I sleep in three or four 45 minutes to one hour stretches a day. I'm often up all night. Sleepiness can overcome me anytime, day or night. For the last two years I've slept an average of three hours per 24 hour period. It has affected me a lot. My short term memory is failing badly. Just this evening I drove down to the hardware store. To my mind it was 7am Monday morning. It was really 7pm Sunday night. I wondered why they weren't open. Eventually I discover my mistakes. I'm often disoriented as to whether it is day or night. For instance, I'll think '"t can't be 5 o'clock. It's too light outside." I'm thinking 5 in the early morning. It's really 5 in the afternoon. Getting old is a bear.Does anyone experience anything like this?
Nope; can't say that I do. I am a night owl, which has gotten worse since the "pandemic." But once I get to sleep I'm good for 7 hours or so. I have never experienced disorientation.
Time doesn't make much of a difference to me anymore but I still generally know what time it is, given that it's right there in the upper-right of the screen. Although I got by just fine on catnaps throughout the day, as a paramedic, now that I work from home, most of my sleeping is done at one time. Still, rather than having a bedtime, I go to bed when I feel tired, and that might be anywhere from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am, and I sleep until I am ready to get up, which is usually after about seven hours or so. If I get tired during the day, I'll take a nap. That doesn't happen often though and, when it does it usually involves falling asleep in my chair.
That happens to me too when I don't get enough sleep, but it take 2 or 3 days in a row before it's obvious. Mostly I can't remember things... e.g., I forget what I'm looking for while I'm looking for it. But I've never been sleep deprived over a long period of time, like you. Maybe you shouldn't be driving when you are sleep deprived, Dwight. Be careful.
You probably should ask your GP to have a polysomnography done at a sleep doctor's office. I was having sleep problems going way back, and my wife noticed that I would go several seconds without breathing. This may not apply to you, but I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, and now have a bipap machine (bipap means different pressures for exhale and inhale). I also have restless leg syndrome. The study determines data that apply to you while you're asleep, monitors breathing, heart rate, oxygen level, EEG data, etc. My study showed that I had an apnea event about 8 times per hour (my longest not breathing period was 52 seconds) I could talk an hour about this, but it would be boring (unless you have it). But at least a study would help you to eliminate sleep apnea, and also medicare pays for it.
The only time I have been like that is when I had a herniated disc in my neck and the pain was so bad I did not sleep for days. You've mentioned health issues that keep you from sleeping. The obvious recommendation is to see your doctor. It doesn't sound like age as much as it does sleep deprivation. Perhaps you can get pharmaceutical assistance.
That sounds simple enough but it's not a solution. I'm very resistant to sedative or sleep medication.The only thing that might help me are opioids or other narcotics. Because I was once severely addicted to oxycontin that's not an option. Morphine sulphate helped me for a while but they didn't let me have it long term. It's all too complicated and embarrassing to explain fully. You all's replies are well meant and I appreciate that. I'm improving very slowly the longer I avoid doctors.
I take 1/2 of an Alprazolam (Xanax) pill nightly as prescribed by a doctor. A whole one makes me dopey the next day. I also take 1/2 of a Tylenal PM pill before bedtime. The PM part has a sleep inducing drug. Lastly, a bedtime snack of graham crackers and a little milk. My prostate sends me to the bathroom once or twice a night, but if I fall asleep again, I don't mind.
I guess you wish there were a definitive answer more than we wish it for you. I'm glad that your oxy issue is a "used to" thing. When I went through that disc issue (and other back problems), I had already quit drinking, so--knowing my proclivities--I was highly cautious with the pain meds. I'm lucky things happened in that order for me. Regarding this: I had to laugh. And shake my head because of its veracity.
I am----I have never been a big nap taker but the boredom in this COVID 19 environment has got to me.
As long as I don't go south of here, things haven't changed much since COVID-19. There are some people here with the mask panic, but the percentage of them decreases as I go north. Since pretty much everyone knows something about everyone, we don't get much of the craziness. Businesses are afraid of the big bad governor, so they put up signs and plexiglass at the counters but that's pretty much just the chain stores, like the Tractor Supply Store and Hannaford, and Hannaford doesn't care if we take our masks off once we get in the door. So, to bring this on topic, if I nap more it's because I'm getting older, or because sometimes I hurt and it's comfortable lying in bed, or because the cats don't want me to get up. Also, the fact that I don't have a scheduled job to go to makes it easy to take a nap if I'm tired. I do that sometimes during the day, but not usually. Our governor may disapprove, but I can go pretty much anywhere I want to, as I could before COVID-19.
No; I actually don't like naps. Seems like I feel icky when I wake up from a nap, so if I have one it's unintentional.
I have been taking a nap for many years on the weekend and now as a retiree on a daily basis. Feel relaxed afterwards and they enable me to write here in the middle of the night. Ugh, good night, all.