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Middle of the Night Waking

Posted by perplexed on January 28, 2005 at 15:48:33:

Hi,
This is my first post on this (or any other) board. I've had trouble sleeping for almost 3 years now and am at my wit's end. The problems have changed but I'll give you the gist of it. Basically I'm looking for advice from people who have ideas on ways to overcome this problem.

I have little or no trouble falling asleep. Usually I get to sleep around 11pm. Up until recently, for the past 1-2 years, I would awake 4-5 hrs later and then have trouble getting back to sleep. For the past several weeks, however, after I fall asleep (and often I feel pretty okay falling asleep) - anyway, I'll wake up only 1-2 hrs later! I'm not (consciously) thinking anything stressful, so I have no idea why I've awakened. I really just feel normal, and ask, "Why am I awake now??"

I'm excruciatingly tired at this point, not wanting or able to read or watch TV. I'm so tired I don't know what to do except with myself but just lay there. It's truly horrible. Then, usually, 3-6 hrs (of torture) later, I fall back to sleep and do just fine. The problem is that this puts me up at 11am or noon.

Now I've just gotten a full-time job, and must be up at 7am. I tried to shift the sleeping back to 9pm but it's too early. So, what happens is that I get the initial 1-3 hrs of sleep, then I'm up all night - and just went I'm wanting to sleep again ... it's time to get up for work! You may know how awful this feels. At work, I'm all but useless.

Now, on a "tired" day (most of them), I can't think clearly and I am unable to enjoy anything. So, these days are essentially "wasted" days that I can't enjoy. There have been so many of these that I'm getting close to just giving up on life. I can't stand it anymore. To boot, I'm financially in bad shape and the job I just got will save my butt - BUT if I can't work it, as appears to be the case (it's a "thinking" job that requires much concentration), I'm really in trouble.

Finally, I've had lifelong depression. I was on antidepressants for years, but had a bad reaction to them last year (I think because it was the first time I was on them and couldn't sleep), so I'm completely off them now. Naturally, I'm struggling with depression. I used klonopin last year to sleep with some success, but also had trouble and saw the wrongness of it and got off (about 2 months ago). So, that's most of the data.

Has anyone had a similar experience? It would make me feel better just to know that. And, what can you do when you are awake for all those hours in the middle of the night and THEN your body wants to sleep, but you can't sleep through the morning?

Thanks -- you're help is greatly appreciated,
Perplexed

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