This disease has a sick sense of humour

[Kenny Banya]

Tired all day, then wake up in the evening

 

[jesse's mom]

Lots of us do. I am on a sleep at night pattern right now, but it has been reversed before. Aggravating if you have to function in the mornings!

 

[Rebeccare]

The cure should be a simple one, then: find a place on the other side of the globe from where you are now, and move there! Problem solved.

I do have that problem a lot. It's the worst on days when I can barely move. I guess because I've done nothing to tire myself out on that day, by bedtime I'm rather perky! I always try to have a good book on my bedside table to being awake at night doesn't bother me so much.

 

[Lisa108]

The cure should be a simple one, then: find a place on the other side of the globe from where you are now, and move there! Problem solved.

I'd have to move quite a lot then, in a repeated Tolkienean manner (there and back again).
I was back to a sleep-at-night pattern, but then crashed hard and am now reversed again.
On the other hand, this will make it easier for (Europe based) me to watch the Australian symposium this week...

@Kenny Banya,
I don't force it anymore. Any 7-8 hour long sleep is welcome. Since I do not do much, it doesn't matter when I do it.

What I find worse are bouts of insomnia, the tired but wired type, that temporarily transform me into a grumpy zombie. Haven't found any helpful treatment on that either, so just wait it out.

 

[kelle]

What I find worse are bouts of insomnia, the tired but wired type, that temporarily transform me into a grumpy zombie. Haven't found any helpful treatment on that either, so just wait it out.[/QUOTE]

I've recently been through a loooong phase of sleeping maybe 2-3 hours per night and I definitely turned into grumpy zombie. So when I had a small, mostly silent gathering in a spa for my 40th and got the usual 'I think I've got ME/CFS too, I'm tired all the time and can't stop sleeping' I nearly poked out their well-meaning eyeballs

 

[belize44]

I have recently started to not be able to fall asleep until 5 am, and this is with Valerian, Melatonin, GABA and Kava! I just lay there feeling sleepy, so I also keep a few books bedside so I can turn on the light and read until sleep finally comes. I think I will start writing at night like I used to years ago. At least I will be accomplishing something!

 

[Kenny Banya]

I have recently started to not be able to fall asleep until 5 am, and this is with Valerian, Melatonin, GABA and Kava! I just lay there feeling sleepy, so I also keep a few books bedside so I can turn on the light and read until sleep finally comes. I think I will start writing at night like I used to years ago. At least I will be accomplishing something!

Have you tried zolpidem? Knocks you out in minutes. Don’t need full dose. Use in combination with natural supplements (eg valerian, melatonin) to stay asleep

 

[Mel9]

Have you tried zolpidem? Knocks you out in minutes. Don’t need full dose. Use in combination with natural supplements (eg valerian, melatonin) to stay asleep

I did a quick Google on zolpidem. It is known as Ambien in US and Stilnox in Australia. It seems dangerous and causes erratic behaviour.

A bit too frightening for me.

The difficulty in sleeping comes and goes with me. This week I find myself wandering around the house in the dark at 2am. Exhausting.

 

[Kenny Banya]

I did a quick Google on zolpidem. It is known as Ambien in US and Stilnox in Australia. It seems dangerous and causes erratic behaviour.

A bit too frightening for me.

Nothing of the kind for me. Simply puts you to sleep, quickly

 

[jesse's mom]

I have taken Ambien from time to time, just a little lag in the morning for me.

 

[Mel9]

Nothing of the kind for me. Simply puts you to sleep, quickly

So, if I did decide to ask for it, a half dose is ok?

 

[jesse's mom]

@Mel9 When I try a new medication I often do try a half dose. I have a little pill cutter I bought at the drugstore.

 

[Kenny Banya]

So, if I did decide to ask for it, a half dose is ok?

From personal experience, a full dose will knock you out inside 30 minutes, guaranteed. You actually start to hallucinate, if you force yourself to stay awake. If you allow yourself to relax, you will be asleep under 15 minutes.
A half dose will be within an hour & a quarter dose about 2 hours.
There is also a sustained release version, if you wake up prematurely for the knockout version. But the flip side is you don't fall asleep as quickly.
Word of caution - if you take the full dose, it is recommended that you do it in bed. Some people are literally effected within a minute or two.
Zolpidem is more powerful than benzodiazepines, but far less addictive.
Thanks to the character Rustin Cole in True Detective, I learnt that quaaludes were the precursor to zolpidem!!

 

[Stretched]

I have recently started to not be able to fall asleep until 5 am, ... just lay there feeling sleepy, !

I’ve had that love/hate relationship with Ambien on and off for~30 years . Every so often I’ll dig in and get off of it, which usually means 3 days w/o much sleep. I gradually build back up to 5-7 hours of sleep. Then on a must sleep night I end up taking 1 pill to get to sleep... . Bad move - within a week I’m hooked and the cycle begins again. Addiction is not that bad except for needing more of the hard to get pills and building up # can cause depression.

Hopefully, I’ll kick it again - this time permanently - right, at least I can hope=&

 

[Stretched]

Tired all day, then wake up in the evening

For some reason I have a similar pattern. Around 6pm+ I start waking up more than all day and by midnight my anxiety builds, like a challenge on adrenaline or cortisol. Isn’t there an at home test for this?

 

[Kenny Banya]

For some reason I have a similar pattern. Around 6pm+ I start waking up more than all day and by midnight my anxiety builds, like a challenge on adrenaline or cortisol. Isn’t there an at home test for this?

Someone else on here mentioned a couple a years ago that they had their cortisol tested & it’s reversed for us - low in the morning, high in the evening. It’s a fairly simple medical test

 

[valentinelynx]

Ok, well it's 3:15 AM. Time to head for the bath, then bed around dawn...