Can't seem to stay awake...poss trigs?

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Registered: 03-27-2003
Can't seem to stay awake...poss trigs?
7
Sat, 06-03-2006 - 12:53am

This is probably not completely related to the board topic, but I just don't know where else to go. As the title says, I literally can't seem to stay awake...or get up in the first place in the morning. I've lost count, but I guess I may sleep about 18 hours a day. It's a huge struggle to get up before noon, and I rarely do, unless I absolutely have to (had a therapy appointment at 10 AM this past week...that was a challenge).

Most people, I know, would have to get up for work in the morning...but right now, I was supposed to be studying many hours a day for this licensing exam coming up and had no time commitments. I was scheduled to start working in the hospital at the end of this month, though. But today I just talked to my school dean and got her approval to postpone starting work, and I'm going to postpone my exam too.

There are a few (good) reasons I want to postpone things besides sleep...but I wonder if part of the reason is that I just want to sleep and do nothing. I think even if I had to be somewhere on time, I couldn't/wouldn't do it. I guess that makes me incredibly lazy.

But I wonder if this is where the depression comes in. I sometimes wake up to my alarm clock (which I do set every day in the hopes that I will get up) and think, "what's the point?" and then go back to bed. I can't imagine many (or any?) situations or threats of problems, etc that would make me care enough to get up.

I haven't felt great physically either, so I've wondered if that's part of it...I was supposed to see a rheumatologist in a little while to try to see if I might have a problem with my joints, but their office called and said the doctor had to reschedule it for several weeks later! Oh well...

Sorry, I even hate myself for being this way and posting this...thanks to anyone who read it and is listening. I wonder if this is my way of "getting out of life" without actually dying...but then again, I am just exhausted...any ideas?

Thanks,

Rose

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-12-2004
Sun, 06-04-2006 - 10:35am

Hi Rose,


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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-14-2005
Sun, 06-04-2006 - 8:25pm
Rose- I think that exhaustion is definitely a symptom of depression. There are days where I'll sleep the entire day away. I'm just like you, why get up? Back in February at it's worst I would just lay in bed sobbing giving myself a fever of 103 degrees, shivering and going to sleep at 8:30. Are you crying at all? If you are really sad, the physical symptoms and exhaustion are probably from depression. If not then it may be something else? Of course the only way to know is to talk to a doctor.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-02-2005
Mon, 06-05-2006 - 5:07pm

(((Rose)))


Sorry to hear about

Amanda

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 12:23am

Thank you, Lori...over the past day or two, I've gotten to wonder if maybe I was just "coming down with something" like a virus...since my GI problems got suddenly much worse (I was literally not sure I could drink enough to keep up with it...too much info, I know!). That's gone away, so I'm hoping there might be a chance my fatigue could too.

I hadn't really thought about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but that's been something that's come up in my mind in the past (I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which seems to go along with it often, but now the pain is really fine when I'm taking antidepressants).

I also think it could be just my "regular" antidepressants...I started back on them a month or two ago, but I'd been on them before, and they've always had a tendency to make me sleepy (that was one of the reasons I went off of them in the first place)...though never to this extent, I don't think. Unfortunately, these two that I'm on are supposed to cause the least sleepiness...I've tried others that were worse...

Sorry to go on like this. I did manage to drag myself outside for a walk today (I hadn't seen the sun in several days!). I'm supposed to take a flight to visit my parents this Friday for several days, so I'm worried that I will be barely able to handle the traveling, much less the time with my parents. They are understanding in general, at least with the depression, but in the past have tried to get me out of bed at "reasonable" times and keep me from taking naps because they thought it would make things worse...

Oops, I apologize again for going on and on. Thanks for your post...it did help. I scheduled an appointment with my primary care doc for tomorrow morning (how on earth am I going to wake up on time for that?! :)), so maybe she will have a thought or two.

Rose

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 12:28am

Thank you, Meggem. I can definitely relate to the "why get up?" feeling...even if I have to get up, it often doesn't seem like *enough* of a reason! I'm not crying at all, though (although I did almost start while talking to my school dean, which was very embarrassing)...so I'm not really sure what it is. I did make an appointment for tomorrow with my primary care doc (even though it really is ridiculous how often I've been there and what stupid stuff I've complained about before...and I always take up way too much of her time, so I want to avoid doing that again).

Thanks again...hope you're feeling (and sleeping!) better too,

Rose

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 12:35am

Thanks very much, Amanda...you definitely didn't talk too much about yourself...it was good to hear that someone else had struggled with this. Sorry you're going through this as well, though. I agree that it could be meds...I seem to be over-sensitive to meds in general, especially the side effects! And sleepiness is the most frequent one for me with the antidepressants...I wanted to avoid going back on meds to try to prevent any sleepiness, but that ended up not being possible, unfortunately.

So I will talk to my doctor tomorrow and see if she has any thoughts...I guess it could just be a combination of all these factors too.

Thanks, I'm trying not to beat myself up about postponing everything school-related, but it does feel like a failure in many ways...plus I live in the dorms, so I expect to run into people I know a lot and have to answer questions about what I'm doing, etc. I hope the sleepiness isn't just "giving up" after making this decision...I do have to keep studying and get some practice sessions scheduled, so I guess I can't just give up. Thanks for your support...it means a lot...I wish I felt I could be great at this too!

Hope you're having a good night,

Rose

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-12-2004
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 4:06pm

Hi Rose,


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