Sleep disorders

parsleysage · Aug 21, 2011

I've mentioned a couple times that I have difficulty falling asleep at a decent hour, and because I now work an 8-5 job that I only get about 4-5 hours of sleep on average. It's been getting pretty bad so I've been seeking some solutions and am currently giving valerian root supplement a try (tonight's my first night so we'll see!).

I was doing some reading about sleep disorders - I have never claimed to have insomnia as I sleep quite well once I get asleep, I just can't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning. I found something on wikipedia that sounds like it fits me pretty well: Delayed sleep phase syndrome.

Often, people with the disorder report that they cannot sleep until early morning, but fall asleep at about the same time every "night". Unless they have another sleep disorder such as sleep apnea in addition to DSPS, patients can sleep well and have a normal need for sleep. Therefore, they find it very difficult to wake up in time for a typical school or work day. If, however, they are allowed to follow their own schedules, e.g. sleeping from 4 a.m. to noon, they sleep soundly, awaken spontaneously, and do not experience excessive daytime sleepiness.

It's funny that the example they used was 4am-noon as that is actually my exact preferred sleep schedule!

and that's what I used to sleep when I worked late second shift at a call center, before getting my current job earlier this year.

I don't like to self-diagnose based on cursory internet research, but I thought it was interesting and it's at least a springboard for solutions to making my body get sleepy.

Found some more info that is interesting from the Wiki page:

Attempting to force oneself onto daytime society's schedule with DSPS has been compared to constantly living with 6 hours of jet lag; the disorder has, in fact, been referred to as "social jet lag".[7] Often, sufferers manage only a few hours sleep a night during the working week, then compensate by sleeping until the afternoon on weekends. Sleeping in on weekends, and/or taking long naps during the day, may give people with the disorder relief from daytime sleepiness but may also perpetuate the late sleep phase.

I find it difficult to avoid napping when I get home from work. Two or three nights a week I do it anyway. :/

carolpetunia · Aug 21, 2011

Thanks so much for sharing this -- it sounds like me too! I'd never heard of DSPS before.

orangeishcat · Aug 22, 2011

If you're having trouble sleeping, you should go see a polysomnographer.

That's what my dad does! Polysomnography is the study of sleep and sleep medicine- they will be able to tell you more accurately what's going on with your body and help you figure out how to take care of it.

kara_leigh · Aug 22, 2011

That sounds EXACTLY like me also! I have never heard of DSPS before. I think it is funny also that they mentioned 4am to noon b/c that is my preferred sleep schedule also.

If, however, they are allowed to follow their own schedules, e.g. sleeping from 4 a.m. to noon, they sleep soundly, awaken spontaneously, and do not experience excessive daytime sleepiness.

Seriously...me. I sleep perfectly fine from 3/4am to noon/1pm, and I wake up on my own at the exact same time almost every day. If I'm allowed to be on that schedule I can fall asleep easily and quickly, but if I am forced to be on a normal day schedule I always have to drug myself to get to sleep (ambien, advil pm, etc) no matter if I go to the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning, like when I worked. I just can't force myself to sleep at a "normal" time.

sweetpea24 · Aug 24, 2011

I have a sleep disorder too. I would suggest doing a sleep study. This involves a 2 day hospital stay where they hook up a portable EEG monitor to you while you are there awake and asleep. When I did it, the first day, I had to sit alone doing nothing for half an hour and try to fall asleep. The next day, I had to sit for half an hour and.try not to.sleep. Each night, they film you while you sleep. I think I had to wear something on my nose too. The final decision was that I rarely go into a deep REM sleep so my sleep is of low quality.

The doctor who conducted my study said we all have a 'gateway' in which we achieve our optimal sleep. In other words, there is a window of time where, if we fall asleep within this window, we will sleep well. For example, there was a guy I used to work with who could only sleep well if he fell asleep between 1 and 2 am.

I suppose this is true but unfortunately, it doesn't help with real world situations. Unless you're lucky to have a boss that is understanding.

Do you go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day even on the weekends? Try not.to nap, which is hard I know! Try to develop a routine before you go to bed.p Don't read a stimulating book before bed. And if you have to watch tv or read, do it in another room. Use your bedroom for sleeping only (well, ok, for other fun recreational activities-heehee). Have you ever tried meditation or relaxation techniques? Here's one I like:

Lie on your bed in the dark. Close your eyes. Take a couple of slow, deep breaths, filling your belly with air with your mouth closed and slowly exhaling with your mouth open. Then, as you slowly inhale, squeeze your toes really tight. At the top of your breath, hold it, and concentrate on the tightness in your toes, imagining it's stress. Then, open your mouth a bit and slowly let your breath out while slowly releasing your toes. As you are exhaling and releasing, imagine that the release of tension and the exhalation of air is releasing your stress. Next, squeeze your feet and repeat the inhale and exhale routine. Do this with.each part of your body until you get to the top of your head. Do one part at a time, each time, concentrating on the tension and then releasing of that tension. By the time you get to your head, you should be totally relaxed. This has helped me quite a bit when I'm having trouble getting to sleep.

If you've already tried these suggestions, please disregard. But I strongly suggest talking to your doctor about a sleep study. Maybe it could help you find your optimal time to sleep. Good luck, I hope you find a solution...

-_aj_- · Aug 24, 2011

I have problems sleeping I will on average go to sleep between 2 and 4am but I wake just after 8 every day if I manage an early night like I did last night I'm up at 4:30am but I don't nap never have incase it screws up my already screwed up sleep pattern

parsleysage · Aug 24, 2011

Thanks to everyone who's responded... and to those who also have trouble sleeping, I feel your pain!!! I definitely want to do a sleep study. Just have to wait until I can afford it!

SweetPea, thanks for all your suggestions! I have tried setting out a bedtime routine (actually I tried again very recently - this past Sunday!) and it works for a few nights but doesn't last. I don't feel sleepy at the right time, or I accidentally nap, or what have you. I'll keep trying!

Winchester · Aug 25, 2011

I used to suffer from a kind of night terrors. It's simply awful and I tried to avoid sleeping for years because of them. I would work nights as much as I could, just so I could sleep during the day. And even now, more often than not, I'll go to sleep with the television on, just at a low sound, simply so that it will block out things. DH knows about them and it's OK that the tv is on.

At the point of dropping off to sleep, I would hear a gong, a metallic sound. And from then on, I couldn't move a muscle. I swore I was completely awake and completely lucid. I just couldn't move. I would hear a radio or a tv with a newsman talking about events that happened years ago. I would "feel" a large beast-type thing at the foot of the bed. I would hear very heavy breathing so close to me that I could almost feel the breaths. Sometimes I would feel people in the bedroom; I couldn't see them, but I knew they were there. I would hear music playing very faintly. The whole time, I was completely paralyzed. I always thought I was screaming for DH to please, please awaken me. Just touch me so I'd get awake and it would all go away. Turns out I was just whimpering in my sleep.....sometimes Rick would hear it and he'd shake me to awaken me.

They started when I was very, very young...probably around 4 or 5. Sometimes I would go through periods where they would occur every night for a month or more. And then they'd go away for months on end before they came back. I was so scared to sleep and I did everything I could to avoid even going to bed. I slept on the couch with the tv on. I slept with music playing....anything to avoid hearing that gong-sound.

With night terrors, the dreamer doesn't usually remember the dreams upon awakening. I always did and it would be hours before I could go back to sleep. And even though it's been years since I heard that sound of the gong, I still remember what it sounds like. I can still relate what happened to me during those times.

It was years before I could just go to bed and drop off to sleep. Even now, I sleep with the tv on. DH will awaken sometimes around 2:00 or so and he'll turn it off. I've just gotten to the point in the last five years or so, that I can go to bed when DH is out of town. I can go to bed and have all the lights in the house turned off. If the tv is on, that's all the light I need and the sound is turned down very low. For years, I would sleep on the couch when he was away because I was too scared to go to bed. And all the lights in the house were blazing throughout the night. It's just the way it was. God help me if the power would go off during the night and I'd be alone in the dark. I'd probably have a heart attack.

I'm not crazy; at least I don't think I am. Night terrors are more common than people realize.

my4llma · Aug 25, 2011

Originally Posted by Winchester

I used to suffer from a kind of night terrors. It's simply awful and I tried to avoid sleeping for years because of them. I would work nights as much as I could, just so I could sleep during the day. And even now, more often than not, I'll go to sleep with the television on, just at a low sound, simply so that it will block out things. DH knows about them and it's OK that the tv is on.

At the point of dropping off to sleep, I would hear a gong, a metallic sound. And from then on, I couldn't move a muscle. I swore I was completely awake and completely lucid. I just couldn't move. I would hear a radio or a tv with a newsman talking about events that happened years ago. I would "feel" a large beast-type thing at the foot of the bed. I would hear very heavy breathing so close to me that I could almost feel the breaths. Sometimes I would feel people in the bedroom; I couldn't see them, but I knew they were there. I would hear music playing very faintly. The whole time, I was completely paralyzed. I always thought I was screaming for DH to please, please awaken me. Just touch me so I'd get awake and it would all go away. Turns out I was just whimpering in my sleep.....sometimes Rick would hear it and he'd shake me to awaken me.

They started when I was very, very young...probably around 4 or 5. Sometimes I would go through periods where they would occur every night for a month or more. And then they'd go away for months on end before they came back. I was so scared to sleep and I did everything I could to avoid even going to bed. I slept on the couch with the tv on. I slept with music playing....anything to avoid hearing that gong-sound.

With night terrors, the dreamer doesn't usually remember the dreams upon awakening. I always did and it would be hours before I could go back to sleep. And even though it's been years since I heard that sound of the gong, I still remember what it sounds like. I can still relate what happened to me during those times.

It was years before I could just go to bed and drop off to sleep. Even now, I sleep with the tv on. DH will awaken sometimes around 2:00 or so and he'll turn it off. I've just gotten to the point in the last five years or so, that I can go to bed when DH is out of town. I can go to bed and have all the lights in the house turned off. If the tv is on, that's all the light I need and the sound is turned down very low. For years, I would sleep on the couch when he was away because I was too scared to go to bed. And all the lights in the house were blazing throughout the night. It's just the way it was. God help me if the power would go off during the night and I'd be alone in the dark. I'd probably have a heart attack.

I'm not crazy; at least I don't think I am. Night terrors are more common than people realize.

Sounds also like Sleep Paralysis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Paralysis

It feels like someone is on top of you holding you down. You are awake, aware of everything in the room. You can't move. You can see things, and hear things. You can't scream. It's very scary. It happens to me when I'm waking up. Started having that happen every once in awhile as a teenager, now almost all the time.

Winchester · Aug 25, 2011

Originally Posted by My4LLMA

Sounds also like Sleep Paralysis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Paralysis

It feels like someone is on top of you holding you down. You are awake, aware of everything in the room. You can't move. You can see things, and hear things. You can't scream. It's very scary. It happens to me when I'm waking up. Started having that happen every once in awhile as a teenager, now almost all the time.

You know, you're right. It does sound more like paralysis than terrors. I never wake up like what they're describing as terrors....it's always like paralysis. Beasts and people and shapes. The breathing, the voices. It's sleep paralysis. I've heard that it often goes away as people get older. Mine have not dissipated...I still get them, but I have months in between episodes.

So you have them, too, only when you're awakening. I have them and they start just as the point where I'm dropping off into sleep. I know that they can be caused by the body going into REM sleep before the mind does. Or the mind coming out of REM sleep before the body does. So there is a scientific explanation. It doesn't make me feel any better about it when I'm in the midst of it though.

Either way, it's so terrifying. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I'm not. It completely freaks me out when it happens and it takes me weeks to get over them.

There was a guy where I used to work and we used to talk about all kinds of things. One night he asked me why I looked so tired. So I started telling him what was going on. Turns out he had them, too; he knew exactly what I was talking about. I think it's more common than people realize.

angela.barnes38 · Oct 31, 2011

Daytime napping could also be symptoms of a sleeping disorder! I would recommend you get a sleep test done – a simple polysomnogram monitors sleep patterns, breathing, snoring, heart rhythm, blood oxygen levels and leg movements. Sleep specialists evaluate the results and get to the bottom of your sleeping problem. I sleep better now under treatment, but I’ve also taken to a regular exercise routine and a healthier diet, which I think helps.

starryeyedtiger · Nov 1, 2011

Have you considered having a sleep study done? It might be a good idea for you if you're having issues sleeping! My cardiologist referred me to have one a few months ago at a sleep clinic, and I found out I had OSA that relates to complications I had from a heart procedure I had done the prior year.I hadn't been sleeping well at night and was miserable trying to breathe! Once they figured out what was going on, they were able to help me, and now I'm sleeping better at night! It might be worth a shot for you to talk to your doctor about a sleep study.

Sleep disorders

parsleysage

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Thread starter

carolpetunia

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orangeishcat

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kara_leigh

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sweetpea24

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-_aj_-

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parsleysage

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Thread starter

Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies

my4llma

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Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies

angela.barnes38

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starryeyedtiger

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