "slip" I will gradually go to sleep and wake up later and later until I am completely nocturnal. Falling asleep at daylight and waking up at night. Forcing myself to get up reasonably early helps. I know how difficult it can be. Setting all the alarms so determined to get up only to turn them off and go back to bed in the morning half asleep or feeling so tired your almost compelled by junkie like cravings to go back to sleep.

It really can make you miss out on life and feel very out of control.

Only solution is following all the sleep hygiene tips every day especially adhering to a strict rule of when you go to bed and when you get out of bed. Medication can help temporarily to reset sleep patterns. It's useful when the alternative is depriving yourself of sleep until you're in a normal routine which is hell. Sleep aid's all stop working quite quickly if used regularly so it's best to keep them for occasions if you want them to be effective. They are not good for taking every night. You just need more and more until you're taking handfuls of pills without counting and it's only as effective as one pill was in the beginning.

Maceo.