Taking multiple ambien, Tylenol PM, melatonin, trazadone, and serquel. Maybe I'm a different beast... but is this condition really that strong?!! I've done hundreds of all nighters trying to fix this over the course of months/years.
Was watching an interview and he says he goes to bed at 6:30 AM and wake up at 2:30pm every day. Kinda wild !
Hi, yo hello oh what’s up 🎶
First of all I’m kinda pissed because I had written multiple posts on this subreddit that led to really interesting conversations, but because I had disclosed a lot of mental health stuff (I was, like many of you guys, at the end of my rope 🫠), I deleted them. Kinda wish I could look back on them now. From here on out I’m leaving my posts up so I can “journal” this whole thing and hopefully come back with good news 🤷🏻♂️❤️
I first found out about DSPD exactly 154 days ago (that post is still up lol). Since then I’ve lurked and rage-posted on this subreddit a couple times. Honestly, I had a hard time believing it was a “real” condition at first… but I related SO much to what people were describing, and seeing others deal with the same thing was genuinely relieving. I already had an appointment booked at a sleep clinic back then, but it got postponed because I unexpectedly had surgery 🫠
So I finally went yesterday. I made a conscious effort not to use words like “insomnia,” “chronic fatigue,” or “DSPD.” I’ve noticed some doctors can get biased when you walk in already suspecting something, so I ONLY described my symptoms:
-Icome alive around 7 PM
-My energy levels are super high at night
-Even if I force myself to wake up at a “normal” time (10-11 AM), I’m basically useless for most of the day, even my ADHD stimulants feel like borrowed, lagging energy
-I’m an avid runner, and I can easily run 2-3 hours after 7 PM (which probably makes things worse because it wakes me up even more 🤡), but if I try running earlier in the day I struggle to make it 45 minutes…
And voilà 🤷🏻♂️
Lil background check; I’ve dealt with this for YEARS, to varying degrees. I’m diagnosed ADHD and on a very low dose of stimulants. I’ve also been unemployed for a while now, which definitely didn’t help because I have zero structure/wake time, so my sleep schedule slowly turned into full-blown sleep reversal (awake all night, sleeping until 3 PM 😭). I also work in healthcare, so when I do work it’s usually split shifts with random naps in the afternoon, which can absolutely wreck your sleep schedule too.
On top of that, I’m tapering off Valium, and recently added trazodone because I just couldn’t deal with the not sleeping anymore. It helps… but only if I take it around the time I naturally get tired anyway (3 AM on a GOOD day 🥴).
So without me mentioning any diagnosis whatsoever, about 30 minutes into the appointment she goes: “I really think you have DSPD.” She also immediately linked it to ADHD, which kinda blew my mind because I had literally made a whole post about the correlation between the two 😂
I was honestly shocked. I’d never even heard of DSPD before this subreddit, and seeing so many of you struggle to be taken seriously by doctors, I really wasn’t expecting her to bring it up that quickly (or at all.)
Of course I still have more exams to do, but we already started a first-step treatment plan!!!! The clinic lent me one of those sunlight lamps for 2 weeks and told me to pick a realistic wake-up time (instead of forcing myself to suddenly wake up at 8 AM 🤡). I’m starting at 11 AM for 3 days, then advancing my wake time by 15 minutes every day after that. If my math is mathing, I should end up around 8:15 AM by the end of the 2 weeks 🥴 Apparently I can either blast the lamp directly into my face for 30 mins OR keep it a little farther away for about an hour while doing other stuff. Honestly if all it takes is waking up and staring at a blinding artificial sun while being in a semi coma, I’m willing to try 💯
That being said… my first night SUCKED 😂 I think I put too much pressure on myself to fall asleep earlier than usual, so I ended up sleeping super late. But surprisingly I still woke up at 11 AM, so I’ve officially decided that’s my wake-up time now 🤷🏻♂️ I’m exhausted. But I’m genuinely ready to commit to this experiment.
The “ideal” treatment plan also includes low-dose melatonin, which I was shocked to learn isn’t reimbursed by insurance where I live 🤨 (I’m not from the US and usually pay basically NOTHING for meds, including ADHD meds and trazodone). But honestly, if it helps, I’m down to try it. For now we’re starting with just the lamp for 2 weeks.
I do have one question for you guys though: Do you actually STARE at the lamp for 30 minutes straight 😭 or do you just let it sit nearby while reading/doing other things? Because the instructions say if it’s farther away you should use it for like an hour to an hour and a half, which I don’t mind… but surely you’re not meant to fully stare into the sun that whole time lol.
ANYWHO!!! I’ll keep you guys updated in 2 weeks, and I’ll probably add melatonin by then too.
But I mainly wanted to say this: if, like me, you’ve been skeptical about DSPD (I REALLY was lol), don’t be. It might not be super common, but it’s a legit diagnosis, and good sleep clinics do take it seriously.
Good luck everyone. Until next time 🫡❤️
I wrote this originally for r/askuk but I'll leave it here too incase there's any advice for my situation?
I've struggled with sleep since 14ish, I'm now 18. I recently started a night shift at a factory thinking it would solve all of my issues, I've always been a night person.
I'm 2 weeks in, and on Monday I overslept... for a night shift... I slept 18 hours which isn't unusual for me, doctors have been investigating my sleep for years, I have some rare disorder yet to be diagnosed. So far they're looking mainly at DSPD or some form of narcolepsy. Though not diagnosed, I have plenty of papers showing that there's something up and many referrals to sleep neurologists all-over the country. I am also diagnosed with autism, OCD and GAD, all are disorders that already greatly effect sleep.
When I came back to work on Tuesday, my manager told me that if I miss work 5 times, they'll do a review and establish whether I'm fit to work or not.
My question is, is it possible to get let off / fired for my sleep issues? I need a job, but I also can't sleep and sleep 18+ hours constantly!!! I don't understand what I'm supposed to do
I was a good kid on track for all 9s in GCSE, then out of nowhere sleep issues ruined my last years of secondary school and my 3 years of college, I got 4s and 5s in GCSEs and out of my 3 years in college I only got a diploma in 1 of them, the other 2 were wasted.
it's really ruined my life. I had big ambitions and now I can't even keep a factory job, I genuinely do not know what I'll do if I lose it. I don't want to rely on benefits and other people to get through life, I really want to work my way up to something, which will never happen if I get fired for sleep
my issue at college is that I couldn't sleep before 2am and id regularly sleep 10-20 hours, so I could never wake up at 9am for college.
now I get home from work at 7am, and can't fall asleep sleep until after 9am, then I sleep 10+ hours and barely make it to work on time, or like Monday I sleep through half the shift and call in sick...
tldr: that turned into a rant and if you have a sleep disorder and have advise for work please shout me, but my main question is, can I get fired for a sleep disorder?
For context, about 46 hours ago I had a really bad trip off of a 1 mg cart. This wasn’t normal because I had been smoking for half a year and had even taken 20 mg edibles in the past with no problem. I have no pre-existing mental illness. So I have this trip and for the past 46 hours I’ve been experiencing symptoms of derealization. I just feel like I can’t process emotions. I keep reading horror stories online of people stuck like this for years. Should I be worried? It has got significantly better over the past 2 days but there is still that feeling that everything isn’t ok. How long should I expect this to last?
I was diagnosed with DSPD and it’s ruining my life. I am chronic ill (endometriosis etc) so therefore I don’t work = don’t need to get up early everyday. Only when I have appointments etc.
But still it’s ruining my life and have been for years, even when I was working and going to school. No matter when I fall asleep I can’t get up. If I slept 6 hours or 13 hours it doesn’t matter. I can’t get up. I just slept 10 hours and I can hardly stay awake. Until it gets to nighttime and I’m finally awake.
I often sleep until 12-2 pm. I have 100 alarms and I just can’t get up. I see people saying their rhythm is 7 am - 2 pm. But my issue is I have to sleep so many hours and I still can’t get up. People are calling me lazy and it really affects me, but I can’t explain how tired I am.
I often am a zombie through the whole day even after sleeping 10 hours. Also if I sleep 5-6 hours. I often feel asleep during the day and when sitting I school.
I do not have narcolepsy or sleep apnea as I did a sleep study. But I do have PLMD too and am waiting to get my ADHD diagnosis.
What do I do? Accept that I’m tired all the fucking time? Sleep 12 hours a day?
Edit to add; I ofc have a hard time falling asleep, and without several things that makes me sleepy I will not sleep until maybe 5-7 am in the morning. My DSPD is severe.
I have had dspd most of my life, I’m on the more severe end, with a 4-7am 2-4pm schedule and it’s been like this since I was a kid. I never really questioned this until now, but does anyone else wake up and feel extremely exhausted and slow, just like a out of it / extreme groggy feeling it almost feels like I’m still half asleep, and it stays like this for a couple hours until I fully “wake up” it usually subsides later in the day. But the first few hours after waking I’m miserable, I remember being a kid and being forcibly woken up for school and being so tired and out of it that I would fall asleep again in the shower, it was so miserable for me, it seems that part never really went away, is this normal?
Edit: I’m referring to waking up on my natural schedule 2-4pm not anytime before that
Everything is easier to do at night. Or maybe in the evenings or early mornings when it’s darker. The day is just too bright and hot (even though the temperature is actually pleasant now given the rains, it seems like for me brightness = hot) and uncomfortable, and everything feels more tolerable and even pleasurable at night.
I bought an ice cream sundae and as much as it would be nice in the afternoon (again it’s not hot anymore so why does it feel so?), it would be even better when I’m fully relaxed and watching my show at night so I’ve kept it for the night. And my show is definitely better to watch at night, like 99% of what I watch. I can immersive myself into it a lot more.
It’s easier and more pleasurable to shower at night, I can drown out everything else and just focus on the relaxing sensations of water.
Talking to people and hanging out with them is also better at night. Working is definitely better at night, I feel sharper and focused. Going out is 1000% better at night, the night life of any city is superior to the day.
I keep everything for the night because everything feels better at night.
When everything is better at night, how am I supposed to live a life during the day?
I notice when I go to bed between 2-4am, I tend to sleep for around 10 hours. However, when I go to bed early like right now I am being able to fall asleep at 8-9pm, I tend to sleep for only 7 hours.
Does this happen to you as well?
(cw for brief mention of sui thoughts)
Does anyone else have a sleep cycle that's so delayed its like you're fully nocturnal? I'm trying so hard to stay awake during the day and sleep at night, but I don't naturally feel awake until about 11pm, and then I take melatonin around 12 or 1am and it kinda helps me get some sleep. But if I was following my natural sleep cycle, I'd be waking up at 11pm or so and then sleeping all day.
I can't just be nocturnal bc I don't want to be stuck at home, by myself, with no sunlight, basically removed from all of society for most of my waking hours. As much as I hate being exhausted all day I kinda feel like that would be worse.
It makes me feel like I'm half-alive most days. It's harder to enjoy things, it's almost impossible to get into a good productive flow state, I don't feel driven towards much of anything. I feel like I'm missing out on actually living.
I've tried staying up a little later so I can at least enjoy 2-3 hours of feeling awake and productive at night before going to bed, but that always makes it harder to sleep, even with melatonin or sleeping pills, and I end up even more exhausted.
At this point I feel like I'd rather die than keep living like this. Anyone else like this? How do you manage? Are you able to enjoy life?
I remember that I've been having problems with sleeping ever since I was 3-4. Not only I'm unable to sleep for days, I also have delayed sleep phase disorder which makes everything worse
The world runs during the day and no matter how hard I've tried all these years, I end up getting taunted and feeling like an outcast
I have 120 hours of lectures as backlog because I feel like a zombie during daytime to do any work and my peak productive time window is after evenings, which for the past month, I've uselessly spent on trying to sleep early
This feels like a curse, 14 years of being scolded everyday because of my unhealthy sleeping habits, which I can't even control. I'm still a minor and I won't be taken to a psychiatrist any soon. Why the hell am I always the odd one out when it comes to coordinating with normal people and their lifestyle?
I’m in my 30s. I have been able to wake up early in the morning recently, but the it has to be between 2-4:00 am. I’m the happiest when I am on this schedule because I can enjoy both night and early morning. I sort of hate afternoon.
The problem is I always go back to my usual schedule, falling asleep at 2-3 am and waking up around noon after a few weeks. It is a real struggle to get back to my preferred schedule after that and makes me scared of falling asleep even more. Skipping a night makes me tired but not sleepy.
At this point, I don’t anticipate to not revert back but rather to find a way that helps me return to my new routine easily when I slip back.
Only been 3 days and today I got up at 4:00 am again without an alarm clock (waking up without an alarm is the only way I feel more energetic during the day). Thank you guys for mentioning microdosing melatonin 🙏
This time I also have breakfast as soon as I wake up and shift my dinner time up by 2 hours each day until it goes back to my early schedule. I have noticed meal time has a huge impact on my sleep. I am so happy I don’t have to skip sleep again, but will see if this strategy works when I revert back next time.
I work from home now, so my schedule is whatever I make it. All weekend, I deprived myself from sleep to spend time with my kids. This is becoming sort of routine. We split custody, and I don't want to miss time with them, so I don't sleep much from Friday to Monday. Last night, I was so sleep deprived, I fell asleep at 10pm and woke up at 6:30 this morning. I felt like puking. This has been the case my entire life. I can remember being in school as a kid, feeling sick every morning until about 11am. When I sleep on a schedule my choosing, say 4am-noon, I never get sick.
I don't understand how it works. 8 hours of sleep during daylight hours feels fantastic, 8 hours of equal quality sleep at night makes me wake up feeling sick. Anybody else deal with something like this? Suggestions? Advice for those rare days when I do have to get up before 8am?
My first week on it and I'm really impressed
All my life I have always woken up at noon if I didn’t have to go to school or work. Brought me a lot of shame around sleeping, especially being called lazy and made fun of by my family. I have managed to get up early multiple times (go to bed at 5-7pm and get up at 2-4am) but always slowly reverted back to the old sleeping schedule after a few weeks. I have no issues sleeping through the night but I can’t fall asleep at the time I want. I can’t get up if I don’t have 7-8 hours of sleep either. It is destroying my life because I need to work and I can’t like this.
45F business owner who can set her own hours more or less. No young kids, all are grown. Schedule is very controllable.
I’ve struggled with DSPD my whole life and have tried every possible drug, method, regimen and practice to both get to sleep early and wake up at a normal hour. I tend to feel sleepy around 3-4 am and am sleepy until around noon. If I need to wake up early (7-9am) I am a zombie and confused, sluggish and irritated until I get stimulants in me (usually sugar, Adderall, coffee). Even on stimulants, I could fall asleep on the spot before noon and I feel serious depression during my desired sleep hours because it’s so hard to function.
Anyway, I have decided to stop fighting it and embrace my vampire ways. I need to make some changes to my relationship expectations and schedule, but I’m not sure where to start since my sleep time eclipses half my work day and I can’t stay later than 3 due to traffic, so my day needs to be thought out.
So curious what schedule or lifestyle changes you made to accommodate DSPD once you decided to embrace it? Looking for stories of success. Tired of failing!
Guys I was just googling why do I wake up with horrible headaches after my naps.
For context I have to be at work at 7 in the morning and I really do try my hardest to fall asleep around 10 or so but I spend majority of the night pretending to sleep, or trying so hard to sleep and I just can’t I also have adhd, but anyways waking up, is like 10/10 hard. Like it’s painful. Like I’m willing to put it all at risk just to stay in my bed I’m so unbelievably tired it physically brings me pain. Anyways
I go to work and get SOO tired around noon and that’s when I get off work anyways. I literally feel like dizzy groggy and slight headache on my way home lol, but I take my nap and it’s like 1-2 or even 3 hours sometimes but, every time I wake up I’m groggy for the whole rest of the day, and I have a headache and just overall don’t feel that good when I wake up. And then actual bedtime rolls around and I can’t sleep. Like I literally cannot. 😭🙏
I’m also pregnant and it’s making this issues 20 million times worse.
I didn't get a correct diagnosis until I went to the USC Keck Sleep Disorders Center in Los Angeles. Here are some other places around the US with similar sleep disorder expertise.
I suspect I may have DSPD. Consistently had a rather delayed sleep schedule. Old job allowed me to work 10:45-8pm, so I had a ~2am-10am sleep schedule on weekdays. Got laid off in September 2025-- sleep schedule drifted dramatically. Has been inconsistently 4-7am to 1-3pm.
Starting in July I non negotiably have to be functioning at peak mental capacity from 5 am onwards. So either shift 9 hours forward (2pm to 5 am) or shift 14 hours backward (2pm wake time to 4am wake time)
Starting Monday 5/4 I attempted to start shifting later and later by estimating my CBT min at 11 am conservatively (1:30pm minus 2.5 hours) and have been trying to time light exposures to be pre CBT min. And avoiding light exposure after.
I misunderstood the risk of non 24 to be rather low. I now realize I was probably wrong, and that I fucked up.
But now my estimated CBT min is ~2pm and my biological wake time is probably at ~4pm.
My current plan is to commit to delaying around the clock and stabilizing as hard as I possibly can at 8pm-4am. So my CBT min needs to shift by ~12 hours in the delay direction. I know this comes with risk of not being able to stabilize to 8pm-4am, and also has the risk of n24. But I feel damned if I do damned if I don't.
Thanks for reading. Any and all tips, advice, comments, criticism, and support welcome.