Posted by babybear on January 17, 2006, at 14:40:31
In reply to Re: Is my need for sleep normal or a problem? » babybear, posted by sleepygirl on January 17, 2006, at 0:06:22
Sleepygirl,
Oh my gosh, I just had to giggle when I saw your response and checked out your name. I could have picked the same name!
Then, I just about cried when I read the rest of your post, because it was the first time that I saw someone else express what I feel. It's amazing what an impact that has.
I, too, have always had an erratic sleep pattern, and I've always seemed to need more sleep than everyone else. Then, when I started having real serious problems several years ago, the need for sleep was absolutely overwhelming. I was being treated for depression and PTSD and panic attacks and my therapist was explaining how I was "hyper-aware" all the time. It seemed that I needed to have lots of sleep to balance out everything else, but that always seemed hard to accept, even though I was, and am, living it. I keep thinking that I should be able to now cut back to 8 hours of sleep like "normal" people. But, if I do, it's just a matter of a day or so and I'm just an emotional mess. Then, I can crawl into bed for several hours of napping and wake up a new person.
I can be really, really tired at night, and yet not be able to fall asleep. My 'best' sleep is from 6 am to noon or so. My previous pdoc had me on Seroquel every night to help me sleep, but I had horrible nightmares and/or flashbacks almost every night and was twitching and thrashing. Once I got off of it I thought maybe I'd be able to sleep better at night on my own, which I do seem to do, but I still need the daytime naps to maintain my ability to cope.
I guess I should be grateful that I can feel OK as long as I get plenty of sleep, but it's hard not to resent the loss of time. There are so many things I'd like to do, but can't, because I need to sleep so much. I feel like I'm sleeping my life away, yet if I don't get the sleep, I really don't have a life.
I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Not feeling like "the only one" is very comforting. Sorry if I've been babbling.
poster:babybear
thread:599851
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20051214/msgs/599987.html