Endless 12-hour days. No energy after sleeping.

[hmabrantes]

Hello, my name is henry, I am 22 years old and throughout my life I have always experienced sleeping problems. I spent 17 years waking up at 6am to go to school and never got used to it. So far, normal since many people experience the same. Although as I was growing up I began to realize that I just would never sleep and wake up "renewed". I didn't really keep track of it all but in the last year or so it has begun to affect my professional and personal life very deeply and I am beginning to get seriously concerned. I am in need of finding out if there is actually something physically wrong with me, if it`s a mental condition of if I am just a "bum"as some people tend to uncaringly describe me.

I do not know wether my sleeping disorder might be related to anxiety or not. I think it could be and maybe someone is able to provide me with some hint or action that i should take in order to find it out. The fact is that i am a very very anxious person. It`s not healthy but I managed to control it well, at least in public situations. No one call tell that i'm anxious, just shy at most. But it is a consant struggle I know i should see a doctor but I am living in a foreign country where my access to medical care is very limited and I don't really know where to run now.

These days all I think about is the weekend when I am going to have some "time" to catch up with the school work and get some "rest". It is important to point out that I have always presented good or great results in school or the university. I have always managed to make it no matter how bad i felt during a period of time. The fact is that now i am CONSTANTLY behind schedual. I am always tryingto keep up with the rest of the class in terms of time (like i said i always get a good result). I think this might all be due to the fact that I can't get decent sleep. The fact is that i spend easily more than 10 hours in bed. Easily. Sometimes it reaches 14,15...Some of my classes are in the morning and it is HELL, i mean ABSOLUTE HELL for me to wake up in time and get there. When that happens I am a walking-zombie and i function very poorly during the day. In extremely rare ocasions I function well in the morning but then, normally around 3pm I am feeling exausthed like its 3am. Sometimes i get home before noon and lie down to take a "nap" ending up to be "dead"in bed for like 6 hours straight. That not only helps very little to "untire" me but it only messes up more and more my sleeping "schedual".

Even in the weekends I can't take advantage of my time and it doesn't help for me to catch up much. I am constantly seeking options for me to get works done in a more efficient way which is very bad since it forces me to reduce the oportunities to accomplish the task in different ways. I am a designer, that is very important.

I need to know what is wrong with me. Some indications of what I could pay attention to. I'd like to point out that i have had several bloodtests in the last year that pointed no concerns. All my taxes were great. Also been to a cardiologist that had nothing but good things to say about my health. Normal blood pressure. Everything (basic) was good.

I know about the possibility of "just" being depressed but I don't think it's the case. It could be, specially because I have family history of it but I don't believe it`s that specially because this has been a very good period in my life. It has also been very very hard in some ways but still great overall. Again I would like to point out that I am living in a foreign country where my access to medical care is ver limited so any sort of help would be very appreciated.

Is there somethign I can do? I am sick of having 12-hour (tops) days. I need to function better. I need to sleep properly. I need energy, stamina.

Thank you for your time. I truly appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Henry

[hmabrantes]

Hello guys, thanks for sharing some experiences. As for LazyMoose it is funny that you mentioned thyroid because if i am not mistaken one of my thyroid hormones was a bit off last time i checked. Didn't think it was a big deal though but now i am starting to think it could be. I can't remember its name though. I'm gonna go to brasil in the end of this year, december and i'm pretty sure im gonna psned 70% of my time in medical facilities. I'm willing ot cover every base here, this can't be right...

As for Lydia i think i might have mislead you with my endless 12-hour days. What i meant was that i can only have a 12-hour or less day since the other 12 i spend in bed. Luckily i am still able to pull some of these moves since most of my classes take only the mroning period, luckily or not. Today for example...stayed awake for the whole night..trying to "fix" my sleeping schedual..it was 4am and i was cooking my dinner. Got to school by 9 feeling tired but managed to make it until 13 which is when my classes end. Got home thinking, okay i gotta study a bit, cook and then tonight i'll sleep like an angel from tiredness (which is the only way i can get true deep sleep i think). Needless to say that the minute i got home i fell on my bed slept 6 hours in a row and woke up...now i'm feeling drowzy and light-headed. Haven't worked, haven't studied and here i am, quite awake but with no stamina to get something going on. I'm sick of this. I need to find what's wrong with me...seriously..this is no living. I graduate in June and i can't wait for it. For my diploma? No, for my sleep! ...

[LazyMoose]

You are not alone! I hate the fact that the world has to start so early. The most important sleep I get is after 5 AM, that is the only time I ever dream. I have worked with people that go to bed at 7 to 8 PM and are at work at 5 AM; they must be nuts I thought. And they thought I was unmotivated since, if it was my choice, I like to sleep to 9AM. I was a zombie in school. But I can take a 15 power nap and feel rested for up to 4 hours sometimes. I am 42 now, and my professional life and social life suffer from this. Just got back from another sleep study, there was a problem though. I only slept 3 hours, from 4 to 7. My brain is not ready to sleep until 2 AM many times. I am also have sight anxiety, but not really like people that suffer from it, no anxiety attacks. I think its from no sleep.

It was discovered 10 years ago that I was hypothyroid, but after meds I am still tired and dont sleep like other people.  When you have medical again, you might want to ask about  T3 free hormones and TSH testin. The thyroid forum is very active here, you could see if you have any other thyroid symptoms there.

I think my body truly would like to sleep in 3 hour periods, but that is not how the world expects me to live.

[RubyWitch]

Hmmmmmmmm..........You've made it clear that my original thought of telling you to speak to your doctor about this issue is out of the question, so where do we go from here?
You've stated that you've had this problem since you were obviously very young, getting up at 6am to go to school was hell for you, (Me, too!) And always waking up feeling unrested...........
You don't come across as "clinically" depressed to me. Just "garden variety" mild depression from this frustration AND lack of proper rest.
In my humble opinion, I think it's your circadian rhythm that is all buggered up! I really believe that there are those of us who are "night" people and other's are "day" people. I think you are a "night" person but have been forced to live a "day" persons lifestyle. There have been many, many studies done on this and it's been proven that when we are forced to function outside of our natural rhythm, we run into trouble. People who must switch up shifts every couple of weeks, going from day shift to night shift have actually becom suicidal.........so I put a great deal of stock in our personal time clocks. I am, by nature, a night person, but I must get up at 4am for work. I've had this schedule for nearly 5 years now and have never truly adjusted to it. I have to go to bed early, and while my body is physically tired from my day, my mind is not ready to shut down. I have had to resort to sleep aids, which leave me feeling groggy and it's a major struggle for me to wake up and get out of bed every day. I feel as if I haven't slept at all. When my alrarm goes off, I feel as if my body/mind is just then going into the very restful and much needed REM sleep, but I don't get that. My day is spent feeling exhausted and "off." And forget trying to "catch up" on your sleep. That's a myth. And naps..........they say they are good for you and perhaps they are for many people, but they spell disaster for me. The recommended time for a nap is no more than 30 minutes. Hell, I can't even find a comfortable position in 30 minutes! For me a nap is about 6 hours and when I wake up, I am so grumpy and miserable and confused, I've given up the nap idea years ago.
You say you work and/or study (or both) for at least 12 hours a day. That is a lot. And if you then must study, your hours grow even shorter. You talk about not getting things/projects done and I'm pretty sure it's not because you lack organization, it's probably more that your mind/body is just too exhausted to work effeciently.
You've been to the doctor for a good check-up, even seeing a cardio, so we know that there is nothing organically wrong. Anxiety COULD be playing a part in this, but even though you stated you are a very, very anxious person, you said nothing about experiencing anxiety or panic attacks. Your "anxiousness" could be a by-product of your lack of sleep.
I am not a doctor, Henry, so everything I've written are just guesses and opinions. But what you need is real medical help to determine what the hell is going on. I'm afraid that is the only real answer for your troubles.
With your hectic schedule, are you able to squeeze in any "play" time? Do you eat a good healthy diet? Get any regular exercise? Spend time just hangin' with friends and relaxing?
Since you talk of not being able to get things accomplished, of always looking for ways to be more efficient..........is there anyone you could reach out to help you get your life better organized? Perhaps someone who seems to be carrying the same "load" as you, but is doing it somehow better or at least with less stress?
Is there some way you could "lighten" the load you're hauling around?
Afraid I'm out of ideas................my best advice is to see a doctor, but that sounds like it's not an option right now, so you need to find a way to deal with what I perceive as a bit too much chaos in your life. This will probably sound pretty lame, but perhaps if you made a list and prioritized everything you need to accomplish, you may find there are some things that can be put off for a time, possibly even cut out altogether. I know when I get overwhelmed, if I make a list and see my daily life in black and white, I see things I do that CAN wait, that I am putting unnecessay pressure on myself to "get it all done." Being a rather "perfectionist night owl" can wreck havoc in your life.
Hopefully other's from the forum will jump in here with better ideas for you.
Sounds to me like you need a vacation...............your engine is revvin' too high!
I wish you the best.........
Peace
Greenlydia