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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is anyone else unable to function at all if they're tired?

101 replies

user1477282676 · 12/01/2017 23:08

I'm just shit at "managing" on less than 7 hours of sleep. If I get woken up or have a bad night, then I can't DO anything the next day.

I am dozy, grumpy and clumsy....other people seem to manage! WHy can't I?

OP posts:
Sallystyle · 13/01/2017 08:02

I am always tired and not functioning isn't really an option.

Right now I'm a grumpy anxious mess, about to go to work.

I did a night shift on Wednesday and managed to sleep for 4 hours that morning. I was still wide awake at 5.30am this morning even though I was exhausted when I went to bed. I also get really clumsy and so stupid shit. I manage but it's not pretty. It's weeks of horrible sleep patterns and insomnia though. My anxiety is not helping me get to sleep as I'm up all night having panic attacks.

I feel dizzy, my eyes sting and I'm as grumpy as hell. I have insomnia, these mix of nights, earlies and lates are fucking me up even more.

SugarMiceInTheRain · 13/01/2017 08:05

The only reason I can function at all on the reduced sleep I've had recently is Pepsi Max and too much sugar. Turmeric lemonade?? Sounds awful yet amazing....

SugarMiceInTheRain · 13/01/2017 08:07

But yes, I really struggle to function at all on less than 8 hours. It's even worse since having a seizure almost a year ago and being put on epilepsy medication. I am constantly tired, need more sleep even after 9 hours (which is unrealistic most times because there's too much to fit in the day)

Scrumptiouscrumpets · 13/01/2017 08:12

LoupGarou turmeric lemonade? Do you make it yourself? Could you post the recipe please.? Coffee doesn't work for me at all, sugar does but that's an even worse solution than caffeine!

ljfarminer · 13/01/2017 20:44

I feel like a zombie 90% of the time. And I'm one of the lucky ones whose kids mostly sleep most nights! I thinky tiredness is cumulative from when they were babies and I've never really recovered....

Nessie100 · 13/01/2017 20:49

Sleep depravation is used as a form of torture in some countries for a reason!!!

Our son didnt sleep more than 2nights in a row until he was almost 4, 3 weeks before his brother arrived Sad.

You can cope, you will cope, but essentially you are only fooling yourself. Be as kind as you can be to yourself if you are not sleeping.

lilyb84 · 13/01/2017 20:50

I'm fine on hardly any sleep right now with my 1 you but have always been okay on little sleep. My DH on the other hand can't cope at all when tired and gets anxiety really badly. For me, being tired means... well, feeling tired! Lethargic, struggling to get things done, wanting to sleep, maybe a headache if it's really bad. For him, being tired means feeling sick, dizzy, panicky and depressed. I'm glad to hear he's not the only one who struggles!

lilyb84 · 13/01/2017 20:51

*1 year old dammit

AmeliaJack · 13/01/2017 20:54

I do think that some people naturally manage better on lack of sleep than others.

I can operate pretty well on 3 hours sleep but I have friends who are dead on their feet with only 6.

Lack of sleep isn't great for you though.

PastysPrincess · 13/01/2017 20:56

Sleep deprivation is a torture method; rhats that's why you can't deal with it.

RuggerHug · 13/01/2017 21:05

Ooooh, another one interested in turmeric lemonade!!! Insomnia is horrific, I can manage about a week on a hour or less a night but then I just cry and crash and it takes another week to get back to 'normal'. Sad

witsender · 13/01/2017 21:09

Honestly get a blood test. Check iron and B12 levels, if tiredness is a big issue. Revolutionary for me.

user1475253854 · 13/01/2017 21:10

Also interested in the recipe if you wouldn't mind posting Loup.

CigarsofthePharoahs · 13/01/2017 21:44

Sleep deprivation! Ugh. Hell.
I have found myself stood in my kitchen looking at my kettle, a mug and a tub of tea bags and unable to think what it is I'm supposed to do. I lose the ability to form coherent sentences.
My first child was a good sleeper from 6 weeks old and it's bloody good he was. My second, not. My mental health has suffered.
At its worst was when he caught bronchiolitis. For two weeks I probably got 2 hours of broken sleep a night. I was a paranoid hallucinating wreck at the end of that.
Even on 5-6 hours I don't cope. I'm ok in the morning if I get up as soon as the alarm goes off - if I try and snatch another 10 minutes I feel worse - but I hit a massive wall mid afternoon. I feel it as I'm walking to school to get my eldest. I get in and I really just need to crash, but can't. I get snappy and irritable and want to pick at high carbohydrate food. I'm sat here yawning my head off as ds2 is showing no signs of wanting to sleep. I've given up trying, I'm sure there's an obvious solution but I just can't think.
My GP thinks I have fibromyalgia. I'm sure lack of sleep is not helping me cope with pain!

CigarsofthePharoahs · 13/01/2017 21:46

Plus my short term memory is terrible.

Doglikeafox · 13/01/2017 21:51

I totally know what you mean OP.
I'm a childminder and work with 2-5 children 12-14 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week. The children sleep overnight here 2 nights a week too. DP and I are totally ready for children.. financially, emotionally, everything. But I am just struggling so much to commit at the moment because I am so terrified of what I will be like with no sleep.
I need 8-10 hours sleep a night to function properly. Always have, probably always will. I can go a few nights with less obviously, but after that I get irritable, anxious, clumsy, forgetful, etc etc etc. I literally NEED my sleep. I'm sure it will sound like I'm exaggerating... but I feel like my entire body is affected if I only get a few nights of 6-7 hours. I get a bad stomach, head aches, leg ache, back ache, I eat badly, I break out.... honestly... I am horrendous!
I spend my entire life around children and love every minute of it but sleep is the only thing holding me back Sad
I know a lot of people will say DP needs to step up but he works full time and can only help out so much during the night.

hiccupgirl · 13/01/2017 21:52

It's amazing how different we all are.

DH needs at least 8 hours and feels he's had a bad night if he's been awake once or takes more than 10 mins to fall asleep. I struggle with insomnia and a good patch of sleeping is 5-6 hours total with only 1 wake up. I feel amazing on this but my bad patches are a max of 3-4 hours in blocks of 90 mins. - then I feel pretty crap but can still function ok for a week or so.

bluetongue · 13/01/2017 21:58

Another person here who needs their sleep. Without it I lose my filter and talk without thinking first. I swear I say more stupid things when I'm tired than when I'm drunk Grin

Woke up yesterday morning to the sound of pouring rain and after a terrible night of sleeping it was so tempting just to call in to work sick and go back to sleep. Instead I struggled through the day and when I got home I was literally too tired to watch TV and just lay in bed for a while, recovering from the day.

Camomila · 13/01/2017 22:03

No idea.

I feel like I should whisper this but I have a 9 month old who doesn't sleep through the night, I get woken on average 2/3 times a night and I feel fine. I was tired maybe the first 2 months when he woke more/for longer but then it's like my body realised 'ok I don't get to sleep in one long chunk anymore, never mind'

yorkshapudding · 13/01/2017 22:08

I think most people feel like shit when they haven't slept. I know I do. I function because I have to.

DD went through an 18month long phase of waking up several times a night, every night, and being up for the day between 4am and 5am every morning. Of course it was hard and I felt ill pretty much all the time but I had no choice but to get up each morning and go to work. I look back now and wonder how I coped but at the time you just do.

Foureyesarebetterthantwo · 13/01/2017 22:08

I have always wondered this on the sleep/babies thread. It sounds awful, but my children had to sleep through or at least make some attempt at it once I went back to work full time as I simply couldn't do my job, as in was falling asleep at my desk, crashed the car, not able to work really at all, used to nap on the floor of my office. I couldn't have co-slept and fed all night, it just wasn't physically possible. I could do the odd few broken nights due to teething, illness, bad dreams, and I have also functioned on no sleep at all when I'm extremely nervous about something the next day, but once I've gone more than a few days without a good night of 7 odd hours, I used to feel ill with it. I also had a more or less breakdown as a result of insomnia in my second pregnancy. So, all in our own beds, not disturbing each other, no 'fun' at night whatsoever or eating/feeding over once eating solid food, straight back to bed if you get out, it seems harsh but I honestly felt my sanity was at stake.

10storeylovesong · 13/01/2017 22:11

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at poster's request

RhinestoneCowgirl · 13/01/2017 22:16

Between them my DC ensured broken sleep for about 5 yrs. I'm sometimes astonished that we survived it.

I'm definitely clumsier (and I'm pretty uncoordinated anyway), forget words, can't focus etc when sleep deprived.

StealthPolarBear · 13/01/2017 22:23

" I know a lot of people will say DP needs to step up but he works full time and can only help out so much during the night."
So do you, surely?! More than ft. Unless you mean specifically during a period of maternity leave.

LoupGarou · 13/01/2017 22:26

Turmeric lemonade recioe coming up, there are lots of recipes but the one I use is...

  • 2 dessert spoons of turmeric
  • 1 dessert spoon of lemon juice (I use bottled)
  • 1 dessert spoon of honey (whichever kind I have in the house)
  • 1 pinch of black pepper

Stir thoroughly into a paste in the bottom of a tumbler then fill the glass with water, sparkling seems to work best but otherwise I use tap water. Stir again and keep a spoon in the glass and stir before every mouthful, and drink the whole glass within about five minutes.

I used it when I was recovering from chemo and had (unrelated) PTSD based depression, it was recommended by a nurse to me. It really helped with my depression too, I was very skeptical but felt like superwoman about an hour after the first glass.