[b_salzetti]

I read through the symptoms of dsps and it fits but the only other thing is that I do not feel rested during the day with any amount of sleep. Is this still dsps or could it be something else? Also, how do I go about getting myself to fall asleep, my wife is in bed at 10 pm and I'm up till 2 or 3.

[RIGGS]

I had the same problem, I'd get enough sleep just never felt rested. Turns out I also have sleep apnea, you may need to do a sleep clinic to diagnose that. I highly recommend a place that will work around YOUR sleep/awake schedule and if your overweight (even by 20 pounds) tell them you think you may have sleep apnea. The problem I ran into was they started me out assuming I didn't have sleep apnea and by the time they diagnosed that at the sleep clinic it was too late to do anything else so I had to come back to get the DSPS diagnosis (2x the deductible and lost work etc... over $1500) that I really needed.

Of course even with the diagnosis there is nothing they can do for you, hell once I got the sleep apnea diagnosis the doc I was seeing for the DSPS kicked me out of the trial he was doing because I didn't 'fit' anymore.

If your married or have a gf that will stick it out have her watch you sleep, sleep apnea is hard to miss and she can wake you up when you stop breathing or roll you onto your side to lessen the effects. If that is your issue get a CPAP machine and look into a drug called rozerem, With the drug and CPAP I find I can at least get a restful night sleep even if it's 3-4am-10-11am instead of 10pm-6am.


Toby

[hope512]

Hi, I also have DSPS and my sleep is rubbish (I put the polite version, LOL). I think I have onset insomnia and maintenance insomnia. Great huh? I never feel refreshed by the sleep I get. I think I get about 4-6 hours a day. I don't nap. Maybe I should but I have enough trouble getting to sleep at any time!

You might have another sleep related problem. Some kind of insomnia (apparently there are 11 types), restless legs (although I guess your wife could tell you if you have that, LOL), sleep apnoea (can't spell it, but it's interrupted breathing through the night for maybe as little as 10 seconds at a time), or something else. Have you spoken to your doctor about it? Maybe keep a sleep diary, look at your sleep hygiene - how you prepare for bed. Perhaps consider if there's depression (you know alot of time sleep problems are attributed to depression whereas it's the sleep problem making the person depressed!). There is obviously something else wrong. As far as I know, people with DSPS usually sleep well, but just at a different time to most people. I'm not sure you can change when you sleep if that's how your body clock is adjusted. Perhaps with bright light therapy or chronotherapy you might be able to make some difference. (Chronotherapy is going to bed and waking later and later each day for about a week until the desired wake time is achieved, but it's not easy or always effective and needs to be done with a sleep doctor).

I'm not sure I've been of any help! Anway, at least you are with people who understand. It's been great finding this forum. I've had a lot of people think I'm just lazy or difficult which is devastating as I try so hard to be able to do things at the 'right' time.