DSPS

[breezeshadow]

So when I went to the psychiatrist today I ended up mentioning my observations about sleep, since I was supposed to look into a sleep study and had forgotten. Ultimately I told her about how I seem to want to go to bed at 3AM and wake up at 11AM -- and how I have so much trouble getting to bed "on time" because I concentrate best around 1-2AM, when I just suddenly wake up and am like "Yeah! Homework! Let's do this! All right!" even though I may even feel physically fatigued. I try to do this during the day and my brain cannot focus for more than five to ten minutes.

So she informally mentioned it sounded like a circadian rhythm disorder, which I think sounds about right. My guess it is DSPS or some nature of that.

She recommended light therapy as the best non-chemical option for me, since my body really, truly despises medication (as you would notice any time I popped by fucking_meds ). I need to look into it myself and see if my insurance would cover it, but I figured I'd pop by here first.

Anyone have DSPS and have some success in treating it? I tend to sleep through alarms and my doctor wants me to get people to wake me up, but I don't want to inconvenience anyone. Anyone have any luck with light therapy? Or anything else they may recommend to get my body to cooperate and let me wake up when society wants me to?

Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated. :)

Comments

[vass]

Reading this at 5:03am: yes, I have DSPS. For the few months I rented a lightbox from the sleep clinic, it did start to adjust my sleep cycle, although not as fast as my sleep psychologist thought it should. I'm planning on getting my own when I can afford it.

[herlander_refugee]

I likewise have issues with sleep and waking on the presumed ideal schedule. Most of my life forced me up before dawn, and I staggered zombie-like through my days!

Now, I don't rise before the sun, but I do get up between seven and eight o'clock and I do use a very bright light for the first hour of email reading and such on my computer. It sits less than 18 inches from me and dazzles me awake. Most nights now, I CAN get to sleep around midnight.

I, too, dislike meds. I find few that enhance my life and many that disrupt my already delicate balance. Good luck...and I would certainly give the lights a try.