To autistic adults out there

[douliket]

AiBU to ask and autistic adults out there if you suffer from chronic insomnia? I am so fed up of it, sleeping tablets don't even work any more. It's nearly 6am now and I haven't closed my eyes yet despite being in bed since 10.30pm. It's really bothering me and I am just so exhausted all the time. I think it's partly due to the fact that my mind enjoys the peace,the quiet house, the darkness,none of my senses are being overstimulated so I think my mind fights sleep as it enjoys the only time of the day where it's not bombarded with environmental noises,demands,people etc
Oh it's just so hard to live in a world that's not built for you,everything is just so much harder to navigate your way through, societies setup of daily life is often the complete opposite of how an autistic person is able to live😔

Last night was not great, fitbit score of 73. 22:06-05:28, 1h47m awake, 36m REM, 4h17m light, 42m deep.
Looking at the graph, first hour was mostly awake, then from 02:30 a lot of awake, light, awake, light repetition - that feels like being awake but you do sleep a little.

I find that I have to wait until it is dark before trying to sleep. The darker I can get my flat the better. I cover as many led lights as possible on things like oven, microwave.

Hugs OP

I do have trouble sleeping but don't suffer with insomnia to the degree that you do. It sounds like you need professional help - a lot of professionals don't have experience with autistic adults so maybe the NAS would be able to point you in the right direction.

Do you wear a sleep tracker. I find that it can help me not to focus so much on being awake, instead I can review the night the following morning.

Seeing the awake, light sleep, awake, light sleep pattern may help you realise you do get some sleep.
I always feel better if deep sleep is an hour or over.

I'm not autistic but am Mum of autistic adult; terrible sleep issues as a child as did most ASD children we knew.

Natural melatonin levels are often decreased in folk with ASD, and circadian rhythms all over the place. Reduced total sleep and longer sleep latency (time it takes to fall asleep) and waking early morning and middle of the night all very common.

Not that helpful probably, but worth noting it did work for one individual with ASD: As a later teen, mine went for first gaming himself stupid, then working himself so hard that he'd fall into exhaustion and sleep, but most other ASD peer group got melatonin and it seemed to help. (though as they became adult most sat up gaming half the night)

I'm NT suffering chronic insomnia, GP wont medicate. Don't know how much use any of below is as aware of ASD/NT sound/sensory differences but just in case there's anything there:
In hospital 7.5 Zoplicane grants me 3 hours max which always shocks them.
Tricks at home: I use quality lavender oil dosed pillow ever four days (any more frequent and it stops doing anything) low continuous story tape, same one several nights in a row. (Terry Pratchett is my go to)
It seems silence being broken is more fragile, so trying to train myself to use the same continuous noise so I know what's coming next and psychologically associate it with sleep.
I get the thing of the one enjoyable peaceful time (for different reasons I feel the same about that space in time) but have had to accept I may sometimes have to destroy it to get sleep, but I only went for that when I'd almost lost all sanity and memory issues from constant sleep deprivation.
All lights chargers etc covered to try and drop off, but most of all I try to not think or worry about how long it takes or what time it is as that definitely makes me wide awake.

Mum to a young man of 31 who is severely autistic here. If it wasn’t for melatonin he’d only sleep for a few hours a night. We use the extended release one and we’ve been using it for 16 years. Prior to that we just slept a couple of hours a night between 11pm and 1.30.

Sleep deprivation isn’t a form of torture for nothing.

I bought some melatonin from the US for DH and it's been helping him for the past few weeks now. Definitely worth a try.

Personally I can now only sleep in total silence using earplugs, which I worry about as surely one day I unable to afford or resource them.

I'd suggest looking into B12 deficiency, not everyone can process it & can be deficient even if eating plenty, if you're veggie or vegan then you won't likely eat enough.

My DD had/has raging insomnia. When she was finally diagnosed with PA & treat with vitamin B12 injections with cofactor vitamins for it to work best, her sleep went from 2 hours to 7 overnight & her sleep is bad again when she needs her b12 injection

Oh & SPD symptoms are worse when your B12 is low & more

I don't suffer from insomnia, strictly speaking, but I have struggled with regulating my sleeping patterns and sleep hygiene my entire adult life. That sometimes includes being wide awake for 2-3 days at a time, but then that's always followed by a period of exhaustion and I have been known to sleep for 20+ hours afterwards.

Yes, hugely.

My mouth guard has really helped. It's a proper one that I had made at the dentist and fits my lower teeth.

I still need pitch black/silence/under 15 degrees in the bedroom though.

I'm not autistic but I sometimes struggle to go to sleep. I listen to Sleep music on Spotify and that helps me...

I'm autistic and have periods of insomnia but wouldn't say that it is a defining characteristic of my sleep.

My autistic child takes melatonin, it’s been life changing for him and us.