[Blindtlk] Having a Problem...

Sun Feb 28 04:00:21 UTC 2016

Hi Kerri,
  First, do not beat yourself up. The fact that you are admitting this means that you care enough to really get the help you need and to feel better! The suggestion below from Arielle is a great one. The other suggestion that I would add,  is to retrain your brain to sleep at a more normal hour. There are several things that can help with this:

1)  Every day, work to go to bed a little later. In other words, for now, let yourself go to sleep during the day, but each day, force yourself to wait one hour or if needed 30 min later than you went to bed the day before. For example. If today you lay down at 12:00p, tomorrow, go for 1:30, do this for a couple days if needed, then push yourself to 2:00. Over time, your body will start to move to the new times. This is often what people needing to travel across many time zones will do to help their body prepare for the new major time shift.

2)  At night, be sure you do not drink any caffeine, though as Arielle suggests, drinking it  when you start to feel tired in the afternoon is perfectly fine.

3)  At least an hour before you want to go to bed at night, take a bath or shower, and then just do nothing but relax. This can include things like listening to music, reading a book... Avoid scary or intense TV/movies and exercise at this time. Relaxation techniques at this time such as deep breathing... can be really helpful.

4)  Avoid doing things like reading... in bed  Use your bed only for sleeping if possible. This can help train your brain to learn that bed is for nothing but getting sleep.

5)  When in bed, if you are struggling to sleep, get up for about 30-60 min and then try again. Do not struggle for more than say 20 or so min as this tends to lead to stress and more difficulty sleeping. 

  Hope these help and keep us posted about how things go. The decision to take the non-24 drug they are trying to push on the bliend is your choice and yours alone, thus, it is up to you if you want to accept it. Your doctor can not do something against your will if you are  mentally functional which it sounds as if you are very much so!
Take care,
Chris

Dr. Christine M. Szostak
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Department of Social Sciences
Shorter University
Rome, Georgia
szostak.1 at osu.edu
cszostak at shorter.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Arielle Silverman via blindtlk
Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2016 10:36 PM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Having a Problem...

Hi Kerri. I am curious how long these problems have been going on? Has it been since you were young or is it something that just started recently? If it is something that has been an issue for you since childhood, it could be a form of non-24. But, if it's more recent, then it may have more to do with your current situation and activity level.
One thing you could try is taking melatonin over the counter at night.
I honestly don't know if the Vanda medication is much different from the melatonin you can buy at the drugstore. The drugstore version is very safe and many sighted people take it. There's certainly no shame in trying it.
You may want to try taking melatonin an hour or so before you would prefer to go to bed. If you get exhausted during the day, you could try a small dose of caffeine to stay awake and then take melatonin that night.
I am confident that you aren't the only blind, or sighted, person who's experienced these issues. I'm glad you told us about it so we can try to help.
Best, Arielle

On 2/27/16, Kerri Kosten via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi Everyone:
> First, I am very very ashamed and embarrassed to admit this, so please 
> no judgment for this message.
> I am really really struggling with wanting to sleep all day and 
> staying awake all night. No matter what I try to do though, I can't 
> seem to fight it.
> For example, on Wednesday, I woke up at 10 PM.
> I was wide awake the rest of the night. On Thursday morning at around
> 8 AM, I got up and went to my couch to watch TV.
> At 10, I sat on the floor and listened to one of my favorite radio shows.
> At noon, I again went to my couch and put on the radio.
> At around 2, I began to become exhausted.
> When I try to fight it and stay awake I become increasingly exhausted 
> until I get a headache.
> Unable to take it, I usually end up laying back down and falling asleep.
> Here is the thing though. Even if I manage to stay up all day when it 
> is time to go to sleep I am still wide wide awake all night and don't 
> get tired until like 1 or 2 the next day so have to try to fight the 
> whole thing all over again.
> I can't sleep at all at night, but if I try to stay up during the day 
> when the world is awake my body fights me with everything it has.
> But when it's night I am wide awake.
> This is happening every day and is making me feel really ashamed and 
> depressed.
> I read the thread on Non 24-7. I am a member of the NFB.
> Like everyone else on this list, I hate those commercials on the 
> radio. It makes me very very ashamed that I struggle to get through 
> the day like those commercials say.
> I don't want to ruin any blind persons chances of employment because 
> an employer hears those messages on the radio and believes them. I 
> myself want to fit into the sighted world. My passion is sports, and 
> so I've always wanted to do something with sports media. I want to 
> show blind people can do things. I don't want to give off the message 
> we can't even stay up during the day.
> I also feel ashamed because I can't really get a job or go to school 
> or anything if I can't even stay up during the day. Sure I'm awake all 
> night, but if I sleep all day I feel so depressed I slept through the 
> day, I have no motivation to do anything.
> Even as I type this, I'm really upset. I fell asleep today at 1 PM. I 
> am a huge sports fan and my favorite team had a game at 6 PM. I'll 
> admit, I forgot to set an alarm for 6 PM to wake myself up. Anyway, I 
> ended up waking up at 8:30 PM and missing the entire game. I found out 
> my team won, but this is the first time I've ever missed an entire 
> game.
> Today is also my Mother's birthday. When I was still awake this 
> morning at around 11, I called her but she was out so didn't answer.
> She tried to call me back at 1:25 PM and I totally missed her call 
> because I was asleep. I of course got to talk to her when I woke up 
> but now I'll feel horrible the rest of the night because I have been 
> asleep all day, and I missed the entire game.
> And I'll be wide awake all night and tomorrow I'll get exhausted at 
> around 1 PM again.
> And yet, when I determinedly try to fight this, my body battles me 
> with everything it has until I give in.
> This is out of control!!
> Does anyone else struggle with this?
> Is there anything that works or do I have to go to the doctors and 
> admit these stupid ads Vanda has on the radio are true at least for 
> me?
> The world is already so much about sight...I don't want sleep to be 
> about sight too!!
> How do others deal with these sleep issues?
> If I go to the doctors and say I get my nights and days mixed up will 
> they automatically assume I have this non 24 thing and immediately 
> contact Vanda no matter how much I protest?
> Is there any way to lessen the exhaustion or something enough to stay 
> up the entire day so I can force my body to sleep at night?
> I don't know what to do...
> Thanks,
> Kerri
>
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