u/Gameperson700

So about a week ago I got diagnosed with DSPD. When I was meeting with my sleep doctor, I was going over my history of sleep issues by telling him that I’m on the autism spectrum and I’ve had sleep issues since I was a kid. So once I brought up the possibility of having DSPD, he told me that ( I was in like 5 hours of sleep so MAYBE I’m not remembering everything correctly) I should try to not think of it as a disorder because then most people just end up accepting it. But the thing is, isn’t it medically considered a disorder because it makes it so that your biological clock is really inflexible? I don’t want to act like I know more than someone who studies sleep for a living, but am I right to be little concerned that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about? My official diagnosis is Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, but IMO calling it a syndrome just makes it sound like people with this disorder “choose” to stay up late. DSPD isn’t like Night Shift Syndrome where you can just go get a day job and then it’s fixed.

For the last few days I’ve come to realize even more that a lot of people that have never had a mental disorder or other invisible disability live in this fantasy world where they think that as long as you have enough willpower, you can do anything. I’m not saying that if you get a diagnosis, it means that you should just give up, but I think people need to learn how to be realistic sometimes.

So I just got diagnosed with DSPD a few days ago.

Hi. I’m a 26 year old female in the autism spectrum. I’ve had sleep issues since I was a kid. When I was in school my teachers would always write notes on my report cards saying that I was sleeping during class. It’s also always been hard for me to sleep early since I feel like I have more energy at night. I got diagnosed last week with DSPD and Chronic insomnia. When I was at the sleep clinic, I was told the same generic stuff by the doctor, to exercise and got to sleep an hour early every few days. While the diagnosis is reassuring to know about, I’m also worried about being able to have a job. I don’t drive and I really want to be a concept artist for game design. I hope the stars align for me somehow.

I decided to completely start over and go to bed at 9 am for the next few days starting today. I’m surprised that I was able to get as much stuff done as I did today. I only slept 6 hours but I felt great. I was on a walk today when I asked myself “Is this how “normal” people feel in the morning?”. I’m seriously bummed that more people and businesses don’t know about this.

So I just got diagnosed with DSPD a few days ago.

Hi. I’m a 26 year old female in the autism spectrum. I’ve had sleep issues since I was a kid. When I was in school my teachers would always write notes on my report cards saying that I was sleeping during class. It’s also always been hard for me to sleep early since I feel like I have more energy at night. I got diagnosed last week with DSPD and Chronic insomnia. When I was at the sleep clinic, I was told the same generic stuff by the doctor, to exercise and got to sleep an hour early every few days. While the diagnosis is reassuring to know about, I’m also worried about being able to have a job. I don’t drive and I really want to be a concept artist for game design. I hope the stars align for me somehow.

I decided to completely start over and go to bed at 9 am for the next few days starting today. I’m surprised that I was able to get as much stuff done as I did today. I only slept 6 hours but I felt great. I was on a walk today when I asked myself “Is this how “normal” people feel in the morning?”. I’m seriously bummed that more people and businesses don’t know about this.

Hi. I’m a 26 year old female in the autism spectrum. I’ve had sleep issues since I was a kid. When I was in school my teachers would always write notes on my report cards saying that I was sleeping during class. It’s also always been hard for me to sleep early since I feel like I have more energy at night. I got diagnosed last week with DSPD and Chronic insomnia. When I was at the sleep clinic, I was told the same generic stuff by the doctor, to exercise and got to sleep an hour early every few days. While the diagnosis is reassuring to know about, I’m also worried about being able to have a job. I don’t drive and I really want to be a concept artist for game design. I hope the stars align for me somehow.

I decided to completely start over and go to bed at 9 am for the next few days starting today. I’m surprised that I was able to get as much stuff done as I did today. I only slept 6 hours but I felt great. I was on a walk today when I asked myself “Is this how “normal” people feel in the morning?”. I’m seriously bummed that more people and businesses don’t know about this.

Although I’m not diagnosed with this, I’m on the autism spectrum and believe I believe I have DSPD. My dream jobs is to work as a concept artist in the video game industry but I have struggled with sleep my whole life and the thought about my DSPD keeping me from that is destroying me. Please give me some hope.

Although I’m not diagnosed with this, I’m on the autism spectrum and believe I believe I have DSPD. My dream jobs is to work as a concept artist in the video game industry but I have struggled with sleep my whole life and the thought about my DSPD keeping me from that is destroying me. Please give me some hope.

So I’m f(26) and I’ve been struggling with sleep my whole life. I got diagnosed on the autism spectrum when I was 16. As a kid, for some reason when I went to bed, I just wasn’t tired so I’d do stuff like look at magazines or draw when I was in bed. My sleep got bad enough to the point that whenever I got report cards sent home, my teachers always said that I was falling asleep in class. My parents started making me take melatonin, and it worked for a while, but then when I got into high school, I just decided to”meh I don’t want to take melatonin, I want to stay up!” So usually when I stayed up on weekends I’d be playing video games until like 6 am and on school nights I’d stay up until like 2 am in my bed on my phone. I’d get maybe 3-4 hours of sleep and then come home from school and take a 2-4 hour nap.

Something interesting that I’ve noticed is that when I wake up in the morning, I feel tired from then until the late afternoon, and then at around 4-5 pm I start to feel awake. As soon as it gets dark, it’s like I’m ready to go!

I usually work night shifts at a movie theater, so if I didn’t have to work in the morning I would go home and watch a movie, make dinner, play video games, work on my digital art class, and whatever else I wanted.

I was told about a week ago that the disability services that I have which pay for my apartment would be updating my Cola, and they told me they would need me to pay $250 in rent. So I thought that I wanted to get another job and make it so that I’d work both jobs on the same days. Only thing is, I need to be able to work at 9 am.

So for the last week or so, I’ve been trying really hard to reset my sleep schedule. I believe that my sleep window starts at 6 am-9 am. The first time I tried to reset my schedule, I tried going to bed at 12-1 am for 3 days and it absolutely wrecked me, I slept 5 hours on the first day, probably 10 on the second day, and 5 again on the third day which I had to go to work on and I was so tired I started crying at work. So after a few days of real sleep, I decided to I’d try it again, except this time I’d start some where closer to sleep window.

So the first night, I took a melatonin at 12 am (target bedtime is 4 am) and I worked on my digital art class until 2 am, and then I didn’t really want to do anything else and so I just went to bed and I didn’t fall asleep until 3:30. I ended up waking up at 8:30 am. So at that point I decided to start doing EVERYTHING by the book. I took my melatonin 4 hours before bed, i didn’t eat anything within 3 hours of my bed time, no electronics within 2 hours of bed time, and i either had no caffein or if i did, it was only before 6 pm ( I know it’s usually recommend to stop at 4 but honestly I’ve just been so tired lately that i needed something to get me through the day and my bedtime wasn’t until 4) and I’ve also been forcing myself to get out of bed and get sunlight after I wake up for 20-30 minutes. I also have my alarm set for 10 am. So during the last 3 days I’ve gotten in bed at 3:30 and fell asleep at 4:30 and accidentally slept until 10:30, then I fell asleep at 4 and woke up at 8:30 on the second night, and then last night I think I couldn’t even sleep until 5 and my alarm clock went off at 10 and silly me though that I could just sleep in for one more minute… until is was 11 am.

You guys I am so beyond frustrated right now. I need help. I want to fucking cry!

So I’m f(26) and I’ve been struggling with sleep my whole life. I got diagnosed on the autism spectrum when I was 16. As a kid, for some reason when I went to bed, I just wasn’t tired so I’d do stuff like look at magazines or draw when I was in bed. My sleep got bad enough to the point that whenever I got report cards sent home, my teachers always said that I was falling asleep in class. My parents started making me take melatonin, and it worked for a while, but then when I got into high school, I just decided to”meh I don’t want to take melatonin, I want to stay up!” So usually when I stayed up on weekends I’d be playing video games until like 6 am and on school nights I’d stay up until like 2 am in my bed on my phone. I’d get maybe 3-4 hours of sleep and then come home from school and take a 2-4 hour nap.

Something interesting that I’ve noticed is that when I wake up in the morning, I feel tired from then until the late afternoon, and then at around 4-5 pm I start to feel awake. As soon as it gets dark, it’s like I’m ready to go!

I usually work night shifts at a movie theater, so if I didn’t have to work in the morning I would go home and watch a movie, make dinner, play video games, work on my digital art class, and whatever else I wanted.

I was told about a week ago that the disability services that I have which pay for my apartment would be updating my Cola, and they told me they would need me to pay $250 in rent. So I thought that I wanted to get another job and make it so that I’d work both jobs on the same days. Only thing is, I need to be able to work at 9 am.

So for the last week or so, I’ve been trying really hard to reset my sleep schedule. I believe that my sleep window starts at 6 am-9 am. The first time I tried to reset my schedule, I tried going to bed at 12-1 am for 3 days and it absolutely wrecked me, I slept 5 hours on the first day, probably 10 on the second day, and 5 again on the third day which I had to go to work on and I was so tired I started crying at work. So after a few days of real sleep, I decided to I’d try it again, except this time I’d start some where closer to sleep window.

So the first night, I took a melatonin at 12 am (target bedtime is 4 am) and I worked on my digital art class until 2 am, and then I didn’t really want to do anything else and so I just went to bed and I didn’t fall asleep until 3:30. I ended up waking up at 8:30 am. So at that point I decided to start doing EVERYTHING by the book. I took my melatonin 4 hours before bed, i didn’t eat anything within 3 hours of my bed time, no electronics within 2 hours of bed time, and i either had no caffein or if i did, it was only before 6 pm ( I know it’s usually recommend to stop at 4 but honestly I’ve just been so tired lately that i needed something to get me through the day and my bedtime wasn’t until 4) and I’ve also been forcing myself to get out of bed and get sunlight after I wake up for 20-30 minutes. I also have my alarm set for 10 am. So during the last 3 days I’ve gotten in bed at 3:30 and fell asleep at 4:30 and accidentally slept until 10:30, then I fell asleep at 4 and woke up at 8:30 on the second night, and then last night I think I couldn’t even sleep until 5 and my alarm clock went off at 10 and silly me though that I could just sleep in for one more minute… until is was 11 am.

You guys I am so beyond frustrated right now. I need help. I want to fucking cry!