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Anyone else forgetting to sleep?

Milliecat

Milliecat

New Member
hi! I’ve struggled with insomnia all my life, usually a mix of not beeing able to fall asleep, waking up during the night and also waking up early, a great combo, I know. I have better and worse periods with it, and right now it is at a crisis point.

Since being diagnosed a few years ago, I have learnt how many people on the spectrum have «signal issues», Like not feeling cold, high pain tolerance etc. And I’ve talked it out with professionals amd we have concluded that I am probably not getting the signal that says I am tired. Because I am never tired or feel like it would be good to go to bed now. I will, and frequently do, forget to go to bed because my body does not inform me that I am tired and that it needs to rest. The only time I realize I need sleep is when I have gone so long without a real nights sleep that I feel like I am about to vomit and faint at the same time.

Right now I sleep around 3-4hours a night, and usually have at least one night of no sleep each week. After not sleeping for a night I still do not feel tired, nor after 3h sleep in the course of 3nights. It is exhausting.

Forgetting to sleep is getting to be a serious problem, because it is mentally torturing to not get any rest, but my body just will not turn off. And just not sleeping does make me more «autistic» because all my masking skills just disappear, making everyday life and social interactions very challenging.

Anyone else experiencing similar issues?
Or have so much angst/anexity that you are so wound up that you can’t sleep?
Any advice would be great, but I already know all the common ones for insomnia so those are not necessary to repeat.

_________________________
I use seroquel for sleep every night, because without it I don’t have a chance.
Also, I had a really weird reaction to melantonin, where it made me worse, which is something I’ve never heard anyone else say, bit it is not an option. And it is not a delayed sleep disorder or whatever that is called.
 
I would go back to your doctor and perhaps change meds. This one isn't working very well.
 
Yeah, sleeping 8 hours is a myth as far as I'm concerned - never happens. I don't ever forget to sleep, though. It might take a while, but I do sleep eventually.
 
I've never slept good and I have to make myself go to bed, only to lay there for hours. Also once I wake up I have a hard time getting back to sleep. Used to be that I had no problem surviving on less than 6 hours sleep a night and that was just the way it was. Now that I'm much older I do need more sleep and often I find myself taking a nap soon after I wake up in the morning. lol But I still have a hard time getting to sleep and I've managed to train myself to not allow myself to completely wake up those couple times a night I wake up to use the bathroom (don't know why that also happens when you get older). My sleep is all over the place now - go to sleep anywhere between 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. and up anywhere between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.
It's probably not good to depend on medicine every night to sleep. Have you tried doing those things that make you sleepy - reading, doing something boring, a half glass of wine or warm milk?
 
Sleep is an extremely important part of health and wellness. Please go back to your doctor and explain the problems you're having. Lack of sleep is known to exacerbate anxiety and depression as well as a host of physiological problems like high blood pressure.
 
I have issues with insomnia too. I don't forget to go to sleep, since I have a schedule. But definitely some nights I have trouble going to sleep, or I wake up much earlier than I intend. I didn't have much of a problem when I was a kid, but it really started becoming an issue when I went away to college, at around 20yo. Some of the reasons I have issues (I think) is due to an overactive mind, & a discomfort if things are not JUST right... For example, I have a queen sized bed. I don't have a partner or wife (anymore) to sleep with, but I simply CANNOT sleep on the left side of the bed. Or use the middle of the bed. At all. So if things are not quite right when I go to bed, I think that contributes to my inability to sleep.

There was a period too, where I "forgot" my sleeping positions, & couldn't sleep because I had to re-learn them. That was weird...
 
I only forget to sleep when I’m completely engrossed in something. Either that, or I’m intoxicated.
 
always had a hard time going to sleep.

Today i'm in a weird circle when I do nothing all day and around 11pm im like" i have so many things to dooo"
 
I have issues with going to sleep and staying asleep,I never get a night sleep without being disturbed and waking up plus I am a light sleeper so any noise or light can keep me up,also there is the nightmares I can have which also contribute to the issue but I have never been able to get a goodnight sleep in years and have struggle with being a light sleeper since I was a kid.
 
I especially struggled with sleep as a teenager, with my mind ruthlessly replaying the day's minute interactions on loop, like it was a neurotic newsreel. Highschool was a bit of a nightmare for that reason. For nearly two years, night after night I could hardly sleep more than a couple of hours. Sleep deprivation exacerbated everything that was already going wrong about adolescence and undiagnosed on the spectrum. My mom quite literally thought I was losing my mind, and it must have looked like it.

So, my advice is to prioritize your self-care first and foremost before any other concerns. Try expressing what is worrying you by telling someone or writing it down. Try a hot bath before bed and finish everything that you want to do a couple hours before bed, never right before. You can do it!
 
My problem isn't forgeting to sleep. It's waking up after only an hour or two for no apparent reason. I used to do good on 5 hours per night, now I need 7 and it takes at least 12 hours in bed to get it. I've got my routine that gets me to sleep by 1am, if I can make it under the covers by 10pm. I was surprised that journaling helped to get nagging thoughts out of my mind and onto the paper. You just have to trial and error it to find out what works best for you. I do sometimes resort to double doses of the melatonin, which either works in about 10 minutes or not at all, but I don't like taking pills. Still there are so many available that there's probably 1 that would work if I tried 100 of them.
 
I was thinking about this thread as I looked over at my clock & saw that it read 1:23am. I went to bed at 11. Yay insomnia!

Part of it though is that I was texting someone today (new woman I just started dating) & have been stewing over something she said for the past few hours. Typical for me...
 
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