Autistic spectrum and comorbidity - sleep issues
It is a documented fact that autistic spectrum individuals have a high rate of comorbidity... that is to say, a high occurrence of other problems that accompany our condition.
I have never slept right... and now it is getting worse... recently, i have come to a point where I will be exhausted to the point of non-function. When I am standing, I am literally about to fall over. When I lay down, IMMEDIATELY I am not tired... I will lay there for hours at times... BUT when I take my feet again, I am back to being soul crushingly exhausted within seconds.
If you have sleep issues... what has worked to help you get a good night's sleep?
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Yeah. I'm done. Don't bother messaging and expecting a response - i've left WP permanently.
I take Risperdal at night. That, and a couple of beers, usually does the trick.
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I used to sleep poorly, not quite as extremely as what you describe, but similar in nature. I now sleep pretty well, but my solution is not really practical for most people. I find I sleep best between 4am and 2pm; I don't always sleep the full 10 hours but whatever sleep I do have is during this period. This works quite well for me, but for most people, anyone with a normal job, it wouldn't really work.
I also got a weighted blanket a few months ago and it works quite well for me.
I am having problems with sleep, but not with falling asleep. The problem is I'm sleeping too much. Every day I get this drowsiness in the afternoon and I have an urge to take a half-hour nap, even after having a good night's sleep the night before. Even if I have 45 minutes to an hour of sleep in the afternoon, I still sleep brilliant the following night.
I sometimes have one night (not too often) when I can't sleep, but that's usually because I am hot, due to rushing about before bed or forgetting to turn the radiator off or something.
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Female
I've had this issue when I'd stay up late and wake up early in the morning for work. What is working for me right now is going to sleep as soon as I feel tired when I come back from work, and get up when I feel rested (preferably in the morning). I just finish whatever urgent chores I need for the day real quick and go to sleep. If anything I can do stuff in the morning. I believe animals are programmed to sleep when its dark, so adhering to this schedule might be a good idea too.
Although this can be hard if you like going out as usually you end up staying up to 2am, which really messes up your routine. I try to avoid those these days.
I've always had insomnia - even when I was a baby, according to my mother. I take Zopiclone every night, and that seems to work pretty well. A couple of my friends have asked me if I'm bothered about being dependent on sleeping pills, but I'm not. I don't see my situation as being any different from a diabetic who's "dependent" on insulin - not sleeping is more debilitating than a mild so-called addiction when you have a full-time job and are expected to function during the daytime.
Last edited by Bustduster on 14 May 2013, 8:46 am, edited 2 times in total.
daydreamer84
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Gender: Female
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Yeah, I've also always had insomnia. It used to take me about hours to fall asleep and then sometimes I still wouldn't fall asleep at all. Now I take Cipralex (an SSRI) which helps (it still takes me a long time to get to sleep....but maybe more like an hour and a half than 3 hours and sometimes I still don't sleep) as long as I take it at the right time at night (around 7PM). I also have Olaxapam to take on days I really can't get to sleep at all.
I almost never have trouble falling asleep, but I seldom sleep more that six hours. It seems to be enough for me, though. I don't usually feel like taking a nap in the middle of the day unless I have to get up early to go out for something and only get three or four hours. I always wake up once or twice during the night, though that's a consequence of age, and I can go right back to sleep.
When I was a baby and toddler, though, I slept very little, according to my mother. And I remember when I was in school I used to stay awake for hours after my bedtime, bouncing on the bed or reading with a flashlight. I didn't think of this as a sleep problem though. It was more my mom's problem
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Your Aspie score: 152 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 47 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie
neilson_wheels
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Gender: Male
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More than sometimes but not always.
I used to drink every day, not recommended.
Lots of physical work, not always possible.
I used to work on ships and once you get into a watch system, 4 hours on, 4 hours off, you can program yourself to sleep when needed. Might also be related to being rocked to sleep.
Now I don't do any of the above, I need a distraction to fall asleep, reading a book, watching a film, listening to music or audio book.
My sleep is great but I have trouble falling asleep. It's been like that as far back as I can remember.
When it was dark and deserted outside the window of my room, I lined toys up and kicked marbles against the wall when I was 2-3 years old because I already didn't feel like falling asleep.
I found that nobody who tries to figure it out understands why.
Why bother me with insistent questions on what I am thinking about before falling asleep? I do think about things but they're not important to this because I am just intentionally passing time while having to lie in bed. So, I think about whatever I want to think about during that time. (Not thinking about anything while also having to lie down is so boring, plain horrible!)
Actually, my "issue" is not really "trouble" falling asleep because I don't feel bothered by not falling asleep. I do feel bothered if I lack sleep because I'm tried. That's the trouble - being tired! I hate that.
Sleep is utterly boring. Absolutely unappealing. I never thought anything like "oh, sleep's great, isn't is awesome to lose consciousness for a period of several hours?". It isn't. I don't gain anything from not being awake. I understand why sleep is good and necessary but that doesn't change the fact that I don't feel attracted to being asleep.
I don't know what it's like to be asleep because when I am asleep I am not conscious. Why should I feel like wanting something I don't get to experience? Makes no sense.
Falling asleep is something I should be doing - that's how I always thought of it as an elementary school kid - but successfully falling asleep means I didn't really do something in the same manner as I would achieve something else when I am awake.
I thought that it was impossible to "do" falling asleep - as in, commiting the action of falling asleep successfully by which success can only be confirmed by observation of the results at the moment that they come to pass which doesn't work, obviously. It puzzled me and oftentimes, I'd lie in bed thinking about how my self could possibly be involved in "falling asleep" if it wasn't something that I perceived my self putting into action.
Other than that, lying in bed isn't particularly relaxing either. My therapist claimed it should be but it isn't.
I still feel my clothes all the time, I still feel my hair all the time, I also feel the fabrics around me (including crinkles), I might hear my own breathing if I accidentally cover my airways and I am also really aware of the temperatures and the different smells and... it's not what I imagine a "relaxing" state should be like.
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Autism + ADHD
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The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. Terry Pratchett
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