I am worried about DD(17). She wants to sleep all the time.

[InsanityandBeyond]

She comes home from college at around 5pm and generally goes straight to bed claiming that she's 'really tired'. She only goes 3 days a week and can get up and go but she will sleep when she gets in, get up for dinner, go back to bed, get up about 10-11pm and then back to bed again.

On her days off college and weekends, she won't get up before lunchtime, sometimes she's still in bed at 3pm . She is then in and out of bed all day/night. She has said that she sometimes stays awake until the early hours and I have obviously told her to GO TO BLOODY BED AT A NORMAL TIME then. It's driving me potty and I am worried that there is something wrong with her as she often complains of headaches as well.

If she is meeting a friend or going to a party she will be ready and go. She goes to college OK but just seems shattered afterwards although she is quite often hyper as well!

Is this normal for a teenager? I was one myself but I can't remember being like this! GP requested a blood test and we are awaiting results which won't be in until next week. I am getting a bit neurotic about it!

Oh I would say that's she's been like this for the last year or so.

I was exactly the same when I was 19 and it turned out I had glandular fever, although they couldn't detect it on the blood test. I would come home from work and go to bed at 6pm and struggle to stay awake in the day. I kept getting flu like symptoms on and off for around 6 months too.

Has she been getting ill frequently or is it just headaches she's complained about?

It was one of the signs of depression with my DD. Definitely needs checking out - she may just have got herself into a bad sleeping pattern.

Hi Felix. No, she's never 'ill' as such. The headaches seem to coincide with TOTM, drinking energy drinks and not eating properly, or rather that's what I've put it down to until now. She also has heavy, painful periods and lots of spots on her back (hardly any on face). We discussed her going on the pill (no boyfriend as yet) to help with hormones and GP prescribed one but she then decided not to take it after reading the side effects! So we went back to GP and he suggested the blood test.

She has terrible mood swings as well and has had since she started her periods.

If she has something to do with her friends, she's fine. It's just when she's at home that she will go to bed. I keep telling her she needs to get her sleep into a routine as I know she stays up until the early hours on her bloody phone.

I am scared though now she's had a blood test. She had it on Monday. GP made an appointment to see her again at the end of next week. They don't really take that long do they? It was normal bloods plus kidneys, thyroid and arthritis (because she damaged her knee doing gymnastics a long while back and she still complains it hurts from time to time).

My dd is 14 and about 6 months ago I took her to GP as I was concerned that she was sleeping a lot (falling asleep straight after school, sleeping until lunchtimes at the weekend, etc).

She had some blood tests and the doctor told us to phone in a week to make an appointment to see the doctor for the results, however when we rang the receptionist told us that the tests were all clear and no appointment was needed.

We have tried to ensure dd gets 9 hours sleep a night, and it has improved a bit.

You might find this website useful www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/teens-and-sleep

My first thought too was glandular fever but your DD seems to be able to otherwise go about her business and when I had GF. I was laid up in bed for 6 weeks. It can be only diagnosed by a blood test (but IIRC that has to be timed right otherwise you'll get a false negative result).

In the first year at Uni I used to come back from lectures and fall asleep until a friend would wake me for dinner. It just became something I did but whether that was a hangover from the GF (the consequent lingering tiredness almost became ME) or just because I was burning the candle at both ends, it is hard to tell.

I think you'd have to rule out the abnormal sleep patterns first by getting her to sleep at more regular times and ease if that makes a difference, otherwise you can also buy tonics (this is the one I used after having GF) which may also help.

*see if that makes a difference

Can you remove all electronics from her room? Phone might be tricky though.

Also get her iron levels checked.give her spatone orange flavoured sachets every morning as these boost iron very quickly.

Heavy periods --might she be anaemic? It causes extreme tiredness. I'd see GP.

It's strange - she can get up and go, which implies that she's getting enough sleep to function on, but she's exhausted by the end of the day. It could be depression or glandular fever - a blood test will confirm the latter if she has it, but depression is hard to diagnose and often results in poor sleeping habits.

I have depression and when it's bad, one of the main symptoms is sleeping a lot. I'll sleep or feel like sleeping most of the time, and I can quite easily sleep, get up, go to work, get home and sleep. If I don't have work, I'll stay in bed and sleep. It's worth making sure she's happy and that everything is okay in terms of her mental health.

I was constantly exhausted as a teen as was my sister.It was Underactive thyroid for both of us.Vert frustrating when its out down to laziness.Ask for a print out of results just to check thyroid levels.My tsh was at 0.02 once and the nurse misread it and told me I was fine.It was only when I checked it myself I discovered it.My other sister had glandular fever at some point but that was missed too.It was only when she became completely run down and got infection after infection that the doc discovered it.I think feeling tired can often be out down to depression but check vit b12, iron, vit d first.I presume you have tried a good tonic/supplement.Floradix is very good.Hope she feels well again soon!

Oh and sister and I also had heavy periods which again was related to thyroid

My first thought was glandular fever as my son had it at university and I got worried when he was asleep at 6pm. I would think it worth checking out at the doctor, maybe it is a thyroid problem.

For dd this is a sign of anxiety and stress. Dd has bad mood swings so will either be totally hyper or just sleep.

Hi Insanity, just wondering if you found out anymore about whats going on with your teen if tests come back with anything as I could of wrote same op about my 17yr old DD

Have you considered sleep apnea? Before I was diagnosed i could sleep all day, everyday and never felt any better for it. I functioned, because I had to but if I didn't keep myself busy I would fall asleep watching t.v or whilst being driven in the car, etc. You can usually get an idea if it may be this because people snore very loudly and then there is a gap when they stop breathing, before starting again. I was told I probably had it from being a teenager.

The periods, headaches and tiredness make me wonder if she has endometriosis, as they are all classic symptoms.
It might be something to think about is the blood tests come back clear.
www.endometriosis-uk.org/about-endometriosis

Depression?