Newbie – approx diagnosis wanted!
Question:
Hi all, I’m new ‘ere and have read a few posts but cant see anyone with my issues but saw a TV program about a guy who had some of my issues so i figured I might get somewhere here. Since I was 6 I’ve not slept properly – always go to bed late and could sleep in late if I let myself but I have to get up for work. I’ll try to shorten this by bulletpointing where I can: 1) Cant sleep before 2am at the earliest (sometimes 3:30), my mind finds something (anything) to think about. And I dont mean worry, i have no stresses AT ALL in my life (lucky me). I just think about what I’d like to do with this, or what i might do tomorrow etc. Again, I must stress, im the worlds most laid back person lol. 2) If I lie in bed I just get restless and more and more frustrated until i get up and do something. Once I’ve got up I’ll be awake through til 330. 3) if left alone I’d sleep until 10am ish, but I have to get up at 7:30. I dont feel too bad from this but I can easily sleep again on the train on the way too and from work. If I sleep the full 35 mins on the train I’m awake and lively, if I sleep just a few stops I’m in a foul mood lol. 4) One beer will have me conked out from 10pm til 10am unless I force myself to stay awake! I’ve started to feel that its affecting my body recently – just memory and eyes starting to feel a little unhappy by the end of the day. Thing is I dont seem to be able to go back to normal. I’ve tried sleep restriction (getting up earlier or going to bed later) but no effect from this – i seem to survive as well on a week of 4 hour sleeps as on a week of 8 hour sleeps. I’ve tried forcing myself to sleep 11-6 but that just drives me nuts. I’ve tried staying awake for 3 days in a row (wasnt too hard to be honest but I did get grouchy lol) and hoping to make myself knackered and reset myself. forced myself to try to sleep 11-7 for the next few nights but again I always go back to 2or3 – 7:30. I just cant sleep at normal times. Yet somehow I dont feel 100% from it. Any ideas greatly appreciated. James
Response:
It would seem to me that your circadian rythm is all out of whack. You can reset your incternal ‘clock’ with a light box. There are some very good sites with instructions on how to use a lite box to do this, plus they are also used to treat SAD (seasonal affective disorder) as well so you might even end up happier as a result, he,he. The one I have used for the last year in order to reset my ‘clock’ is called the Litebook. It is small (about the size of a small book) and portable with a carrying case and fits in a purse (if you carry a purse, he,he). I can take it anywhere with me. It is powerful. Check out the site at www.litebook.com There is alot of info there. There are also some other good sites which people have posted here regarding lite boxes to change your circadian rythm. If I find them I will post them for you.
Response:
Ok, here is the site you need to check out. http://www.apollolight.com They have a little test you can take to see if you need to reset your circadian rhythm and then design a specific method for your particular needs. All free and instant. Worth checking out. (You do need a lite box of some sort though to follow their plan).
Response:
ok this sounds like Delayed sleep phase syndrome. In this disorder, the biological clock, located deep in the brain, slows down. Its mostly found in adolescent kids . A patient with delayed sleep phase syndrome doesn’t begin to feel sleepy until the wee hours of the morning. When normal waking time rolls around, he or she is in deep sleep and quite difficult to wake. And, because the mechanism that triggers drowsiness is delayed, going to bed early doesn’t help. Until the biological clock enters sleep mode, the patient will toss and turn for hours. Does That sound Like you ? Trying the supplement Melatonin plus this other stuff on the web link below. This all should help yea out. The light therapy already talked about in the last thread is a part of the Treatment for it. Treatment for it can be found Here www.sleepdisorderchannel.net/dsps/treatment.shtml
Response:
Coyoteboy wrote: > Since I was 6 I’ve not slept properly – always go to bed late and
I agree that you should check out DSPS ( delayed sleep phase syndrome). By all means try out the different methods to get into a normal sleeping pattern. But with the comment above, it is very likely that being awake till the wee hours is normal for you, and in that case nothing might work. I am like that; basically born to sleep when it gets light. It seems for me as I was getting older the problem started to be more pronounced as getting by on little sleep became harder. Good luck
Response:
"DocVoodoo" <bjn…@hotmail.com> wrote in message > Does That sound Like you ?
Precisely like me in fact. I’m so asleep when i have to wake up that i can a) forget everything I’ve done in the first hour after getting up by the time lunch rolls around and b)can have entire conversations with people from my bed, sounds awake, answer sensibly, but not know anything of it when i get up. This has led to some arguments lol 
> Trying the supplement Melatonin plus this other stuff on the web link > below. This all should help yea out. The light therapy already talked > about in the last thread is a part of the Treatment for it. > Treatment for it can be found Here > www.sleepdisorderchannel.net/dsps/treatment.shtml
Cheers for the links, I’ll give these solutions a shot. I kind of like being able to stay awake into the early hours, its just the feeling like death the next day I dnt like! Cheers James
Response:
> Trying the supplement Melatonin plus this other stuff on the web link
If Melatonin doesn’t work, try Valerin. I use it periodically as a last resort and have found good results.
