Inability To Wake Up Appropriately

[Kintsugi]

I have suffered from lots of different phases of sleep problems, from not sleeping for weeks to becoming totally nocturnal to sleeping in three hour shifts... I've shifted through a lot.

These days, and I've had this before, it's like I sleep forever and can't wake up. Sometimes I go through phases where I wake to any noise and cannot get back to sleep, but this is basically wanting to wake up but not feeling able to. I often have the sensation that I was dreaming and whatever it is is important, so I must go back to sleep. I try to sit up, to rub my eyes and wake while in a half-sleep and aware that it's at least 2pm, but I usually just collapse and fall right back to sleep.

I don't know if this has to do with dreaming or evasion or what, but often I am aware I am in some sort of nightmare and yet can't rouse myself. It wasn't as apparent over the past couple of months as a problem as my fiance knew I felt unable to wake and would force me to, even though I was a pain in the a*s to try and wake.

The only thing that really gets me out of bed is the idea that my dog hasn't peed in 16 hours because I have been sleeping.

Does anybody else experience this problem or have any advice on how to stop this?

 

[hazen]

I can't say that I have many issues waking up... all of my main issues are with falling asleep, which is hard for me (which is why I'm always posting on the forums at 1 am).

Anyway, I'm sorry you're dealing with this, AntiSunshine. I only have two suggestion/ideas: the first is I wonder if taking vitamins like vitamin B would help? I know it may sound silly but something like that may help give you a bit more energy?

My 2nd thought is I wonder if there could be a thyroid issue like hypo-thyroidism. I only mention it because my wife had issues for a very long time with feeling sluggish constantly, making her feel like she always wanted to sleep. It was a matter of her getting some medication and she wasn't feeling like that anymore.

Of course from how you describe it it sounds like you feel its more of a mental than physical issue so my advice could very well be pointless, but I thought I would chime in anyway! I hope you're able to figure something out... sleep issues are terrible terrible terrible.

 

[Kintsugi]

I appreciate your reply.

Actually, it seems that this problem of not waking up properly couples itself with not falling asleep well. I stay up late because I cannot make myself feel sleepy, but then when I attempt to wake up, even from an unpleasant dream, I am not waking appropriately.

I guess I need to talk to my P. I've also been off of my meds for a few days because my sleep schedule has been wacky and I am always assuming that the next day I will get up earlier and take them. >.<

 

[hazen]

Yeah my body literally doesn't get a normal "hey you are tired" signal... its been wired out of me. The more tired I get my body reacts by getting more anxious and wired... its a nasty cycle and when I am truly exhausted it feels like torture.

Anyway I have to take sleeping pills of some sort or I can't fall asleep. I'm not on anything else... yet.

I don't know. Maybe we need dream-training for how to take control of our dreams or something.

Or maybe we shouldn't be staring at bright computer screens at night like we are doing right now? :) I have heard that the light can mess with our body's understanding of sleep cycles or something to that affect.

 

[Kintsugi]

The more tired I get my body reacts by getting more anxious and wired... its a nasty cycle and when I am truly exhausted it feels like torture.

I struggle with this all the time. I hate hate hate it.

Anyway I have to take sleeping pills of some sort or I can't fall asleep.

I take Nyquil (just downed a cap), but sometimes this isn't enough and all I want is to take another, but I am always afraid that I will a) hurt myself by taking too much b) Not be able to wake up tomorrow X2.

Maybe we need dream-training for how to take control of our dreams or something.

I am usually great at lucid dreaming! I don't know why this happens. I am getting the sense more and more and more and more over the weeks that all of these dreams I can't wake from are the same. They all have similar plots and landscapes. They are all vague sometimes for 10 hours after I wake up, and then I suddenly remember a piece of it and it starts flowing back (whereas usually if I'm going to remember a dream at all, I remember it in the first three hours of being awake). It's very disconcerting. This has been going on for about three months.

I have heard that the light can mess with our body's understanding of sleep cycles or something to that affect.

Sadly, I have struggled so much with sleep issues that I am hyper-aware about things like coffee, light, dark chocolate, stimulation... anything that will stop me from sleeping, so I am very conscious to make the lights in my apartment crescendo into darkness to help aid my sleep cycle. Still not helping all that much.

And I'm pretty sure you work in a coffeehouse. That can't help!

 

[hazen]

Heh yeah I manage one so I'm there a lot. The best I do with coffee is limit myself to two a day... if I have less I get splitting headaches. I am thoroughly addicted to coffee. Can't help I suppose... but I had the sleep issues long before I drank a cup of coffee.

Do you ever talk to your T or P about the dreams? Its funny it seems like some T's don't think dreams matter at all and others love trying to interpret your dreams. My T doesn't really care what happens in my dreams, she is only interested in how I feel about it, or what I took from it.

 

[Kintsugi]

I used to keep a dream journal type thing running and bring it in to read to my T. I haven't had a steady T since then which is basically like not having a T at all. I am scared to death of my P and would not tell him anything unless I needed to because I was going to die if I did not say something. : (

I just came across some of my dreams from when I was 16. They gave me the chills.

My dreams are frustratingly easily to interpret and always no fun to look at. They are obnoxiously literary in their structure and I wish I just didn't have to think back to them. But they don't go away unless I think about them. I have been so far dealing with my nightmares since August by not dealing with them at all, and so far this has gotten me... yes, nowhere.

I guess I should probably take a look into these dreams if they are keeping me hostage in my sleep like this nowadays. >.<

 

[mamachick]

I cant wake up either and think its related to a brain injury though. I had sleep studies in the lab and it confirmed I can not wake up and suffer daytime sleepiness even with coffee. Due to this, I have to take 10 mg adderrol first thing and give myself an hour before I would dare drive the car or do anything that would require alertness. (even though they say it will be effective in 10 minutes.)

 

[Kintsugi]

Yikes, sweetheart. I'm sorry to hear that.

Yeah, it's gotten pretty bad recently. Annie got me out of bed this morning by whining, though. I think she knows that something is not right when I am trying to get up but keep collapsing and passing out. I'm sure I look like I'm fainting or something.

 

[hazen]

Well I'm sorry you don't have a steady T Sunshine, that would definitely not help. I hope you can get one! When my first T that I made a connection with left for a new job I broke into tears... I can't be without a T right now.

Annie is a good example of why everyone needs a pet! They can be so helpful sometimes when things are rough.

And Brat I'm really sorry to hear about the injury, that must be really difficult to deal with.

Apparently all I can offer is empathy to help. Poop.

 

[Kintsugi]

I am trying to find a T but have no support because no T so I'm sort of stressed out by the prospect to a level of paralysis. It's sort of vicious. I guess I know that whatever this sleep BS is, I should probably just working on the basics of getting a T. I find it so very hard to focus when I feel like I have a lot of things to get done, and sometimes the most basic and important of things is lost in the pure noise of stress.

 

[hazen]

Its crazy how paralyzing stress can be. There are so many things we could do to de-stress but the stress itself makes it hard to do anything!

For me just get started on the first thing helps... I seem to be all about momentum. Once I can get something rolling I can keep knocking things off my list.

I know how hard it is to keep it all straight sometimes but don't put helping yourself at the bottom of the list! You, and everyone here, are worth the help and care!