Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

[allals2580]

Hi all,

I was diagnosed with dsps when I was 16, now I am 27. Recently I have been experiencing excessive all day tiredness, meaning I have been falling asleep early just because I can't keep awake. This has only started within the past month, but I wanted to know if anyone else has had this experience. My usual routine is stay up until 2-5am and sleep until noonish, but right now when I get home I just want to go straight to bed and will fall asleep within the hour, so now I am falling asleep by 8-10pm, but still sleeping until 12ish... i have heard that you can oversleep, but wanted to know if anyone else with dsps has had this odd sort of turn around too...? Thanks for any help you can give!

~A

[freeshias4me]

Hello...I'm new to the scene, too.

I have EXACTLY what you have! It's been with me ever since I had my baby 7 months ago. My sleep pattern got altered tremendously from night-time feedings at first, but now she sleeps thru the night. I also had gallbladder attacks shortly after she was born, so had it taken out. I've had LOTS of aches and pains all over my body ever since the gallbladder attacks.

I have been figuring it might be because of the sleep pattern change, or because of the trauma of the gallbladder attacks and surgery, or maybe partly the pain...I don't know.

But my solution? (For now anyways...) I've been working WITH it, not against it.
I LET myself fall asleep early, then when I wake up, I stay awake until I'm sleepy again, or think it's been long enough awake that I should be able to fall asleep again. It doesn't always make for plentiful sleep, but I am lucky... I can nap when my baby does. This probably won't help you, but just airing it out :)

Have you got checked out by a doctor? Maybe there's a medical reason for your tiredness...Or maybe you've got the winter "blahs", like me (want to hibernate...LOL)

I think I'll probably have to change my sleep schedule (once again) as my baby wants fewer and fewer naps as she grows...But I'll deal with it later.

[Cecil Flowen]

I oppened my shades very wide so that the room whould me bathed in sunlight as soon as 8am and it worked pretty well.

[freeshias4me]

I chuckled a bit when I read that last post...Because I can sleep in the broad daylight, with the sun shining right on my face!

[Dione]

I haven't been formally diagnosed, but have had all the dsps symptoms for many years now. I haven't had exactly what you describe but sometimes I get REAL STRONG sleepiness about 2 hours after dinner at night (about 9.30 or something) When I go to get ready for bed then (brush my teeth, let the dog out, all those things...) when I get to bed around 10, I can't sleep! Then when that happens sometimes I'm up because I can't help it, till gone 4 or 5am. Yet I always suspect that if I didn't do all those jobs when the sleepiness came on, and could just slip straight into bed, I would go to sleep straightway. Pity that teeth, and things that need to be done get in the way! Then I'm sure I could sleep 12 hours or even more. I NEVER want to get up in the mornings. NEVER. If there were no things to do in the day I could sleep forever! (Well at least 12 hours)
One thing I wonder.....you could be making up for lost sleep, like there's a deficit, and your body senses you need loads of sleep, that's what's happening. ENJOY!!

[freeshias4me]

"I NEVER want to get up in the mornings. NEVER. If there were no things to do in the day I could sleep forever! (Well at least 12 hours)
One thing I wonder.....you could be making up for lost sleep, like there's a deficit, and your body senses you need loads of sleep, that's what's happening. ENJOY!!"

I'm the same as you... I hate mornings. Feels like I'm half DEAD until late into the afternoon!

I pondered the idea of have a deficit... That I just need more sleep... Before I was married and living at home with my parents, I tried just "letting" myself sleep as much as I wanted...My body only wanted more and more...LOL.
Oddly enough, when I get the LEAST sleep, is when I feel my most energetic! (Too bad you can't live on minimal sleep!)

[Dione]

(Sorry about that post....pressed the wrong button & can't edit)

Yeah, that thing when you get no sleep at all, or two hours or something that really sucks....then you suddenly feel ok...no, you feel energetic and quite strong? I also get that sometimes. It isn't logical, but it does happen It feels supernatural! It is not bi-polar stuff, I am definitely NOT bi-polar. It's some other weird thing. My mother says it's because you're running on adrenalin, or what she calls reserves, and that's why it happens, then you get a low after it. But I don't get that. If I don't sleep couple of nights then when I do sleep again next day I feel just ok.

[RIGGS]

You were diagnosed with DSPS in 1996? I think you were probably diagnosed with a sleep disorder but if your doc knew about DSPS back in '96 I'd REALLY like to know his name as he's a light year ahead of any doc i've ever spoken with.

People with DSPS do not usually suffer from a lack of sleep they just sleep at a different time then everyone else, that not withstanding, those that can force themselves into a 'normal' life style' i.e. up by 8am and off to work every day most likely have a different sleep disorder than DSPS.

At my BEST times I was able to pull off a 9-9:30am schedule for a few months, this was after I was diagnosed with sleep apnea on top of the DSPS (yay me!) I was taking Rozerem and still am 8mg tablets these are a godsend not because they help me live a normal life (I still can't get to sleep much before 2am on a good night) but because they shut my brain off within 20 minutes as long as I dont take them too early. Other people have mixed results with this medication from what i've heard, but for me it doesn't allow me to sleep longer or even get to bed a lot earlier but if i take it at just the right time it can help in the 'process' of sleeping.