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Do you have Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (diagnosed or not)
I definitely have DSPS 52%  52%  [ 17 ]
I have some trouble getting to sleep/waking up 39%  39%  [ 13 ]
I have no problems getting to sleep or waking 9%  9%  [ 3 ]
Total votes : 33

freestyle
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13 Feb 2015, 5:58 pm

Does anyone else have Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (diagnosed or not)? I was diagnosed with ASD a year and a bit ago. I have always had problems getting to sleep and feel like hell in the mornings. I came across the DSPS group on facebook recently and realise that this is definitely what I have. It's a circadian rhythm disorder where your body clock is set to sleep and wake much later than the majority of people and no amount of good will or self-discipline can reset it. What's interesting is that, in discussion, loads of fellow DSPS sufferers report autism-associated issues (perhaps most strikingly: hypersensitivity to various stimuli and social anxiety) In searching these forums, I see that DSPS was last brought up here 8 years ago and many members identified with having it. It'd be really interesting to see what poll results show.



kraftiekortie
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13 Feb 2015, 6:07 pm

I used to sleepwalk until I was about 7 years old.

There are times when I have trouble waking--sometimes, I'm in a "transitional" state where I feel like I'm waking up--but it turns out I was sleeping all along.

If I'm too excited, tense, or anxious, I have trouble sleeping (like most people).



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13 Feb 2015, 6:52 pm

Definitely, or possibly non-24. I worked swing shift for a while once, 5pm-1am, and it was a lot more comfortable than 9-5. I wasn't fighting my sleep cycle every day. I start getting mentally revved up after midnight and end up working on some project and don't feel sleepy until about 6am. The z-drugs (zopiclone, etc.) do nothing for me even at the max dosages. I take another prescription med now that is extremely sedating, but it's still hard getting to sleep before 3am. I also feel like crap if I push my sleep cycle back more than an hour a night.



kraftiekortie
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13 Feb 2015, 6:57 pm

You'd be an apple in my eye! LOL

While I work, you sleep; while you work, I sleep.

We'd get along great! Because we'd only have to put up with each other during weekends!



Apple_in_my_Eye
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13 Feb 2015, 7:00 pm

^ lol :)



bungleton
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13 Feb 2015, 7:47 pm

I participated in a sleep study which was supposed to be about researching whether DSPD can be treated with melatonin. I had to wear one of those biofeedback watches for weeks on end etc. etc.

I got far enough into the study to be diagnosed with DSPD, but couldn't get it together enough to fill out the form with my sleep and wake times etc every morning, as at that point in time I would wake up about 10 minutes before (or after,) my train and have to run straight out the door.

All in all, it's just another piece of the puzzle for me. Careful monitoring of my caffeine intake, diet and exercise levels helps me get out of bed with enough time to have a shower, breakfast and relax for a bit before I leave for work during the week. I'm trying to figure out how to deal with my weekends, because waking up at 8am both days is a great way to hit a wall very quickly, but sleeping til midday ruins all of my hard work :lol:
I'm trying to meet it halfway this week, waking up at 10am on my weekend days. Still a bit tired but it won't be a huge mission adjusting to the work week again.


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alex
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13 Feb 2015, 7:56 pm

test


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alex
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13 Feb 2015, 9:09 pm

test


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bungleton
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13 Feb 2015, 9:11 pm

^ Ahh, so that wasn't just happening for me?


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How did I get here tonight? What am I doing here?
How did I reach this state? How did I lose my sight?
I'm lost! I'm freaking! And everybody knows!
Everyone's watching!
So here... Are my hopes and aspirations
Nothing but puke
God, I'm so loooooonelaaaaaaayyyy
*power stance, air guitar*


SpaceAgeBushRanger
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13 Feb 2015, 9:58 pm

I've been diagnosed with sleep apnea, which means that my skull is shaped in a way that makes breathing unconscious a bit difficult. I also snore like the devil.

I've always had trouble getting to sleep, and I've always felt terrible in the morning. I wouldn't diagnose myself with DSPD though. Mornings are easier if I'm on my own, because it means that I don't have to deal with banal smalltalk or high-pitched noises. I can wake up comfortably between 9 - 12, and with an alarm I can train myself to wake up around seven, but that definitely isn't natural or nice.

The sensory problems of early mornings are part of what makes booze so unappealing for me. Every account of a hangover I've ever read sounds like waking up on a school day.



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14 Feb 2015, 3:07 pm

Yes that sounds like me. Much prefer going to bed late and getting up late. I also seem to sleep rather a long time (~11 hours). I had to get up early when I had a job, mostly I could do it, but it wasn't easy and I usually felt sick and weak in the mornings. I didn't have this trouble when I was a young child.



mr_bigmouth_502
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14 Feb 2015, 3:33 pm

It's possible that I have a delayed sleep phase disorder, but I'm not certain. I just know that I tend to stay up late and wake up late, and that I often don't sleep well because I'll wake up and go back to sleep several times. Oftentimes, it's like I'm living in a different time zone than everyone else.



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14 Feb 2015, 8:44 pm

At this time of my life my sleep is not affecting my job, which in turn is not causing me a problem, this is because I work evening shifts.

I suppose my sleep has dictated my work because I have to be careful what role I take.

If I get to much anxiety or even if something overwhelmingly good happens it can keep me awake thinking over and over of my strategy for the next day, this is all well and good but not if I haven't had enough sleep and can't get up the next morning.

So my intentions are good but I can't seem to follow them through.

I would like to wake up earlier as this would show I was more responsible, reliable, and I would get a chance at trying more conventional activities and broadening my horizons.

At the moment I am just happy to accept that the early hours in the morning are my most creative times and as long as it's not bothering anybody else I'm happy to enjoy these times to myself.

I've tried going to bed earlier but I end up just lying there with my eyes closed and before I know it hours have passed and I still feel like I could be doing something.

I've tried staying up all night until early evening the next day but I either fall asleep early from exhaustion or I will power on until early hours the next day. Only to wake up feeling like I'm jet lagged and need another nights sleep, this can wreck my immune system. (Not recommended)

I wish I had the energy just to spring out of bed. But this has never happened, I'm my own worst nightmare in the mornings,
I never hear my alarm clocks and when I do it's usually 10 min before I have to be at work so there is no time to do anything and I'm usually late looking like the pillow is still stuck to my face and my hair sticking up.

It's like all of my responsibility's no longer exist when I'm tired and I would literally feel like quitting whatever it was I had to do just so my body can catch up with sleep.

If I do succumb to the will of trying to fight my tiredness I usually feel groggy, run down, cold like symptoms and often wonder why people inflict such misery on themselves.

Just those few extra hours in bed is just bliss, it would be nice to survive on 4 hours sleep but I need at least 8 to stay functional throughout the working week.

I now realise that employers see it as somebody can't be bothered or they think they are superior and it does not matter to be up at the same time everybody else does. Another reason it sets a bad example for the team and might cause others to do it. And if I was to be given discrepancies for being late and the next person didn't, then they might wonder why they were getting worse punishments for the same actions. If other people are late for the above reasons then it can make me look bad for those reasons. So for me it's a real problem that's also an every day conundrum in working motion.

If the bosses don't understand which they never do, then a warning or reprimand can make the situation worse and I can assume I won't have the job for much longer.

A strategy that I adhere to is working twice as hard twice as fast so I am still proven an asset somewhere to counteract my lateness.

My own anger for being late in the mornings fuels me to work faster.

I've realised that work colleagues who find it funny to remind me about my misfortunes only winds me up more and for me I just feel like I let myself down again.
It's frustrating for everybody involved.

I would love to be able to go into work 10 min earlier, eat breakfast in the mornings, feel refreshed.

It would be a miracle if I could get into work early but I think it's now a self narcissistic compulsion to always hate mornings, never stomach breakfasts and not to conform to the painful chitchat before work, just get on with the work is my motto.



lostonearth35
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14 Feb 2015, 9:29 pm

I don't know if I have DSPD. I've never really even heard of it until now. I just think my internal clock must be set on Tokyo and if it wasn't for the fact I'd never get anything done during the day I'd sleep all day and be up all night. I also frequently suffer spasms when I'm dosing off, mostly in my chest and throat.

A few months before my diagnosis with Asperger's I suddenly started waking up a lot more early. I'd be exhausted but unable to sleep at night and just lay there for hours not wanting to do anything but sleep. And when I did sleep it didn't feel natural or healthy and a couple of times I woke up like I was having a heart attack. Only one staff at the home I used to be in had any sympathy because she said she had experienced such things herself.



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14 Feb 2015, 11:08 pm

freestyle wrote:
Does anyone else have Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (diagnosed or not)?


Maybe. Pretty much everyone on my mom's side of the family likes to stay up late and sleep late in the morning.

I probably had this for sure when I was a teenager and in my early 20s. I would stay up most of the night and then sleep during the day. I missed a lot of school because of it. When I worked second and third shift jobs it felt very natural to me.

Now I can't stay up late the way I used to. I can stay up just for the sake of staring bleary-eyed at the computer or to watch a movie, but I can't actually function at night the way I could when I was younger.

But one thing has been consistent most of my life. No matter what time I go to sleep at night, early or late, I have a really hard time waking up before 9-10 am. If I just let myself sleep, most days I will sleep until 10-12. And even then, it still takes me some time just lying in bed to fully wake up.

If I'm really tired, or not feeling well, I can just go on sleeping through the afternoon. In winter, or on overcast days, I can sleep round the clock.

Really I can go to sleep just about any time I want to. These days, going to sleep is usually not the problem. Waking up is the problem.

When I wake up in the morning, it's like I am drunk with sleep. My body and brain are just heavy-laden with it. And when I do get up I just can't think clearly. I feel very slow and uncoordinated. It's like nothing means anything to me and absolutely nothing matters.

My dad has severe sleep apnea. I would not be surprised if I have it too. I have horrible nightmares sometimes where I have trouble breathing, and I try to wake myself up but I can't.


Grommit wrote:
It's like all of my responsibility's no longer exist when I'm tired and I would literally feel like quitting whatever it was I had to do just so my body can catch up with sleep.


I know this feeling very well.



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14 Feb 2015, 11:59 pm

dianthus wrote:

But one thing has been consistent most of my life. No matter what time I go to sleep at night, early or late, I have a really hard time waking up before 9-10 am. If I just let myself sleep, most days I will sleep until 10-12. And even then, it still takes me some time just lying in bed to fully wake up.

If I'm really tired, or not feeling well, I can just go on sleeping through the afternoon. In winter, or on overcast days, I can sleep round the clock.

Really I can go to sleep just about any time I want to. These days, going to sleep is usually not the problem. Waking up is the problem.

When I wake up in the morning, it's like I am drunk with sleep. My body and brain are just heavy-laden with it. And when I do get up I just can't think clearly. I feel very slow and uncoordinated. It's like nothing means anything to me and absolutely nothing matters.

My dad has severe sleep apnea. I would not be surprised if I have it too. I have horrible nightmares sometimes where I have trouble breathing, and I try to wake myself up but I can't.



All this I can relate. the sleep apnea is interesting. I don't dream about not being able to breath, I usually wake up gasping for a breath just as I go into deep sleep, it's like I just stopped breathing it can be quite scary. This happens rarely though.

I haven't been diagnosed with any sleep disorder.