intro post

[party_of1]

 hi. im ariel. its 12:59am. ive got quite the vicious cycle here: i take an insane amount of time to fall asleep, then i cant STAY asleep, which gets made up for by "sleeping late" in the morning. the quotes are there cause its not really sleeping late cause i didnt really fall asleep until maybe 4 or 5am. so then i get my sleep, but then that night, once again, i cant get to sleep.
my mom turned me onto these tablets called MidNights, theyre self-dissolving and non habit forming. only one is supposed to be enough; i took two last night and still managed to see 4-something am on my clock. and i had things i NEEDED to do today (college open house, anyone?) which started early, so i couldnt really stay in bed and catch up, but when i did get back i crashed from 3 something til around 7. now, as per usual, im WIDE awake.
i have been diagnosed and medicated for depression (actually thats how i got here, someone on a depression comm linked me here.), and i take welbutrin. it was suggested that i take it at the same time every morning so i could 'get a move on' so i wouldnt be up late. mom and dad and i chose 8:30am for med time. so, in addition to my evil sleep cycle, i also wake up at various times thinking i missed my window but it winds up only being like, 4am. but i hate the way alarms pretty much SCARE me awake, so no alarms. so i dont really think it was ONLY the meds keeping me up, before. its gotta be something else. but i have no idea what. i dont know about a sleep cycle/circadian rhythm or whatever. i did keep a sleep journal for about 2 weeks, but when i did the math, it said i wasnt losing any sleep (probaly cause i make up for what i lost by sleeping in).

TL,DR:
1)cant go to sleep
2)when i go, i cant stay asleep (whatever non med reason)
3)cant stay asleep (med reason)
4)finally fall and stay asleep early morning
5)make up for lost night time sleep w/ daytime sleep
6)because of #5, we're back at #1

Comments

[party_of1]

thanks! i went to the dsps link you put in, and im kinda thinking that thats it. thats what i got. although i dont remember how i was with sleep as a kid, i didnt really notice until i was in college. id go in from about 10 to maybe, 3pm and come home and just CRASH from the moment i got home til late that night. the only thing really keeping me from sleeping late and making up for it was that i had to go in for classes. for awhile, when i need to make an appointment for something, id say "im a mid-morning person" (mid morning for ME meaning anywhere from 11am and on).
i have googled 'sleep disorder quizzes' but dont really know which one really fits me when i get results, except that i know i dont have apnea, cause my dad does and my symptoms dont really match for that. but dsps sounds like what it is.

[synecdochic]

Yeah, I've heard estimates that like 10-15% of cases diagnosed as insomnia are really DSPS. If you can keep to a regular sleep schedule that's just time-shifted differently -- like, if you have no problems falling asleep if you're regularly sleeping from 3am-11am, but regularly have problems falling asleep if you're trying to sleep from 10pm-6am, that might very well be DSPS.

I'd start with the melatonin and light therapy, and keep a good sleep log with notes on what you try and how it works, and head for a sleep disorder specialist if it continues being a problem for you! Good luck. :)