Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

[Rainbow Dash]

I'm not normally a person to look online and diagnose myself with things but this is me :| I have every symptom. My dad is the one who come across it and told me to look it up.

I can't sleep before 1am/2am. I thought it was insomnia but the more I'm thinking about it I can sleep fine after 1am. If I try to go to sleep at a normal time I will just lie there. If I drink a relaxing drink, put lavender on my bed, put ear-plugs in I still can't sleep before 1am.

Once I fall asleep everything is fine.

Another problem is I sleep too much. I have to have about 10 hours sleep or else I will feel sick. I find it really hard to live a normal life because of this as I have to wake up after 10pm. I'm no longer in college full-time as it was next to impossible for me to wake up at 7am 5 days a week. If I went to college for a full week I would be ill.

http://www.childrenfirst.nhs.uk/teen..._syndrome.html

:/

[LeapOfFayth]

This isn't an illness or a mental illness, your internal clock is just off. All you need to do is go to sleep one to two hours later every day until you're falling alseep when you want, you can try going the other way but some people have trouble with that and find the first way I mentioned easier.

This isn't something you can be diagnosed with, and it happens to pretty much everyone at some point in their lives. Usually happens after summer in kids because they kept staying up late during holidays.

[Rainbow Dash]

I've been like this for 7-8 years :| and that doesn't explain why I'm exhausted when I have less than 10 hours sleep.

[Thirteen]

Have you tried Vitamin B12 for the tiredness component? Vitamin B12 is important for your energy levels, along with other B vitamins. Maybe having more of that might help you need a bit less sleep, so you're not sleeping 10+ hours.

As for falling asleep at a normal time, have you tried any herbal drugs, like Valerian Root? Make sure it won't interfere with any medications you have first, if you haven't tried it and choose to. It's available at most drug stores, and maybe some health food stores. It's completely natural, so you shouldn't have any wacky side effects, unlike with sleep medications (which can cause things like sleep walking, weird dreams, and maybe even worse).

[Rainbow Dash]

I haven't actually. I'll try some vitamin B12 I'm on Citalopram at the moment so I'm not entirely if herbal sleep aids would effect them or not, I'll ask my doctor. I have been on sleeping tablets in the past which were okay but they give me a funny taste in my mouth and weird lucid dreams :|

[OMFG!You'reActuallySmart!]

According to drugs.com, insomnia occurs in ~ 15% of patients taking it. I assume you had problems falling asleep before taking citalopram, however, currently, the citalopram may be a contributing factor. http://www.drugs.com/ppa/citalopram.html

The underlying theory for delayed sleep phase syndrome is your circadian rhythms are, for whatever reason, off balance. While there are many fancy-dancy sleep medications, you may find synthetic melatonin to be useful, as it is a biochemical in your body involved in maintaining the circadian rhythm (among other functions). It's probably unlikely to interact with citalopram but I haven't checked.

The basic idea behind delayed sleep phase syndrome is, in young bucks like us, we're pumped full of energy like a rocket, even when it comes to going to sleep. For some people, this energy can also translate into stress and anxiety about wanting to fall asleep, being frustrated they cannot fall sleep earlier and recent events in their day may also contribute to their stress and anxiety. Eventually, your altered sleep becomes normalized, so it's not something that can easily be remedied by popping a few pills, so trying to relax and possibly self-hypnosis can be useful.