Desperate For Help

aquagirl900 · Joined: 11 Dec 2010 Posts: 1

I've had trouble sleeping since I was a kid in middle school. I never was tired at "bedtime" and would try to stay up as late as possible, usually 11pm getting up at 6 am. I was always so tired in the mornings, never ready for bed at night. Once in college I got a third shift job and seemed to sleep better 7am until 3-4 pm. I am now on a 1st shift schedule and have to get up at 5:30am. I am so tired, it takes me forever to wake up in the mornings and I'm sluggish all day. I start to feel better late afternoon/evening and struggle to go to bed at 9:30pm. I take awhile to fall asleep and I wake up several times a night. My sleep specialist said I have DSPS and insomnia. I had a sleep study done and I awoke a few times, had lots of "deep sleep" but very lttle REM sleep. I slept better at the end of the sleep study than the beginning.

I have tried Ambien 10mg, worked like 5 days then nothing. I tried Restoril for a month, nothing. Doxepin for a month, nothing. Tried melatonin for months and no help. Now I'm on Sonata and not seeing much help. I want to try light therapy but don't know which light is best. Any suggestions?

Norway · Posted: December 12 2010 Post subject:

It does sound like DSPS (delayed sleep-phase syndrome or disorder). If so, it is understandable that getting up that early is torture. You can force yourself to do it while young, but it will lead to health problems, both mental and physical.

It sounds like your sleep study was done like 10 pm to 7 am? That's unnatural for people with DSPS and, of course, one will have little REM. A sleep study at 3 to 11 am or so would probably show normal sleep.

Light therapy has traditionally used a white, or full-spectrum-minus-UV, lamp giving 10000 lux at a specified distance from the eyes. More recently blue light has been used, but it can lead to or worsen macular degeneration which leads to blindness. The latest is green light at lower intensity. Those lamps are largely untried, but they sound promising.

You'll find quite a bit about DSPS by searching this forum. Light therapy and melatonin can both be helpful, but, even using the both of them, they usually won't shift one's natural sleep phase more than about two hours. Working (freelance or job) to fit around your sleep schedule is a lot healthier than the opposite.