Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:28 am

Just after I posted the above, I ran across this in my inbox: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index. ... cle/7937-1

woodsie357 · Post by **woodsie357** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:20 am

Zach wrote:Please be real careful about letting him take OTC sleep aids..

He gets his meds from his psych Doctor. Nothing over the coutner, that crap will kill ya (':wink:')

[quote ="Zach"] You should sit down and talk with him about his leg problems, without dropping as many clues as possible, to rule out unconscious mimicking, etc and then decide if you need to speak with the doctor about possibly confirming a diagnosis.[/quote]

Very good advice. I swear sometimes I just don't think of things. IE: I lived on a one way street on a steep hill. So when it snowed I just knew I was stuck. after 3 years I realized I could go right in front of the house and down the alley which was FLAT. Took me 3 years to figure that out.

[quote ="Zach"] RLS has been diagnosed in young people, but I'm not sure what the figures are on the rarity.. I think Dr. B or one of the other experts mentioned diagnosing someone as young as 3 years old, but I'm not dead certain about that. I do remember someone, somewhere commenting on this though.[/quote] :roll:

I honestly think I'm in denial about it. I think it goes back to not wanting to wish it on your worst enemy. It would hurt to bad to think of my son having it.

Thank you for the good information.

Ann- I do wonder if he wants to just be in the club at times too, but then I know how horrible it is, and I know that its so frustrating to be met with doubt all the time. "Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away ..." That's probably not the best approach, but its' the one I've been taking. "I'll work on it I promise you!"

woodsie357 · Post by **woodsie357** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:21 am

forgive me for my lack of quoting skills. You can see what I attempted to do at least.

Much love for my RLS friends! :oops:

SquirmingSusan · Post by **SquirmingSusan** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:45 am

I'm pretty sure now that more I'm out in bright daylight the worse my sleep phase disorder becomes. I was doing really well for a while. I was able to get up in the morning and take half a Provigil, and then stay awake all day, or if I only got a few hours of sleep, take a nap later in the day.

Then, my dh and I drove my daughter to the west side of the metro area from where we live on the east metro, to drop her off for the bus to Aspie camp. It was a bright, bright sunny day and I made my dh drive because I just don't drive in the mornings. But he had a meeting in the morning, so we drove back to his place of employment, and I had to drive home from there. It's about a 20 minute drive home on a good day.

I had taken half a Provigil, but by the time we got to Jim's work, I was so sleepy I could hardly stand it. I was fighting to stay awake on the drive home, but obviously I made it. Then I crashed for about 6 hours. And the next day I just couldn't wake up in the morning at all. I haven't been able to for the last week.

Today we picked up the daughter from camp (her first camp experience ever that she wasn't singled out as being weird, and really had a blast) and it was a bright sunny day. And even though I slept until 1pm, I've been fighting sleep ever since. Well, until the sun set. Now I'm feeling better.

So I had this thought today - what if I turn on my SAD light late at night? And then wear really dark sunglasses during the day if I'm outside, and weak sunglasses inside so that my eyes aren't so irritated? I wonder if I can fake out my system and make it think that day is night and night is day. :wink:

Then maybe I can sleep during what my body thinks is day (which is really night) and be awake during what my body thinks is night (but which is really day). Hmmm. It's definitely worth a try! Oh the crazy things we do to try to survive our various sleep disorders. :roll:

I'll let you know if it works.

Aiken · Post by **Aiken** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:07 pm

I've been fighting delayed sleep phase for the last two weeks. I'm usually on a 3:30am bedtime, but lately I cannot sleep until about 6-7am. This is wreaking havoc with my work.

Alas, I'm just whining and have no solutions.

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 4:09 am

Aiken wrote:I've been fighting delayed sleep phase for the last two weeks. I'm usually on a 3:30am bedtime, but lately I cannot sleep until about 6-7am. This is wreaking havoc with my work.

Alas, I'm just whining and have no solutions.

I hear you. I went to sleep at 7 AM today, 8 AM yesterday, 6 AM the day before....and on and on for the last two weeks. The RLS is partially to blame, but even when it wears off around 4 AM, I don't want to go to sleep. I'll whine with you.

SquirmingSusan · Post by **SquirmingSusan** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 11:09 am

Oh, whine away. This disorder really sucks.

But messing with the lighting seems to have helped me already. The night before last I turned on all the lights (oy vey, my electric bill) and just stared into them until sleepiness overcame me at about 3am. I was sleepy all day, but then last night I fell asleep watching TV at about 11pm. I woke up at 5am, and so far I'm not drowsy...

Of course whenever I wake up in the morning and actually have energy, I'm faced with the question of: what do I do in the morning? I haven't been awake in the morning for years, so it freaks me out.

Aiken · Post by **Aiken** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:59 pm

Heh, yeah. On the rare occasion that I'm awake in the morning, usually from still being awake, I always feel like, "Hmm, I don't belong here."

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:48 am

Yesterday I was still awake at 9 AM, so I decided to go for a long walk. How weird! I got to Costco before they opened. There were LOADS of people in the parking lot WAITING for them to open. So that's what people do when they get up early!