Living with Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

November 2007

• Only just recently found out what is wrong with me - by Antonia - (Thu, Nov 29 2007)
  I’m 16 and for at least 4 years now I haven’t been managing to fall asleep before 3.00am. At first I believed I was spending too much time on the computer, as did my parents and so they banned me from it for at least a month. This didn’t effect my sleeping pattern at all, in fact it worsened the situation by [more..]
• Lost My Shift Work Job To DSPS - by Don - (Mon, Nov 19 2007)
  I was employed by a company for almost three years till I was fired for having 11 lates under my belt. We rotated shifts every 2 weeks. 6am to 2:30pm then 2:30pm to 1am. We all know if you get off at 1am and you suffer from DSPS there is no going to sleep as soon as you get home. You need time to [more..]
• total sleep problem - by md - (Mon, Nov 19 2007)
  ive had real bad sleeping problems for 4 years now, starting when i had clinical depression since ive been battling with dsps for 3 years at uni, i study pharmacy and its quite rigorous, in 1st year i forced myself to lecs regardless of amount of sleep and used alcohol to try to force sleep on, in the second year i totally didnt turn up at all-slept6am till 3pm-got my friends to sign me in lecs and just turned up to pracs, it was very hard to pull through the 12 exams but i pulled it off, i told myself i would sort it out over the summer hols, got a job starting at 7am-i tried so hard,even going in with no sleep but didnt work, so i finally gave in and tried sleeping tablets at start of 3rd yr of uni, but this gave me a sense of constant anxiety and was ironically worse than not taking them, so i stopped and have gone back to my old ways of not turning up-im also a light sleeper and live in halls which is very loud, so when i start to sleep-people are playing music, banging doors etc, so the sleeps totally broken and i look and feel really ill, i have put alot of hard work into uni, and will refuse to drop out, i try to vent my anger by going to gym/lifting weights but i know this is making matters worse probably, my parents and friends think im lazy and neurotic, the doctor doesnt listen and just gives antidepressents, the uni counsellor doesnt give any advice and recently people have been frowning upon my rough appearence(lack of sleep) as if im a drug addict or something, basically i dont know if i can pull this year off again-not turnin up 2 lecs andgoing into exams with no sleep etc and can anyone give any advice on this matter? [more..]
• I can’t wake up… - by Leslie - (Fri, Nov 16 2007)
  I go to bed every night around midnight and sometimes cannot fall asleep until after 4am. Even if I fall asleep earlier, I do not wake to double alarms, and almost feel as if I’m comatose when trying to wake. [more..]
• i found out 2 days ago that i had dsps for 3 years - by lisa - (Tue, Nov 13 2007)
  hello, my name is lisa, im 16 years old and ive had dsps for almost 3 years now. i actually just found out that this was a common disorder with a name just a few days ago, until then i had no idea what was wrong with me. [more..]
• dsps turned into sleep wake syndrome - by Speedie - (Mon, Nov 05 2007)
  Hello, i’m dutch and 38, and have had DSPS since birth. According to my mother even as a baby i went to sleep very late, and woke up around noon. During my early teenyears i couldn’t fall asleep before 1 Am and sometimes i still wasn’t sleeping at 4Am. The alarmclock woke me up in time at 7:45 for school each morning, always feeling physically very tired, with a lack of concentration and lots of yawning during those first few hours. It turned into a daily fight to get out of bed. Using the weekends the catch up on lost sleep upto (12-13 hours) I have seen several different doctors about this problem during, but none came up with a solution that worked or had tried any type of medication. By the time I was 16, I was always missing early classes at school each morning, sometimes even the whole morning (when i didnt fall asleep before 4Am). I knew something had to change…. I wasn’t getting any help from the doctors back then, since there was nothing wrong with me. After smoking cannabis once, I found it helped me getting to sleep at a reasonable hour but still between 1 and 2 Am. (Smoking cannabis has several negative sideeffects, which WILL effect your life) During my early twenties the DSPS continued to disrupt my life, in the same manner as it did during my late teen years, going to bed between 1 and 2 Am each night, I was struggling to get out of bed each day to get to work before 9:30 feeling physically tired all day. I was still smoking cannabis but slowly needing more each day, to finally goto sleep before 2Am each night. I was 26, when things got worse… after a period of three months working upto 16 hours each day, working a 24-7 on-call duty with lots if irregular disturbance calls. I still couldn’t fall asleep before 2Am, sometimes even beeing awake untill far past 4Am. My 3 alarmclocks didn’t wake me up anymore untill i had between 11 to 12 hours of sleep. The effect of those buzzing alarmclocks was that after those 11 to 12 hours i woke up, each day with a continueous ring in my ear (like i had just been out clubbing) At some point after 6 months or so, I could hear my alarmclocks again after sleeping 8 hours each day. Eventho I had to sleep a minimum of 8 hours each day, it was becoming much harder to fall asleep before 2Am. I was smoking one maybe 2 joints each day before falling asleep. By the time I turned 32, I was combining drinking and smoking cannabis moderately daily, to keep falling asleep before 2Am. When I turned 34 I noticed some significant changes in my overall functioning. The amounts of alcohol and cannabis I was using to keep falling asleep turned into allmost passing out. Smoking 3 to 4 joints and drinking at least 2liters of beer each workday, upto extremes of 24joints and 2 to 5 liters of beer on saturdays and sundays, were becoming a bigger problem than my sleeping disorder. This is where I decided to kick both habits : quitting cannabis and alcohol on the same day. Unfortunately the problems with falling asleep returned as soon as i quit both substances. The irregular sleeping re-immerged, but slightly different than before it had changed from SDPS into the Non-24-hour Sleep Wake Syndrome. My clock was moving forward ever so slightly. Most weeks I woke up mondays at 10am, by the time it was friday i woke up at 11:30 or later. During the weekends I stayed awake longer to compensate back to the regular time. Right now I am 38 and somehow my bioclock has been steady for the last three months. It moves forward between 3.75 to 4 hours each day, and i’m awake for 20hours each day, afterwhich I fall asleep within minutes for exactly 8 hours and wake up by myself fresh as a fiddle. Fortunately my work isn’t time-restricted as long as i make the hours necessary. “Learn from other people’s mistakes, you don’t have time to make all of them yourself”. Hope this helps, Speedie (still sober) [more..]