I have never slept so much.....

[badnights]

@jy
No, that's not it at all. No matter what work schedule I put myself on, my body reads the sun and says 'OK it's sleepy time', and it reads the darkness and says 'OK time to wake up'.

Actually I have no idea what my body is reading, but that's the end result. My brain is half-asleep in the day - some days I can't shake the grogginess off for the life of me - and it perks right up about 8 or 10 PM.

The opioids have a role to play in all this. The alertness always comes 2-3 hours after taking them, and I've moved the time I take them by a few hours, for a few weeks, and I still get the alertness 2-3 hrs after taking them, so I'm pretty sure it's related to the meds and not the amount of light in the sky.

But sometimes i wonder if there isn't something else going on there. I can flip so suddenly from being ok in the days to RIGHT NOW needing to sleep and sleep, unable to shake it off, even go for a walk and I'm still in a torpor (and what a horror those days are when the WED is acting up). I don't see how that might be related to the opioids; it doesn't seem to happen at a consistent time, otherwise I might suspect it happened when they wore off. But what happens next is clearly related to the opioids: I take my meds come evening, and 2-3 hrs later I'm brilliantly awake, even if I fended off the need to sleep all day and by all rights should be falling over asleep on my feet.

I don't know if Ann has things exactly the same way, but she has the same paradoxical alerting effect from (some?) opioids.

[rthom]

Beth
I have the same type thing going on and have had all my life. Sleepy during the day especially in the early afternoon till about 5-6 and then i notice that between 3-6 I've wakened right up and looking forward to a long wakeful night. I don't think mine is the opioid as it's always been that way for me, meds or not, even when i was young. Your timing is great as yesterday i was going to ask just that question here--but opted not to deciding it was likely just me and not likely the product of the wed. As a result, I've always been inclined to take night jobs.

[cornelia]

Beth, I think the variety of your daytime QoL which I experience too has probably to do with the unnoticed PLM's during the night that while you are asleep. They are not the same everynight, which is typical of RLS. Sometimes they are covered well by the meds, sometimes not and everything in between. Well, that is how I see it.

Corrie

[ViewsAskew]

I've always had a "long" clock, even as a child. If I go to bed a 10 PM tonight, tomorrow I'll want to stay up two hours later. I'd guess that my clock is about 25.5 to 26 hours. I'd also like to sleep 9 to 10 hours - always have. Since my body's day is longer, it also wants to sleep longer.

Add to that many other things. Opioids make me feel more functional and awake instead of making me sleepy - as with Beth (and yes, it's the same with all I've tried). I hate bedtime after years of associating it with torture. i also hate bedtime for some unknown reason - I'd just rather stay up and do things now than have to do them in the morning....maybe because I'm not very functional for the first part of the day and have always counted on my brain to be awake at night, so I trust he work it does in the evening more than in the morning.

I'm actually still up at 7':30 in the morning....about to head off to bed now. I'll make myself get up by 1 PM so that I can get at least something accomplished work-related. That will also make me more likely to be tired tonight. I stay up this long at least once every two weeks and sometimes every week. Most methadone nights I can get myself into bed 3-4 AM, but not always.

[rthom]

This is my experience as well Ann I fell asleep about an hour ago--a little before 8 am and have been awake for about 35min (phone call) anyway, i can not go back to sleep but more to your point, do not like to sleep at night and if i get awakened in the day would find it hard to try to sleep again--frustration.
So I am up till tomorrow morning even if i wanted to sleep at any time before it just can't happen. I prefer it on an emotional level--the night is easier on me if i'm not trying to "fight it". Making myself try to sleep is just fighting it and too hard/negitive for me.

[Chipmunk]

Beth, I think the variety of your daytime QoL which I experience too has probably to do with the unnoticed PLM's during the night that while you are asleep. They are not the same everynight, which is typical of RLS. Sometimes they are covered well by the meds, sometimes not and everything in between. Well, that is how I see it.

Corrie

I concur - for me, sudden drowsiness is a sign that I got less sleep than usual and, if I can, I take a nap. Anytime my body will let me sleep, I'm on board!

[Chipmunk]

I've always had a "long" clock, even as a child. If I go to bed a 10 PM tonight, tomorrow I'll want to stay up two hours later. I'd guess that my clock is about 25.5 to 26 hours. I'd also like to sleep 9 to 10 hours - always have. Since my body's day is longer, it also wants to sleep longer.

I would also agree with this - it's quite difficult for me to stick to a regular schedule because I can't go to sleep at the same time every night. I try to expose myself to bright light immediately after waking and limit iPod Touch and computer time before bed because the light can keep me up.

Even so, I look forward to when (if) my life will allow me to experiment with a 26 hour day.

[badnights]

Me three on the 26-hr day! I've always been that way.

But I was not always a night owl like you, rthom. That only happened sometime after the WED got bad.

@cornelia, I didn't consider PLMs but it could be the culprit. I don't know what a good sleep is supposed to feel like anymore. (I Do know my daytime WED is getting bad ) I'm not likely to be able to get another sleep study anytime soon, although it sure would be nice to know how I'm doing now that I'm "stable" on my meds. The Zeo was telling me I was getting a sum of 8-15 minutes of deep sleep per night, in pieces. Enough to make me stop using the Zeo :> (actually I stopped because it caused welts on my forehead).

[charles]

Is it my methadone that makes me so tired??? I sleep every time I have a chance....after work, on the weekends, sometimes at my computer at work, on my lunch break. I take tramadol 100 Mgs throughout the day and 5-15 Mgs of methadone throughout evening and bed. I only use enough medicine as it takes to accomplish one goal...relieve my WED symptoms. It's frustrating that to accomplish that I have to take so much medication that I am THIS tired all the time.

Sleep is good , however , there is a very good chance that the Methadone alone would give you results. Review with your physician , and try it.