Messed Up Sleep Cycle

[Ice_Fire]

I'm at the point where I have to go to bed in an afternoon. Maybe it's avoidance to some extent, but honestly I can only be up 6-7 hours and I'm exhausted. To the point I feel ill. I've tried not giving in and going to bed but honestly that does not work.

Also tried not going to bed during the day but going to bed earlier at night; I end up just lying awake for hours, going over stuff I'd rather not think about. Tried getting up earlier in a morning, gave that a few weeks, but since the holidays, I've ended up getting up later again.

I've tried not eating as much at lunch, changing my meal times, changing the times to take my medication. Have found that 5pm seems to work best, generally after the afternoon nap. It's been going on for months and I'm really fed up with it now.

 

[therapybankrupt]

I have had these cycles over the years Ice Fire. If you can just go with it. I found the more upset I got the worse it got. When you are over whatever is screwing with you and you are tired. You can work back to going to bed at a reasonable time using guided sleep meditation. You Tube Jody Whiteley does some 2 and 4 hour meditations. If you like her voice it will be easy to fall asleep.

I am a night owl by nature. It is peaceful no one bothers you at night. Good luck with this you are not alone.

TB

 

[TLight]

Sleep...a difficult thing with ptsd. Get it when you can. I know, I'm exhausted no matter how much sleep. CFS I'm sure.

 

[Ice_Fire]

CFS I'm sure.

I've wondered this myself. But then, sometimes I find it hard to sleep at night, which I wouldn't with CFS...right? I just don't understand why I am tired all the time.

TB, yes, so far I am trying to just go with it, working on the basis if I'm that tired then I must need the sleep. It's just frustrating when I'm constantly worried about being late for work, being anti-social during the day, heck, just missing the sunshine. It was a lovely day today but I missed most of it.

Do you think there's something in the daylight being 'safer' to sleep during? Could be, started using a nightlight, but so far it hasn't helped the sleeplessness at night. Going round in circles. At the point of wondering whether to try the going 24 hours without any and then going to bed at a 'normal' time, but I don't know if that's just an old wives'tale.

 

[99Phoenix99]

I have CF and Chronic pain along with PTSD too. It's really rough to get enough rest. There are times when I'm exhausted but can't sleep well for days, barely getting a wink. And then there are times like today where I got 7 hrs of sleep but I still ended up taking a 4 hr nap in the afternoon.

The best thing I've found to work is keeping a schedule which is also the hardest thing to do. The goal I set myself is getting up the same time every day. If I need a map so be it. If I don't sleep well I still get up at the same time. My sched. Is a little messed up right now because I've been sick, but it's worked before so I'm goin to do that again.

I think the hardest part is that for a long time I beat myself up because of it, the fatigue and bad sleep. But I'm slowly realizing that if my body is tired, it's tired. And It's hard but I'm slowly accepting it... Most days lol

Two Things that have helped for me are 1: taking breaks. Not naps. Just find a quiet place for a half an hour and do muscle relaxation exercises (generally with music for me) and that helps calms things down. Or 2: very moderate exercise to build endurance. It's hard at first, but 10 min every other day dedicated solely to exercise really helped me. Over 3 months time I slowly added time and made it to a solid 40 min on an elliptical. And my sleeping cycle was the best it was for the first time in years.

But like I said I've been sick all this monthso now I need to start from scratch again :mad: it's really frustrating