Slept til 5pm today and so angry at myself

[Sleepingallthetime]

For the past year I’ve been really struggling with sleeping all the time. At one point it got really bad and I tried to get help from the doctor who said I could have sleep apnea but I haven’t got a machine.

I’m 28.

It did get better for a while where I could wake up by 10am, but it’s just getting worse.

Today I slept 11pm last night to 5pm today. I literally cannot be properly waked by my partner. I usually wake up briefly for 10 minutes, try to
stay up but end up sleeping. When I do manage to wake up early, I can fall asleep at my coffee and spill it all over myself!

I am so mortified and angry at myself for today. I’ve missed work (self employed) and the day is already gone. I’m so embarrassed about this but I think they think I’m overreacting.

Any advice? This is ruining my life :(

Do you have an Apple Watch?

I have terrible sleep patterns and I sleep eat, sleep walk and wake up randomly and can’t get back to sleep for hours.

My GP wasn’t that helpful and just gave me a chat about good sleep hygiene and suggested things like avoiding screens, exercising, having a milky drink before bed etc…
I try to avoid screens but sometimes when I’ve been awake for hours I end up scrolling, I swim for an hour every night, I tried lavender and a diffuser with aromatherapy oils and herbal sleeping tablets.

I recorded my sleep with my Apple Watch which shows a detailed record of the nights sleep with oxygen levels, heart rate, sleep stages etc…
I showed my GP and she realised how bad it was, I’ve now got a referral to a sleep clinic, I’ve had bloods taken and I was prescribed short term sleeping tablets to try to reset my body.
I was the same and sleeping till 5pm - or even later because when I finally fell asleep I couldn’t wake up.

Sometimes it helps to have solid proof and the Apple Watch might pick up sleep apnea.
You could even try a fit bit if the Apple Watch is too pricey, my friend has sleep issues so she got the Fitbit and pays for premium to get accurate readings.

I know how upsetting and frustrating it is to sleep the day away and the feeling of not being able to wake up. It’s especially hard in nice weather when you miss out on sunny days. I worked nights for nearly 20 years and it’s not so bad in winter being asleep when it’s cold and miserable outside, it’s a horrible feeling in summer though.

THIS ...I was falling asleep {but much older than you, @Sleepingallthetime }
I could be in a pub with friends, and just fall asleep. {I don't drink}, or would fall asleep just sitting down.

They used to say ''Whoops....she's going.....''

Underactive thyroid.

Narcolepsy is another option.

I'll join the choir: See a doctor. It's not your fault, and not due to laziness. Pursue a diagnosis, and don't let them fob you off.

I don’t really understand why you’re angry with yourself about it - it’s obviously not your fault and you have something seriously wrong. Sleeping for 18 hours is not normal at all and most people will not do that even once in their lifetime. I would be more worried than angry - get back to the doctor asap.

Definitely see your GP - They should do something called an Epworth Sleepiness Scale which will give you a number/score I think out of 25 - Contact GP and tell them your Epworth score as this is one of the first things they will do. They should also arrange blood tests for you (Vit levels, thyroid etc) - If you are regularly managing to sleep that much I would suggest there would be a medical reason behind it! Good Luck!

I've been going through a similar thing, not quite as extreme, but have gone from 6hrs sleep being enough to being permanently fatigued no matter how much sleep I get. I've put it down to my last covid infection, which was relatively mild compared to the previous two. Could it be post viral?

Definitely GP. Full blood screen as a starting point, especially thyroid levels.

Dont worry about it it is just your body catching up. Discuss with GP but sleep when you are tired until your body gets back into a regular pattern. Gettng 10 mins here and there will help.

poor you
I had crashing fatigue once and for a year would go back to bed in the day.
in my case the peri menopause (fluctuating oestrogen£ exacerbated my other underlying conditions which also cause tiredness and which were;

• hashimotos / under active thyroid

you should ask for a thyroid test. Do you have any other symptoms? Low mood, hair loss, slow weight gain. Felt tired all the time. Under active thyroid is like slow creep sloth but it's easy to treat.

• anaemia - this can really slow you down.

get your iron levels checked and your iron reserves.

• Mild sleep problems pre apnea (made me tired but not exhausted) - now sleep propped up and with nose strips).

Go back to gp - go to another one in the practice - and ask for a full blood count. Ask also for your thyroid to be tested. If they thinks it could be sleep apnea the doctor can refer you to a sleep clinic. If you can't wait you can order a sleep test yourself and bring the results to to the gp - but it costs. There's a private company online that rents out the sleep monitor and gives your results - about 175.
re thyroid - the English range of normal is quite broad and I was symptomatic at the high end of normal.

other things that helped: routine, exercise every day, not drinking before bed

You should be angry with your GP, not yourself. I can't believe they thought it was sleep apnea and didn't refer you to hospital for a sleep study.
Tbh it doesn't sound like it is that (although I only know two people who have been diagnosed so you might just have a more severe case) and agree with the everyone else. See a GP, if there is only one GP ask for a second opinion, there must be a way to get one. At an absolute minimum they should be doing blood tests.

I have struggled with similar sleep issues over the years, it goes in phases where I can hold down a normal routine for a while and then goes tits up when I can't wake up no matter what it means I miss.

There is no point in getting angry at yourself. You wouldn't beat yourself up for not being able to walk on a broken leg.

It is time to go back to the GP though. I'd ask for a blood test for your thyroid, b12, folic acid, vitamin D, and iron levels. My tests showed major issues with all of them and getting my levels more normal made things a lot better.

Also see if your sleepy episodes match up with your monthly cycle - I've found I have one or two days where I'm utterly zonked and need 18 hours sleep around ovulation time each month.

That is not normal OP.
even my teenagers who party etc don’t sleep that long. Ignore the posts saying it’s ok - it’s not.

Get back to your GP and as someone has already said, wrote it down, be polite but assertive. It’s not normal you need tests done etc etc.

As above , back to gp and insist you get bloods done and really emphasise the huge impact it is having on your life , that is not normal. And keep going back to the gp until you get answers or a referral. You can't go on like this

Do you have a Fitbit or an Apple Watch?

Please do not be angry at yourself. It is not your fault. It is your body's way of telling you that something is wrong. You would not sleep that long if there wasn't an issue.
You need to go back to your GP ASAP.
Have you had a full blood work up? They should be checking thyroid, iron levels, vitamin D, everything basically.
Also how old are you? Hormone checks to establish perimenopause/menopause.
If the GP suspects sleep apnea you should be referred to a sleep clinic.

Have you had covid? I have a friend who suffered from long covid and since then she has narcolepsy. She can no longer work unfortunately because she sleeps excessive amounts of time and also drops off to sleep without warning. She also can't be woken up once she falls asleep.

Insist on more tests and investigations

All of this.

Christ OP, I thought you were going to say you couldn’t sleep intil 6am and then were asleep all day.

11pm - 5pm and being difficult to rouse is worrying. I really hope you get the help you need soon. You do need to keep on at it though or you will just be fobbed off.

Why on earth are you feeling angry about this OP instead of worried that theres something wrong? Get thee back to a doctor now!

Anger is very pointless - you are clearly unwell. I hope you can get some help.

Keep pestering your GP - I've had to do this and it's taken about 6 months to finally get a referral. My condition is completely dibilatating too....

This was me about 20 years ago and it went on for a couple of years. It turned out that there was nothing physically wrong with me and I was diagnosed with severe depression. A lot of people don't realise that depression can affect your sleep in this way. Whatever it is, it definitely needs checking out.

I was just about to say the same thing.

No referral to Respiratory physiology? GP should have sent you if they thought you had Sleep Apnea.
Ask for a referral!
Im going in 2 weeks, exiting times! 😆

Oh wow that’s a crazy amount of sleep
not your fault though, sounds like you need some investigation and a sleep study to find out the cause! Obviously it’s not normal and isn’t fair that you’re missing out on so much

I hate to suggest this but could your partner be drugging you?