Sleep Difficulties

Post Reply New Topic

I'm having major problems with sleep. Every night I struggle to sleep, wake up loads of times, have bad nightmares and wake up really early and can't get back to sleep.
I've read that people on the spectrum can have sleep difficulties and want to know if others do too.
If you could, will you post what those problems are?

I'm trying to work out whether my problems are due to AS, depression or anxiety, or a combination of all three.

Sounds like we have about the same sleep problems. I believe mine are caused by anxiety, my brain just never shuts off. It seems to get worse with stress regardless of how happy I'm feeling.

It's rare for me to sleep all the way through, and when I do it's because I have done exercise that day.

Sometimes I can't get to sleep, my brain just won't stop. Other times I have nightmares, wake up repeatedly, or wake up to early and can't get back to sleep.

Every now and then if I am really under stress I am unable to sleep at all. I find myself awake at 5am, so I have barely two hours before I have to get up. If I don't have a job that means I have to be up in the morning my sleep patterns can become completely reversed so I am awake at night and asleep in the day. It is miserable and it can take weeks for me to get back into the right routine.

The only reason that I don't have sleep problems right now is because I'm on Seroquil and Clonazapam which knocks you out immediately. Before I was on them I had trouble sleeping due to depression, anxiety and distractions. Now if I want to sleep all I have to do is down my pills and I'll be asleep in the next 10-20 minutes.

I've always been a bad sleeper. I take ages to fall asleep, then wake up during the night. Not too many nightmares, though, and I can sleep in as long as my room is dark enough.

Any sort of stress will make things worse to the point where it can feel like I've lost my ability to sleep.

It used to be worse but I take a couple of meds that have drowsiness as side effects, plus I often use Benadryl to help me sleep now.
Still I do tend to wake up at 2-4 am every morning.

Sincerely,
Matthew

I have problems falling asleep, but once I am asleep, I sleep pretty well.

I have multiple problems sleeping...

I did suffer from insomnia and currently I'm starting to suffer from it again as a result of antidepressants.
My body clock is completely out of whack so I can't sleep until around 5am-6am, attempts to change this fail.
Sensitivity to light, sound, and touch make sleeping tough - more so in the day or when boyfriend is in bed with me.
I have Restless Leg Syndrome so I have restless legs and hot feet at rest, then spasms and leg cramps during sleep.
I have problems telling myself to sleep - get hyper focused or am generally unable to tell myself 'it's time for bed'.
I have problems with other people telling me to sleep - if other people tell me, ask me, or hint it causes problems.
About 80% of my dreams involve zombies...a restful nights sleep is hard to achieve when battling the undead.

I chose the option once or twice a week, but that may be understating it a little. I can think of 4 nights in the past week where it either took me a long time to fall asleep or I woke up in the middle of the night. Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night; I often get woken at 5AM or so when someone else in the house usually gets up. More frequently I can't stop thinking, or can't get comfortable (which is often the case if something on my bed isn't just right--drives me nuts). I usually end up stimming for a good 10 minutes or so when I first go to bed--this used to drive my brother nuts when I shared a bedroom with him when I was younger...

I don't have sleep problems, which is weird for an Aspie WITH AN ANXIETY DISORDER, because most NTs who I know who suffer with a lot of stress and anxiety have sleep problems. I can usually drop off to sleep most nights, but sometimes once or twice a week I would have a night where I can't fall asleep to save my life. But this is usually caused by the room being too stuffy on a hot night, or if I have got up late that morning and my body clock is all out of place. But that's not AS-related, that is quite normal in most adults. But generally sleep is not an issue for me.

I have them all the time. I have sleep apnea, and something I call short sleep. With short sleep I generally get about 4-6 hours at a stretch, then I can't get back to sleep right away, so I go do other things for a while and then try again sometimes, or just stay up. From descriptions given by others, some of you suffer from short sleep, and others sound like you might have sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is when the palate at the back of your mouth collapses during sleep and cuts off your airway. It causes many micro wakings during the night. You don't even realize you are waking up and then falling right back to sleep for most of them, but can be aware of some of the mini wakings. The shortage of oxygen caused by this condition causes exhaustion, fallling asleep during the daytime at inappropriate times. It can also cause nightmares, overheating, headaches, dizzyness, heart attacks, and strokes. If you are having sleep problems with two or more of these symptoms, you should have yourself checked out for sleep apnea, as it can be fatal if untreated. Your doc can have you scheduled for a sleep study at a sleep clinic. I've had two done, myself. It wasn't a problem. They did find I have sleep apnea, and now I have a CPAP machine to use for it.

Unfortunately, I still have a problem with short sleep.

I have major sleep difficulties.
At the moment I'm sleeping way too much and I'm missing most of the day because I'm in bed.

In the past I've had problems getting to sleep in which I'd lie awake for most of the night and wouldn't be able to drift off.

I literally can't get it in the middle.

I've found sleep patterns can be weird sometimes. Like when you feel tired all day and each time you sit down you feel really relaxed and could go to sleep, so that makes you look forward to going to bed that night, then as soon as the time you've been waiting for all day comes, you find yourself tossing and turning half the night and not falling asleep 'til gone 2 in the morning or something. Weird, eh?

Perhaps it's natural light that sometimes makes me feel more relaxed than darkness.

I wake up at 7:30 - 8am and go until 2:30 -3am Every. Single. Day.

I can only fall to sleep when all energy has been spent and my brain is to stoned and tired to process information . Then I get into bed and wag my feet till I pass out.

Some nights I just want to be able to take my brain out of my head and set it on the nightstand till I need it again in the morning. Doesn't help that when I close my eyes, everything I hear I see in flashes of light and subtle fractals and I live in a noisy area (Highway, airport and train yard are all within 1k of my house.....) The police helicopter really pisses me off. "It's the quietest model on the market" they say... NOT QUIET ENOUGH!! !! Doesn't help that they fly the thing so low my pictures vibrate on the walls.... Time to order a 1000count box of super bright IR LEDs, maybe if I make my property bright enough on their FLIR camera they will avoid circling my place.

The flashes of light and fractals are great when I'm strobing on some delicious tunes, but not when I'm trying to sleep.

Ihould have avoided replying in this thread, as I had major issues getting to sleep last night. Jinxed again!

Matthew