# always needing more sleep



## university girl (Aug 11, 2004)

Any one else out there feeling like they never get enough sleep? Also, anyone else like to just lie in bed and let their thoughts run on there own?


----------



## enngirl5 (Aug 10, 2004)

I love to sleep and I love laying in my nice comfortable bed getting ready to fall asleep and thinking about things. It's the highlight of my day. I was thinking last night how that must be bad when sleeping is the best part of my day. It probably doesn't help matters that I'm perpetually sleepy all day, but since I started taking my Celexa at night rather than in the morning I'm less tired during the day.


----------



## Guest (Jun 18, 2005)

Well, this might NOT be the reply anyone wants to hear, lol...but as someone totally recovered from DP/DR, anxiety and obsessions, I STILL can nap at the drop of a hat, and I ADORE lying in bed and having daydreams, free-flowing thoughts. I actually look forward with a passion to weekend mornings and naps - the idea of climbing into bed, small dog on my pillow and just lying there and having free-range wandering thoughts is glorious to me.


----------



## bat (Aug 18, 2004)

i sleep loads these days. after work every day for about 2 hrs and then a full night. i can't function without it


----------



## Guest (Jun 18, 2005)

The free range thoughts would be nice if they were actually enjoyable and didn't go at 100mph...

I think I used to like it though, before anxiety, when I was younger.


----------



## CECIL (Oct 3, 2004)

Yep, never get enough sleep, even when I oversleep.

Its pretty bad when dreaming is better than reality - even worse when you can't escape even in your dreams (and keep having dreams that continually make you anxious).


----------



## enngirl5 (Aug 10, 2004)

Here's an interesting story. All my life I've loved laying down trying to get to sleep and fantasizing and thinking about things. Well, when my dp and panic attacks started, I didn't do this anymore. I was scared to death to just lay there and let my thoughts go free so I would never go to sleep until I was so dead tired that I just passed out. I remember when my dr started fading that I was slowly becoming no longer afraid to just lay there and let my thoughts wander. It was a huge accomplishment, and I was so excited to actually be able to sleep like a normal person rather than just wait till I pass out from exhaustion. Now, I feel fine when I lay down to sleep, but it was hard those few months when I was scared to do that. 
To answer everyone's next question of how the dr started fading significantly, I just stopped obsessing about it. For two months all I thought about was dp/dr and all I did was obsess about it. I eventually just got tired of doing it and started ignoring it. After that it started going away. It's not gone for good of course, but it's no where near as bad as it was back then. I'm not as afraid of my thoughts anymore. It's that aspect of just learhing to trust yourself and no if you let go, you're not gonna go crazy. Much easier said than done, and it's the hardest thing about all this dr/panic stuff.


----------



## Lilymoonchild (Jun 18, 2005)

I hate sleep and everything that goes along with it. I'm generally tired for most of the day, regardless of how much sleep I get. At night, though (after 7 or 8 pm usually) I wake up. So when bedtime rolls around I have no desire to go to sleep. I just woke up! I also hate going to sleep, because I know waking up inevitably follows. So I stay up until whenever (usually until my stomach hurts and my eyes burn) and then I go to sleep, and wake up in the morning feeling like hell. And naps are even worse. 
If I do manage to get myself into a sleep routine, I do feel a lot better during the day and at night, and I don't hate the idea of sleeping so much, but I still hate waking up in the morning. I can't remember a day that I was happy upon waking up.


----------



## Scattered (Mar 8, 2005)

I laid down last night and was treated to an onslaught of thoughts, images, sound loops, etc running through my brain at a horrifying speed. I wasn't able to sleep until I could convince myself that I was not going to lose it right there. I frequently feel tired even when I get enough sleep, I'm so sensitive to the slightest body change that this fatigue can be a bit scary at times.


----------



## mulder (May 8, 2005)

My sleep patterns are screwed right up. I don't get out of bed till 11.30 most days, and when the evening comes is when I feel most awake, so I don't want to sleep until about 3am. This summer has been hell so far, as I get woken up at 5am by birds singing and the sun burning me awake. 2 hrs sleep before you wake up and then hours rolling around trying to get back to sleep again doesn't do you much good. Also, when I'm like that, my eczema plays up and I'm scratching it all the time, so that also gets worse and makes me feel sore and miserable. It really is a huge obstical on the road to recovery that I need to overcome somehow.

Still, even if I do sleep well, I never feel refreshed, DR or no DR, although I feel worse these days than I used to.


----------



## enigma (Feb 18, 2005)

This is going to sound nuts, but to help me sleep better in the mornings (if I don't get a good morning's sleep in addition to a good night's sleep, the latter practically counts for nothing), I stick black cardboard inserts into my windows each night at bedtime, so in the morning (well after sunrise) it's still black as night in my room.

e


----------



## mulder (May 8, 2005)

enigma said:


> This is going to sound nuts, but to help me sleep better in the mornings (if I don't get a good morning's sleep in addition to a good night's sleep, the latter practically counts for nothing), I stick black cardboard inserts into my windows each night at bedtime, so in the morning (well after sunrise) it's still black as night in my room.
> 
> e


I'll have to try that!


----------



## sming (May 7, 2005)

Yep. I keep falling asleep at work which is slightly problematic. However, quite often I find that after a late night out and drinks when I get less sleep than normal (say 5 hours), I feel less anxiety & DR the next day. It's almost as if I'm too tired to do the checking/monitoring stuff I instinctively do.

The tiredness has got worse since I started on Lexapro 6 weeks ago and from what I read somnolence is quite a frequent side-effect.

In addtion my psychiatrist started me on Buspar on Tuesday and that appears to be exacerbating things. I've slept for 13 hours today already and still feel tired.


----------



## Guest (Jun 20, 2005)

Unfortunately I now hate lying down to go to sleep as I don't want to tune into what is running through my head. I usually lay there for 5 mins & if I don't nodd off I pick up a book & start reading & then when my eyes are starting to close I turn the light off & go to sleep. Very rarely do I just go to sleep without reading.

I think this goes back to the dp days when every night I was so tired but couldnt' sleep cause of the sounds,images & thoughts running through my head at 100mph.


----------



## Milan (May 29, 2005)

Sleep is much better these days then what it was four months ago when the insomnia was almost killing me. I still wake up early and in a low level anxious state which hasn't improved much over the last month or so. Here is a tip for the insomniacs - instead of lying there in self observation, try listening to some good talk back radio at a very low volume (ear piece is the best method). This has helped me quite a bit and when you fall asleep the low volume of the radio won't wake you up. Just choose some topical programs that interest you. Movie, book, band reviews are good as is science talk and the perennial favourite, interviews with celebrities. Choose your station wisely.


----------



## peaceboy23 (May 25, 2005)

I also hate going to bed, but mostly that is because i enjoy the quiet and peace of the night. It's bad, because i feel better if I sleep on a normal schedule, but I like the night time. As Frank Zappa once said "you can actually feel the absence of daytime bullshit at night." Sometimes i get the dp/dr pretty badly, and it somemtimes helps if i focus on my breathing, as the Vietnamese Zen mater Thich Nhat Hanh teaches, or just focus on the different sensations in your body, instead of those in your mind. Someitmes it isn't worth crap, though.


----------



## ret (Aug 10, 2004)

It's probably your meds.


----------



## Kelson12 (Aug 10, 2004)

I LOVE to sleep...I'm always sleepy at work. If someone told me to sleep for a week straight, I bet I could!


----------



## university girl (Aug 11, 2004)

Yep, sleep to escape reality- that's me. I guess you could say I've become a sleep-aholic since I've quit school. I no longer have the stress of school to motivate me. That was my distraction. Without that stress I have next to no motivation to do anything. I didn't know that before. My lack of motivation to do anything is showing through now. I get up in the morning, eat, and go back to bed to try to waste time. It's sad. :roll:


----------



## Kelson12 (Aug 10, 2004)

university girl said:


> Yep, sleep to escape reality- that's me. I guess you could say I've become a sleep-aholic since I've quit school. I no longer have the stress of school to motivate me. That was my distraction. Without that stress I have next to no motivation to do anything. I didn't know that before. My lack of motivation to do anything is showing through now. I get up in the morning, eat, and go back to bed to try to waste time. It's sad. :roll:


Usually when I sleep alot it is because I am avoiding the DP. I go through ups and downs. I go weeks without feeling bad at all and then go weeks feeling so DP/Depressed/etc. During those down times, all I want to do is sleep because it is an escape from the horrorific feelings.


----------



## Lilymoonchild (Jun 18, 2005)

I'll also sleep to avoid DP, but when I sleep 13 or 14 hours a night, the times when I wake up are so much worse than if I'm only sleeping 9 hours a night. I'm going to be tired regardless of how much sleep I get, so I usually try to keep it to a minimum, because it makes the waking hours a little more bearable. Sleeping less also tends to keep the really bizaar dreams to a minimum (unless I'm sleep deprived, then they are worse).


----------

