Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

[daysleeper]

Hi
I just joined this forum. Its 9:30 am and have not slept. Lately I go to sleep at 10 am wake up at 6 pm, dont see much daylight. Cant seem to sleep until I am exhausted. I have always had sleep problems, but in winter it gets really bad, especially when they change the clocks, I hate them for doing that. Its hard to function as far as looking for work or taking care of business, its very disturbing. People have always treated me like crap because of my sleep. In school I didnt do as well cause I was always tired. If they had school at night I would have done better. I cant stand mornings at all or morning people. I like to be up late at night, I can think better, but now I am laid off, and this is ridiculous. I also have SAD and have a lightbox. sometimes I think i have it on for too long, I get wired from it, but its better than being depressed. I cant take melatonin it makes me super depressed and feel like S***, you couldnt pay me enough to take it. I tried Valerian root and doesnt do much. If I take 2 I feel horrible the next "day" depressed , cant wake up. I have a hell of a time waking up, I feel like I am on nasty drugs or something even without these stupid pills, when I try to wake up, even at 6 pm. I used to smoke pot and it helped for a while but now I quit cause it makes me too passive and people take advantage of that. So WTF ? Who's got the answers on here? This sucks! Thanks for listening...

[hardhatsrequired]

Daysleeper:
I have a sleep pattern somewhat similar to yours and unfortunately so does my 14yr old daughter. I have had to pull her from school and home school her. I had to educate the high school on sleep disorders. Anyways, I believe if they did have school at night, a lot of us would have done a lot better. I am not stupid, my last IQ test was 131. About the average of what they all have been. My daughter is not stupid either. She was getting a lot of flack from her teachers because she missed so much school. I had enough. 2nd & 3rd shift jobs were developed just for people like us! Don't worry, you are not along. You use the lights? Are they effective? Melatonin messes with some meds, FYI. I honestly don't know why they would but some of my kids RX say Melatonin interferes with the effectiveness of their RX. Do you have any idea why that might be when we naturally have Melatonin in our bodies? Doesn't make any sense to me....... LOL
~Hardhatsrequired~

[daysleeper]

Hi Hardhat!
Yeah I knew there were others like me! My sleep schedule gets this bad only in winter.
I live in Minnesota, and the cold doesnt help. In the summer I work a lot, but I dont have to be to work till noon, or 1 pm. Now Im laid off. In addition to the school problems, my parents, various roommates, and worst of all girlfreinds have given me a lot of grief. Frankly it drove a lot of girlfreinds crazy. People dont get it, they think im just being worthless and lazy. My father used to get off throwing cold water on me to wake me up. I almost punched him out for that. Its just another form of prejudice. I have a SAD lightbox. I have it by my computer, and use it daily. I have not been instructed in its use, and dont really use it for a specific length of time, or at a specific time. I may have overused it, which may have compunded my sleep phase problem. It does help the SAD. They have some sunglasses type SAD lights that may be less dangerous to the eyes. My box is very bright. Melotonin for me was a horrible thing. I will never ever take it again. Sorry to say Im back to self medicating with the pot. It seems to help some. I saw on some site where they said cannabis has been used to treat sleep disorders. Anyway, at least Im more mellow about my condition! LOL

[hardhatsrequired]

A lot of people don't understand. There are a lot of states legalizing cannibas but the govt doesn't want to. I think it's because they make too much money off it being illegal. It does mellow you out but I used to get sick in the morning after. Maybe because of the munchies, who knows. Now I just sleep when I sleep. Screws everything up. If I find an answer I'll let you know!
~hardhatsrequired~

[daysleeper]

Thanks HH
I will keep you posted too. Cant wait till spring, then mine gets somewhat better...

Daysleeper

[hardhatsrequired]

after the time change right?

[olgitafajita]

Hi,

You probably have Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder. It's a circadian rhythm disturbance that makes people most awake at night and sleepy if they have to get up early in the day.

There are some (imperfect) treatments for it, but it might be worthwhile to look it up.

[hardhatsrequired]

Olgita....
I believe this is what my daughter and I have. I read "Inner Time" by Carol Orlock. The book goes into great detail about DSPS. I pulled my daughter out of public school and I am home schooling her because of this. She does well when we work on "her" schedule. We have an appointment on the 22nd with a pediatric pulmonologist to discuss her sleep issues. I have been doing massive research on this and 7% of adolescents have DSPS. The school she was attending got an education about DSPS when I got really upset about the way they were treating her. She has ADHD and was in the 504 program. I truly believe the educators at that school do NOT have a clue. I don't know if the 504 program is fairly new there but they do not comply with the guidelines. I notified our states Department of Education and let them know what happened and that I was NOT very happy. (putting it mildly). This is a real problem and it needs to be addressed.
Thanks for you input. If you have more information you would like to share, please do so. I really do appreciate it.
Hard Hats Required

[Katie B]

Hello Daysleeper

I'm Kate from England and SO glad to find other freaks/sufferers like me. I've been living with this since I was 8 years old (35 now) and have never met another person with DSPS. Must be because you're all in America... I've lost jobs, friends and relationships because of this disorder and I'm bloody sick of it.

I have tried melatonin, chronotherapy or whatever it's called, alcohol and various other substance abuse, and as I'm sure you know NOTHING WORKS.

I'm trying my hardest to hold down a job I hate, and not doing too badly - it's been four years now, but only because my neurologist sent my company a medical report and "encouraged" them to give me a regular late start time of 2pm, so I can get up at 12 every day. If there was a full time night roster I would be on it but unfortunately night shift is only part time.

I'm going to give melatonin another try - did you know it's not legal for our doctors here to prescribe it? I have to order it online. Honestly it's like living in the dark ages.

Wish me luck Day Sleeper.

[hardhatsrequired]

Katie B:
Why would it be illegal to prescribe melatonin? It is a natural substance already in your body? That frustrates me! I am 35 also. Welcome to our club! As my daughters would put it, "welcome to the club, we have T-shirts!" Maybe we should! We should come up with logos that designate us "daysleepers!"
PS we can buy melatonin over the counter, there is a store in the next town that sells it for 99cents a bottle.

Daysleeper: My 14yr old had her appointment with the pediatric pulmonologist. He is having her go and have a sleep study done. He talked about sleep hygiene, etc etc. He upped some of her asthma medicine as she has been sick this year more than usual. I have been getting her up by noon and making her go out and get some natural sunlight everyday (when its not snowing). We will see what the sleep study has to say. They said it takes about 6 weeks to get in for an appointment. I asked about DSPS but he just kinda brushed it off........... urgh! Oh well. We will see.
~HardHatsRequired~