desperate to managing my sleep cycle. any one want to join?

[nellie]

Wow sounds complicated no_dopamine! If you are on meds do they give you the licence back? I would have a hard time dealing with not being able to drive.

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[Anonymous]

From what I researched briefly on the CMA’s website, it’s a group of doctors who are the committee that reviews whether or not you should have your license revoked or reinstated on appeal. So test reports, a letter from my doc, etc about how I’m able to function when I’m medicated and are getting adequate sleep should help. But this is a big unknown now – I’ve been driving for 40 years and it was the first taste of freedom for me as a teen, I hated having to be driven everywhere and wait to be picked up, whether with public transit or family (I had commitments in other cities and at nights where public transit wasn’t an option).

Luckily my husband can be my chauffeur for now, but he has been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, and OSA is one of the conditions that warrants driving cautions and possible license suspension as well, even on meds. It’s a murky area that I guess I will get to know better shortly.

I don’t see the sleep clinic’s director for my followup after the study until Oct 13th (sooner if they get the test results completed earlier), so I will be reliant on others for some time.

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[Scattybird]

Like you guys I can’t (a) get myself to bed and (b) get to sleep when I am there. I’ve recently started a bed-time routine and I WILL stick to it (well, mostly…sometimes… I’ll try anyway)! Before bed, normally I can’t drag myself away from the computer and/or TV. Coincidentally, where I live in the UK has just switched from analog to digital TV and because I have never got around to changing my TV set or getting a ‘topbox’ so I can get a digital signal, my TV no longer works. It’s fantastic because I can’t switch it on to ‘unwind’ at night, and as long as I don’t switch on my computer I can get to bed at a sensible time. Last week I was on time for work two days in a row – although the comments I got as a result were irritating. But the great thing was I went home at a normal time and had an evening to myself instead of working to make up time and catch up on what I should have done. So, by 9.00 at night I switch off the computer, lounge in the bath, dither about doing random stuff and go to bed by 11.00. To get to sleep I listen to the radio (using earplug headphones) – it has to be a word-based station (like the World Service) and on so low I have to concentrate to hear the programme. I soon get bored with concentrating I eventually go to sleep. If I can’t sleep then at least I am not getting angry about not sleeping because there’s usually something on that keeps my mind from drifting too much to thoughts that will keep me awake. Of course this will all fly out of the window this week because I have some work deadlines coming up and instead of working towards them consistently I am procrastinating….which will mean late nights or all-nighters to get it done…so WHY can’t I just do it NOW instead of messing about…? Sigh.

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[Anonymous]

hi guys. checking in. sleep fail last night. 4:30! my friend was staying the night so not completely my fault right? or perhaps that i couldnt stop talking and at one point he asked me to stop so he could sleep lol. he brought up this explosive topic of him still thinking he is going to get with me. how many no’s and nevers do people need? and well i cannot let topics go until resolved!

so well. making a graph is about the regression line. i just need to make an earlier sleep trend. anyhow 11:45 bedtime tonight. wouldnt be bad except i am wide awake and need to wake up at 0630. i decided to date a friend who hesistantly is going to help supervise me lol.

no dopamine. i hope all goes ok with you license

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[Anonymous]

i hate typing on the mobile when it wont let you scroll on your own posts. anyhow, scatty i understand your plight. are you currently medicated? if so. milk the med peak with all the crap you eouldnt normally do. otherwise break tasks into tiny chunks and schedule them into your day. you may still procrastinate but can lessen the blow!

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[Anonymous]

Well it looks like my 1 am computer shut off commitment is not gonna happen… lol its 4 am. i have a 10 am workout class, sigh.

This ritalin and wellbutrin combo keeps me up!

Great suggestion about standing up Cat alberts, but I am a writer, so I would be standing all day long!

I would advise against sleeping aids. They are highly addictive. I have had issues with them in the past- it’s like IMPOSSIBLE to sleep without them after I take them for 2 nights in a row.

But if sleeping aids are what you’re looking for, I’ve had a good track record with these over the counter ones called sleep e dee or somerhing like that, not too much groginess in the morning. Lunesta made me hallucinate like crazy, anyone else find that? really made me understand the green ferry in the lunesta commercials lol.

The best thing for me with the sleep issue is just waking up and dealing with it. even if I only get 2 hours of sleep. I just get on with my day. It’s more of an excersise of self control because I have energy to spare once I get myself out of bed.

I think we all do….

best of luck.

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[Anonymous]

cynthia, I agree with you on this point: I was prescribed sleeping pills when I first complained about my sleep issues 20 years ago (my mom had just been diagnosed with narcolepsy and she was sure I had it too). The doc (well-known and highly respected, but not a sleep specialist) told me not to come back for more. I never took it, I was afraid to. I know that sleeping pills don’t give you the kind of refreshing sleep that you need, they are only a very temporary solution and a poor one.

It’s not accurate to say that it’s an exercise of self-control either, there could be a lot more going on. With narcolepsy, we don’t have control over when we fall asleep or the type of sleep we get (it’s different than non-narcoleptics). This results in EDS (excessive daytime sleepiness) which is not under our control, among other symptoms. Even people who have sleep apnea will have trouble with alertness during the day – my husband was just diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, my mom had it, and I know others with it. I used to think, as you did, that it was just that they didn’t get enough sleep and had no motivation. But that’s not true, they have a disorder that impairs them because they stop breathing or almost stop breathing many times during the night and the brain goes into overtime trying to wake them up to breathe. As a result, they do not get a proper night’s sleep but are usually unaware of why. It shows up very clearly in a sleep study.

Anyone who has trouble sleeping and has alertness problems during the day, even someone who just has headaches when they wake up, should see their doctor and have a proper assessment, which might include a sleep study. I should have been properly diagnosed 20 years ago and I wasn’t. So you may need to be persistent. Sleep disorders and ADD can be present at the same time, as my ADD specialist told me, and as I’ve found out, now having met a few people with narcolepsy who also have ADD.

Getting by with little sleep is dangerous.

Stepping off soapbox now.

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[Scattybird]

Hi sugargremlin – thanks for the hint about scheduling tiny chunks. I was trying an hour at a time but that fails 😆 so I think you’ve hit the nail on the head about ‘tiny’ chunks. Off to set my alarm right now.

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[Anonymous]

scattybird, check out david seah’s website – he talks about 15 minute chunks of time and has a worksheet called the emergent task timer to help you track it. When I use this method, I have a timer set to go off every 15 minutes and I colour in a little bubble on the worksheet next to the task I’m doing (or create a new task if I’m doing something else). It’s useful.

He has another worksheet called the emergent task planner, which is what would help you plan your day, but I am not able to plan, so it doesn’t work for me.

here’s the link to the task planner on his website http://davidseah.com/blog/node/the-emergent-task-planner/

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[Scattybird]

Hi no_dopamine – thanks for this – I like the idea of bubble filling. I’ll give it a go. I think I’ll be more likely to stick to task with this if I can see the bubbles being filled in. The emergent task planner looks more daunting but it’s cleverly laid out.

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[Anonymous]

i looked up the emergent task planner and got overwhelmed. i just saw a grid with too many lines and my brain died. I’m doing pretty well with my droid to do list and calendar so far, but did bookmark the page. blah.. already 11pm. time to rush and try and make a midnight bedtime. 6.5 hours of sleep isn’t great, but passable! nighty nighty.

my sleep excel graph looks like a jagged mountain range >_<.

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[Scattybird]

Yes I know what you mean about the emergent planner. I am using the task tracker today, or am trying to, but have spent the day trouble-shooting so mabe I can actually put it to use tomorrrow. I don’t graph my sleep patterns – that’s pretty efficient of you. I had to pull an all-nighter the night before last to get something done so last night was great as I was out like a light and slept well.

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[Anonymous]

I don’t use the planner, that is too much for me as my day never unfolds the way I think it will. But the task timer is great. I should do a sleep journal, tried keeping track on an excel spreadsheet but need to make it more legible.

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[Anonymous]

graphing the sleep patterns is new.. and completely in desperation!

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[Anonymous]

I left a message for my dr. last night begging her to early refill my ambien made me feel like a tool. I really do feel kind of ashamed. She gave me 23 days which is weird because my appointment is in a month and a half. I’ve been stressing all day worrying that she was not going to fill it. sleep deprivation completely unravels me and I really want to prevent that. but well.. this is why I am putting a lot of my mental energy into mending my sleep cycle. I think my biggest issue here is that my work schedule is 0800 monday wednesday and friday..so i destroy my sleep schedule every day. I knew it was going to be a problem for me when I took the job and tried to get out of it. I couldn’t because I found out that I share an office with someone who is here tuesday and thursday. I am worried that my doc will take me off the ADHD meds too.. it would really really piss me off to discover concentration then have it taken away. while I am learning some skills, there are things I am doing on the meds which cannot be compensated with willpower and strategies.

my biggest sleep issue is my work schedule + my not going to bed compulsion. the ADHD meds are saving me from dangerous microsleeps in the morning on the way to work, but i know that they are a slight factor in my increasing insomnia problems.

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[Author]

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