Not Sure There Is A Name For It...

So i got some serious problems when it comes to sleep. Its not as simple as sleeping during the day is easy, and sleeping at night is hard. Not a problem with falling asleep fast, or taking hours to fall asleep. Not even as simple as not getting enuf hours or to many hours of sleep. The problem is i have no sleep cycle, it changes day to day. Some days ill be up for a few hours and fal back asleep, wile other times are be unable to fall asleep for days at a time. This isnt as simple as lay there and do nothing and relax till you fall asleep, i have tried that, and laid in bed for 10 strait hours thinking about nothing without falling asleep.

--MONDAY--
I will give you a description of this weeks sleep cycle...
wake up 6am-mon
was on my computer looking for a home and a car
apparently fell asleep at some point wile on the computer and woke up around 2pm-mon with my hand still on the mouse
was up and out of the house till 9pm-mon
got in bed and laid down at 10pm-mon
--TUESDAY--
at 2am-tue i turned on the TV, cuz i hadn't slept yet
fell asleep around 7am-tue
woke up at noon-tue and got up and started doing stuff
came home at 11pm-tue and got in bed
--WEDNESDAY--
wasn't tired so i messed around on my computer till 10am-wed(gave up on getting tired at that point)
cooked some breakfast, and went back to the computer, never made it past bootup(fell asleep)
woke up at noon-wed
went out and hung out all day got home at 10pm-wed
wasn't even remotely tired, so i watched tv/computered all night
--THURSDAY---
left the house at noon-thur
got home 8pm-thur and got in bed
--FRIDAY--
layed there not doing anything till 2am-fri(finaly fell asleep around then)
woke up at 5pm-fri
was up for 4 hours
fell asleep at 9pm-fri
--SATURDAY--
woke up at 1am-sat
messed around on my computer till noon
messed around outside for a few hours
got back on my computer at midnight
--SUNDAY--
Its now 5:30am-sun and i still haven't slept

The problem is, im never tired. Even when i have been up for 3 days, im still not tired, by body just decides "your sleeping now" and i loose all energy and need to find a horizontal surface. If my body hasn't decided its time to sleep, i cant sleep no matter what i do.

Hey dude,

I held off replying in the hope that someone else might. Sleep disorders isn't really my 'area'. Having read your post, however, the first thing that comes to my mind is 'narcolepsy', but even then your symptoms don't perfectly match it. Narcolepsy - in my mind at least - is characterised by irregular sleep patterns and can include falling asleep 'anywhere', including while outside.

In my viwe, there is a good reason behind sleep disorders though, and I always think of diet at first. If you take too much coffee, for example, then you'll get terrible sleep and will feel energetic, when in fact your cells are crying out for a good rest. Someone once said that drinking coffee constantly is like whipping a knackered/exhausted horsse during a horsse race. Other things that can cause problems include drugs (obviously), stress, etc.

Let me know what you think.
Kevin

Hi F.I.T.H,

I have been looking on lots of websites trying to figure why I am sleepy all day, and one that has come up a lot is Circadian Rhythm Disorder, which seems to involve difficulty maintaining a sleep routine - worth googling that and seeing if anything rings true.

I also watched a tv programme about sleep - think it was one of the BBC channels - they showed Dominik Diamond, a journalist and tv presenter trying to overcome his insomnia. He ended up sleeping at erratic times and then had enough sleep that day so couldn't sleep when he wanted to and then was exhausted the next day and so on... He did a video diary of Sleep Deprivation Therapy, where he was only allowed 6 hours, and needed to get up after time was up, even if he hadn't slept the whole time. Gradually he was allowed to go to bed earlier (no daytime naps no matter how tired he was) but the getting up time stayed constant. I think it worked although I fell asleep through the programme myself so not sure how much I missed!

I would guess something like that would need to be done under medical supervision as lack of sleep carries its own risks, and would not be a bad idea to see a doctor anyway. I have also seen a lot about disturbed sleep patterns and depression, or depression treatments being used to cure sleep disorders, so the GP would be the first port of call for that.

Hope it helps,


Mairi