Posted by jake5253 on August 31, 2009 at 11:09:42:I am a third-year college student and I regularly sleep through all my classes because I oversleep. This semester I have an 8:30am class daily and I have sleep through it every day. In fear of failing out, I come here for initial help before visiting a doctor. I know there are similar posts but none of them really are the same as my problem. I have terrible insomnia. I simply cannot fall asleep. I'm not even tired until nearly/after sunrise. Then when I finally am tired I am out like a light. Nothing can wake me. I have 5 daily alarms set at the loudest, most obnoxious level I can set them and I sleep through them all. I don't even hear them. My roommate has tried to wake me, friends have come over and tried to wake me and none of them are able. Over the summer break, I lived in a 2-bedroom house with 5 people. My "room" was the living room, which was the most heavily utilized room of the house and I would sleep through the other people making noise all day. Nothing they did could wake me. I have tried (illegitimate) methods of correcting this, such as taking sleeping pills around 9pm so I can fall asleep. I've tried correcting my sleep pattern by forcing myself to stay awake until a *normal* bedtime by taking adderall (prescribed for my little brother for ADHD) because it keeps me awake for about an additional 8 hours. That worked great. I fell asleep around 8pm, but I still slept until 1pm the next day which put me right back to the bad sleep pattern. I have taken melatonin to try to coax myself to sleep, which didn't work. The weirdest remedy I have found is that if I am drunk when I go to bed, I wake up more easily at a more normal time - around 8-9am. It seems if I am drunk I don't go into this coma-like sleep. I am not condoning alcohol or drug use but this seems to be the only way I can get back on a normal schedule. Does anyone know some way that I can do this while saving my liver and not doing illegal things just to get a normal nights' sleep? Is there terminology for this coma-like sleep I am experiencing? What sort of things should I tell/ask my doctor about? Also, I eat healthy for the most part - a good balance of vegetables and proteins. I go to the gym for 30 - 60 minutes a day so I am getting good exercise. One more thing that seems to aid me in falling asleep faster and waking up sooner (this is kind of lame) is to have someone to sleep/cuddle with. Is it possible that this is all just a psychological problem rooted to the desire of being loved or the fear of being alone or something like that? I'm not a psychology major, but I have taken 3 psych classes because they interest me and this seems as though it may be a feasible idea.
Thank you for reading and offering any advice you may be able to.
-Jake