Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

[firecoral417]

I figured, after posting a couple things, I'd introduce myself.

My name is Coral. I'm 28 living in South Florida. I have a 3 year old son and boyfriend. My earliest sleep memories involve me laying in bed for a long time trying to get to sleep. When I was 8 is when I understood how to tell time, what times "normal" stuff happened, and the concept of time itself (e.g. how long an hour is), and also when I got my first alarm clock. This is when I first consciously realized that I was going to sleep much later than anyone else I knew. At just 8 years old, my normal sleep time was anywhere from midnight to 2am -- my bedtime was 8, so you can just imagine how bored I was at night!

Regardless of lack of sleep, I always managed to get to school on time. Until I got into high school. About half-way through my 9th grade year, I took a turn for the worse. I wasn't getting to sleep until 5am and needed to wake up at 5:30 to get ready for school. School didn't start til 7:45, but I had to wake up earlier because I was in a magnet program for Computer Programming and attended a school outside of my district. Anyway, only 30 min of sleep a night led to me sleeping through every class. My mom even started having me take a note for all my teachers to sign to say whether I stayed awake in class that day or not. At the end of the year, I was expelled due to my sleeping. The magnet program could only allot for so many students and they would rather have someone who would stay awake. This was the first time my disorder affected me.

The next high school I went to gave detention to tardy students. It's a little hard to explain their procedures for this, but basically they would give detention for 2-3 consecutive days of tardiness for one day to fill up detention. So if I was late Mon, Tues, Wed, I would have detention the next Monday for all three day of being late. Well, the office people got to know me well since I was late everyday. They caught onto this and started asking me which was the last day I was scheduled for detention to make sure that I was being penalized for every time I was late. On the last day of school before Winter Vacation started, they asked me when the last day I was scheduled for detention. I pulled out my stack of slips, flipped to the last one and said,"March 15". Yes. By mid December I had already accrued 3 months worth of detention! All because I couldn't get there in time.

Once I was out of high school and started working full-time, it got worse again. I tried working swing shifts and night jobs. This didn't really work because I wasn't built for those schedules either. I adjusted to them and would still be late. I've been working full-time for 11 years, and within that time have been fired from 4 jobs because of my punctuality... currently working on a 5th. 3 other jobs I ended up quitting because I couldn't stand the sarcasm ("glad you decided to join us today" or "she's awake!" etc) and also because I would end up feeling too ashamed to even go back. The only other job I had was PERFECT! I got to make my own schedule which was 11pm to 4am. I was never late! Unfortunately, I had to quit that job because I was a sales rep for a cigarette company and I got pregnant -- it's not easy for a pregnant lady to sell cigarettes!!

I've been fired from 3 jobs since having the baby. The place I work now is a little more acceptable of my problem. I've only gotten "the lecture" about 6 times in the past year. But you know how it is; wake up, yell at yourself, wonder why nothing can be done, wish you could change, invent a new method to try out that night, speed to work, hope nobody says anything, work your ass off to make up for the 2 hours you missed, take naps in the bathroom, come home tired as hell thinking you will go to sleep early and come 9:00pm you suddenly realize you're completely alert and there's no way you're going to bed early and you wonder what happened to that fatigue that plagued you all day. ::sigh::

So, that's my life in a nutshell. Probably nothing too different from everyone else here. It's somewhat weird that I feel comforted by the fact that I found people with the same exact problem as me. I wish none of us had it, but I'm so happy that it's not just me! According to Wikipedia 1 in 2000 people have this problem! I find that number to be a little high. I've never, personally, known anyone who shares the same problem as me. I feel like a leper!

[smak451]

I'm sorry to say I'm laughing a little because you describe me so well! I also thought I was the only one out of millions and saw the 1 in 2000 figure and didn't believe it myself. Another poster here discussed the use of Ayahuasca, and since I have found several others who have had long term success with this. The pharmacology of this substance is such that it affects serotonin receptors, as well as the area of the brain that regulates (or doesn't) circadian rhythms. I encourage you to do your own research (it is quite controversial) -- you can start with Wikipedia and follow the reference links at the end (the National Geographic article is quite interesting). I would also recommend doing somewhat extensive research before drawing any conclusions. Not many people seem to post here, so for now it's you and I. Welcome, and no, I have not yet experiences the joys of parenthood. Best of luck in your research. I'm happy to help anyway I can. -- Steve