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I've seen similar discussions around this topic but was wondering if anyone could relate to my particular symptomology and might have any suggestions on what I could try to get some relief.
To start, my sleep doesn't really feel like anything. By that I mean that I wake up with very little perception that I had slept, no matter if that's 5 hours or 10, rarely dream, never feel rested from sleep and, what feels most important to me, never get sleep inertia or grogginess, something that always characterized my sleep before this all started(2.5 years ago, im 23 now) and had always felt to me like what was behind the rested feeling I got from sleeping. I don't have problems falling asleep around my general sleeping time but cannot nap during the day.
The worst part of it all is I also have a paradoxical relationship with my sleep whereby the more uninterrupted, long, and sound feeling my sleep is, the worse I feel. If I sleep deprive myself, I'm somewhat manic, but my mind is clear, I have more energy and stimulants like coffee help a ton, this is the closest to normal I ever get, however, this is not sustainable past the 1-2 day mark.
If I sleep 5-6 hours I feel worse then if I had entirely sleep deprived myself but my energy levels are better throughout the day and my mind is clearer, I can function somewhat with proper pacing and rest but if I keep this up I get worse throughout the week because of the sleep deprivation and I'm generally to wired to ever nap.
If I sleep naturally, wake up after 7-9 hours, god help me, especially if I'm doing things that generally improve sleep like keep really good sleep hygiene or feel really relaxed and pleasantly tired. I'll wake up with this horrid unrefreshed feeling that will weigh on me throughout the entire day, it's not a physical exhaustion, but makes it hard for me to keep my eyes open and leaves me mostly bedbound. I get this constant sense that my body really wants me to try to sleep and that it's craving refreshment. I get the feeling that if I lay down I will be able to sleepy deeply, but this never happens. Sometimes this unrefreshed feeling even gets worse if I do close my eyes and try to nap and generally I'm to mentally exhausted to even easily have a conversation with someone. When I force myself to mentally exert myself in these circumstances I get mental PEM that adds to the brainfog and general malaise.
Then, on most days that I don't overexert myself, this poisoned from sleep feeling will slowly abate till around 1-2 am where I feel a pleasant normal tiredness, I'm generally so relieved at this time because the weight of the exhaustion mostly disappears. At this point I can go to sleep but can also do some mental work/activity.
I've even tried using stimulants like Ritalin before to see if it could put a dent in the unrefreshed exhaustion but most of the time it has no effect, even when combined with coffee. In fact stimulants seem to have almost no effect on my body(even in large amounts) in this state at all. On rare occasion they do actually cut through, and I feel better for some time but I haven't been able to see any pattern to that happening.
I've also tried the following medications/supplements for sleep
Trazodone - Made my sleep feel sounder, which on average made me feel worse
Amitrtriypline - Same as Trazodone at higher doses but I've found that 20mg seems to make me feel better when sleeping 6 hours so I use it then.
Tryphtophan, 5HTP, Valerian Root, GABA, Melatonin - Either no effect or I get more dreams/feel more like I've slept and generally feel worse.
I've had a sleep study and been diagnosed with mild sleep disordered breathing(closest thing may be UARS) but had that treated with CPAP for over a year with no effect as well as some other thoroughly intensive workups to rule out other causes.
I'm getting increasingly desperate for some relief, I'm forced to structure my life around sleep deprivation for basic living and cycling these bedbound unrefreshed nightmares. I'm also scared of doing this in the long run for fear of getting worse but I currently have no choice. At one point I even tried sleep restriction for a week(5 hours a day) and while I really wanted to sleep and eventually fell asleep in the afternoon, even then I had no sleep intertia/groggyness and no relief other then from getting rid of basic urge to sleep instincts.
Does anyone have any ideas/can relate? I apologize for the wall of text, I've just been really struggling.
To start, my sleep doesn't really feel like anything. By that I mean that I wake up with very little perception that I had slept, no matter if that's 5 hours or 10, rarely dream, never feel rested from sleep and, what feels most important to me, never get sleep inertia or grogginess, something that always characterized my sleep before this all started(2.5 years ago, im 23 now) and had always felt to me like what was behind the rested feeling I got from sleeping. I don't have problems falling asleep around my general sleeping time but cannot nap during the day.
The worst part of it all is I also have a paradoxical relationship with my sleep whereby the more uninterrupted, long, and sound feeling my sleep is, the worse I feel. If I sleep deprive myself, I'm somewhat manic, but my mind is clear, I have more energy and stimulants like coffee help a ton, this is the closest to normal I ever get, however, this is not sustainable past the 1-2 day mark.
If I sleep 5-6 hours I feel worse then if I had entirely sleep deprived myself but my energy levels are better throughout the day and my mind is clearer, I can function somewhat with proper pacing and rest but if I keep this up I get worse throughout the week because of the sleep deprivation and I'm generally to wired to ever nap.
If I sleep naturally, wake up after 7-9 hours, god help me, especially if I'm doing things that generally improve sleep like keep really good sleep hygiene or feel really relaxed and pleasantly tired. I'll wake up with this horrid unrefreshed feeling that will weigh on me throughout the entire day, it's not a physical exhaustion, but makes it hard for me to keep my eyes open and leaves me mostly bedbound. I get this constant sense that my body really wants me to try to sleep and that it's craving refreshment. I get the feeling that if I lay down I will be able to sleepy deeply, but this never happens. Sometimes this unrefreshed feeling even gets worse if I do close my eyes and try to nap and generally I'm to mentally exhausted to even easily have a conversation with someone. When I force myself to mentally exert myself in these circumstances I get mental PEM that adds to the brainfog and general malaise.
Then, on most days that I don't overexert myself, this poisoned from sleep feeling will slowly abate till around 1-2 am where I feel a pleasant normal tiredness, I'm generally so relieved at this time because the weight of the exhaustion mostly disappears. At this point I can go to sleep but can also do some mental work/activity.
I've even tried using stimulants like Ritalin before to see if it could put a dent in the unrefreshed exhaustion but most of the time it has no effect, even when combined with coffee. In fact stimulants seem to have almost no effect on my body(even in large amounts) in this state at all. On rare occasion they do actually cut through, and I feel better for some time but I haven't been able to see any pattern to that happening.
I've also tried the following medications/supplements for sleep
Trazodone - Made my sleep feel sounder, which on average made me feel worse
Amitrtriypline - Same as Trazodone at higher doses but I've found that 20mg seems to make me feel better when sleeping 6 hours so I use it then.
Tryphtophan, 5HTP, Valerian Root, GABA, Melatonin - Either no effect or I get more dreams/feel more like I've slept and generally feel worse.
I've had a sleep study and been diagnosed with mild sleep disordered breathing(closest thing may be UARS) but had that treated with CPAP for over a year with no effect as well as some other thoroughly intensive workups to rule out other causes.
I'm getting increasingly desperate for some relief, I'm forced to structure my life around sleep deprivation for basic living and cycling these bedbound unrefreshed nightmares. I'm also scared of doing this in the long run for fear of getting worse but I currently have no choice. At one point I even tried sleep restriction for a week(5 hours a day) and while I really wanted to sleep and eventually fell asleep in the afternoon, even then I had no sleep intertia/groggyness and no relief other then from getting rid of basic urge to sleep instincts.
Does anyone have any ideas/can relate? I apologize for the wall of text, I've just been really struggling.
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