cannot control sleeping

[bunnybunny]

I get up at 6, my school is from 7:15 to 11:45. I am at home at about 12 and have lunch in 30 minutes or a bit longer and then I feel too tired that I really need to take a nap. The problem is  once I start to sleep, I HARDLY wake up. My nap usually lasts for 3 hours or even more! On Sunday, the only day I can wake up late, I let myself sleep freely and often wake up at 10:00. It's strange that the more it's later in the evening, the more I feel conscious. I often stayed up till 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning as I can only concentrate and work out at that time. But if I stay up too late, it'll be very tired in the next morning! This problem makes me always lack time. I mean I sleep a lot (and sometime got headache for that) but I still feel tired or sleepy during the day!
I've been trying to control my routine but I couldn't. The point is I cannot wake up easily. Sometime I wake up several time during my sleep or when I really need to wake up, I feel very unconscious and tired like I have no strength to move and cannot control my whole body, behaviors... and soon fall asleep again. Sometime I feel it is like somnambulism...(of course it's not somnambulism)
One more thing is I feel very scared (for no reason) when I'm unconscious.
I'm really confused and worried because it affects my life badly. I'm now 17 and I have had this problem since 14. Does it relate to general teenage problems?
Please give me some advice!

[KatEyes]

Can you please clarify if you...

... had a sleep study?
... had a medical workup to include looking for diabetes, anemia and thyroid dysfunction?
... have been tested for nutritional deficiencies?

If you have formally ruled out medical and nutritional causes, and
If you are getting the recommended hours of sleep consistently, and
If you are not on any meds that cause sleepiness, and
If you are practicing good sleep hygiene, but
You are still excessively sleepy during the day, then...

Either the quality of your sleep is poor and non-restorative, and you need to have a sleep disorder identified and treated to improve your sleep quality, or you need to be evaluated for narcolepsy and depression. Long bouts of sleep can be normal now and then, but it shouldn't be regularly. I put narcolepsy and depression last because all the others should be evaluated FIRST then see what symptoms you are left with after anything that's found is treated.

I know you are hoping someone can give you an answer here, but really, without the results of the things mentioned, any guess would be just that - a guess. Start working through those things, and please let us know what you find out. Do tell your doctor everything you described to us about how you feel when you wake up. Every detail is a clue that will help them figure things out.

[tammyofwv]

I can sleep all night and all the next day why I need some help

[KatEyes]

I am empathetic when I hear of someone whose sleep is out of order because I have lived and continue to a degree to live with those effects. One frustrating aspect of it has been that the answers and solutions have at times been elusive and a process - like shooting at a moving target. Some things can't be fixed, some don't need fixed, it's the rest that test our patience. In it all it has seemed that any element of normalcy or stability that I can control mitigates the near insanity of having a chronic sleep disrupted life.

In your case, I think consistency is so very important to beginning to address your issues. I too have read that too much sleep can be counterproductive, but there's got to be a reason for you to feel the need for the sleep. I'm hoping you have had a medical workup for any conditions that can affect sleep (thyroid, diabetes, etc.). While clinical depression can be a factor, it can be a "chicken or the egg" dilemma, as the effect of disordered sleep can look like depression. The question becomes in each case, does depression treatment fix the sleep or does sleep fix the depression?

When sleep is not good, strange things can happen in our sleep/wake transitions - things that can also be seen in certain sleep disorders. You've got a ways to go in finding complete answers. As one whose bad sleep patterns have been so prolonged, I'm glad that as a young person you are working on this now, before your brain gets these patterns so engrained. Best wishes in your efforts.

[bunnybunny]

I tried to make out my situation but maybe it's not steady enough to state what it is.
But I think maybe as you said, I just need good sleep hygiene. Last night I go to bed earlier, this morning still felt not so well but I try reduce my nap to 1 hour. When I woke up, I drink some water and have some mint chewing gum. It keep me more awake.
I will try. I hope I will get over my problem soon.

Thank KatEyes for your comments. This site is useful and it's kind of you to care about my problem. I find things stressful these days but your comments encouraged me a lot.

[KatEyes]

Since your issues are longstanding and life disrupting, maybe a sleep study sooner instead of later would be in order. It's likely that consistent impeccable sleep hygiene would help you. Having disrupted sleep most days then sleeping a long time will not compensate for the lost sleep integrity. It would take a period of time with regular solid sleep for your body and mind to recouperate and you see the results. I still think you would serve yourself well to work toward those goals, but it sounds like you are not convinced. That's not saying there's not more to this, just that it's a good place to start, and your academics could only benefit from this. Even if in your gut you feel there's more going on, good sleep hygiene has value. Without those efforts it will be more difficult to discern if and what other sleep disorders are at issue. Sorry I don't have more to offer. Maybe someone else will.

[bunnybunny]

Thank you so much for your advice.

As you have mentioned, I do need these long naps even after a full night's sleep. I read something tells that if you sleep too much then you will feel sleepy all the times, is that true? and does it explain why I need long naps even when I have slept enough?

I don't understand why I feel sleepy almost all mornings. It's complicated... Sometime I try to go to bed early and the next morning I feel better but still yawn and just want to sleep.
It's different when I wake up after the 3-hour-nap, I feel tired at first in some minutes but after that I feel very conscious.

What makes me worried most is when I first wake up, I can't move my body or control my eyes...I see that my eyes open and I do have some thought in my head but I can't move my whole body, it's like I have no strength. Then my eyes close gradually...If that time I can open my eyes widely and sit up, I will wake up totally, but I still feel tired or unsteady for long after that. I mean, everyone is supposed to feel well after waking up from enough sleep, isn't it?

Some months ago I suffered from depression and I used Remeron as doctor's description. Now I don't use it anymore as I finished the dose. My mom advice me to use it again but I don't want to because I'm not depressed and that medicine just makes me sleep all day.The last time I used it, my schoolwork was terrible. So I have no intention to use any medicine like that again because my biggest-exam-ever is coming... :(

Please help me with some more advice or information. It's very important to me.

[KatEyes]

Healthy sleep is so important to health, cognition, and general well being. Inadequate and/or ineffective sleep can cause symptoms like yours of extreme sleepiness and difficulty waking. Based on the times you gave, those 3 hour naps are just giving you the rest of a full night's sleep, so don't be too hard on yourself about them. But since your sleep is broken, it probably isn't giving you the benefits of a full night's sleep as far as restfulness. "Normal" sleep holds a certain proportion of the sleep stages, and when it is split like yours, your stages are likely not as they are they should be for optimum effect.  Now, if you needed these long naps even after a full night's sleep, that would be a concern.

It will take diligence on your part to develop new sleep habits. Endeavors like this are most successful when based on a conviction of the need, regardless of feelings. Google sleep hygiene and apply the principles. I would suggest that when you have a long weekend, take that time to force yourself to give up your nap no matter how little sleep you got the night before, and add in some physical activity. It will help make you more receptive to going to bed earlier, and hopefully the quality of your sleep will improve once it is in sync with the body's hormones. Once you are consistently using your nights for sleep, the daytime sleepiness should improve, enabling you to be alert enough to use your afternoons for schoolwork.

If after your best efforts sleep problems remain, you may want to investigate the possibility of an underlying sleep disorder. Your description of waking a lot when sleeping and having anxiety would make me think you should stay tuned in to that possibility. Problem is, unless you get your sleep straightened out, it will be hard to tell if you have expected symptoms or a sign of a problem. Be kind to yourself and work toward resolution.