Health Forums

Posted: 27 June 2007 at 6:57pm | IP Logged

I am sure everyone on here can relate to feeling tired most of the time.  How do you cope with it and how does it affect you?

I am dreadful for not getting to bed early and I find if I do go to bed early and I am talking before 11pm I either can't get to sleep or wake up at silly O'clock in the morning.  I work full time and have Ollie living at home with us and my daughters an hour away due to work and school commitments for them so I also do a lot of driving when I am not at work.  If I didn't stay up until 11pm in the evening all I would do is work or sleep and that gets very boring.

I do find by the end of the week I am exhausted, Keith is wonderful in that he lets me sleep in at the weekends.  If I get over tired I get really ratty and very tearful to the extent I feel depressed.

How do you find the balance between doing everything you want to and still getting enough sleep?

Posted: 27 June 2007 at 7:13pm | IP Logged

I dont!
I very rarely get more than a couple of hours sleep a night and have been like that since i had my 1st Ds.
Its through my own fault most of the time anyway, iv just got into the routine of going to bed late no matter how early i get up and if i try to go to sleep any earlier... i just cant.
If i've been asleep by 1 once this year then thats it.

I have so much to try and fit into every day that its just not possible to get it all done sometimes.
I simply do the most important things first and then go through everything else in order.
If i did everything i had to get done in one day... i wouldnt sleep at all i dont think lol.

I think its just a matter of doing what you can when you can, whilst making sure you have time for yourself on the evenings.
x-x-x

Posted: 28 June 2007 at 2:36pm | IP Logged

Why is it when men go to bed and fall fast asleep and only wake up when the alarm goes off? Even crying babies don't wake them!

I find the sleep deprivation really hard and my doctor thinks that it could be depression related?! I was given antidepressant for two months and they did help me to stay asleep. My problem is not getting to sleep but staying asleep, they eventually wore off. I'm back to waking up at 2am to about 4 then being very tired getting up for work. I'm lucky that I work part-time and can catch up on sleep on days off but most of the time I feel yucky!

I always feel like I'm playing catch up with washing, housework etc and would like to feel more in control, tbh when Owen goes to bed I could as well but I know that things won't get done otherwise.

When I do wake up at 2am I then try putting the world to rights and thinking of what needs to be done in the house while dh snores. I get annoyed that he can sleep and get really crabbit with him or I go to the spare room to try to sleep (not good for our marriage i think).

Anyway any tips for us all would be grateful!!!

XX  

Posted: 08 July 2007 at 6:46am | IP Logged

no tips just commiserations. you're not alone. in last 36 hrs my dh has slept one stint of 14 hrs been up for 7 and is 14 hrs into his next sleep! i am both tired sore and peeved. my spd is still a problem and spending night on sofa not helping. i know i can tell him to get up but he'll come down here and sleep on sofa. when mads is up i have a real problem with him doing that, it's not fair on her.

sorry, i know that doesn't help. i feel a bit better though! lol!

Posted: 08 July 2007 at 9:25am | IP Logged

I am such a bad sleeper i started working nights this way i am doing something instead of playing scrabble to 4 am......i now sleep the nights i work during the day while ella is at nursery or with the child minder and jess is at school and the nights i am off now mean i actually sleep.

Posted: 08 July 2007 at 1:32pm | IP Logged

Mate im constantly tired..but thats cos my body is taking a hammering chemical wise. 

I do still try my best to do all the things I want to, cos I dont want to give it up if that makes sense.  Im usually fine first thing in the morning..but tend to start getting tired by 1pm..and by 4pm im really struggling. 

Ive done well over the last few days lol..friday was a shocker though..but id gone back to bed at 11am and woke up again at 3pm, which all in all considering what happened friday was a good job lol.  However, was up all day saturday, but was all tucked up and zonked out by 8pm.  Ive been up all day today and feel great, which makes a change..and just doing some pottering about.

My mood swings are all over the place, down to chemicals and my own hormones and no magic pill to keep them in check grrr.  I try my best not to explode..but at times it is very trying..especially when the kids are playing up, mum being a lazy moo sitting on the sofa and not helping..joe being away constantly and winding myself up about incoming sharp needles. 

There is no happy balance between doing everything you want to do and getting enough sleep.  Its a case of to do everything you want to...something is going to give eventually and youll end up running yourself into the ground and making yourself poorly.  Your body will just say enough is enough if that makes sense.

Write down everything that you do during the week...be completely honest about it...then have a long hard look at it..and decide what can be given up for a day or two so you can get enough sleep in.  I usually find two nights of being in bed by 7pm usually does the trick for me.

Posted: 08 July 2007 at 2:54pm | IP Logged

hiya sam,sorry i dont have much advise but have you tried planning your week,ie allow yourself time to do what you want/need to do but see if you can fit in maybe a couple of early nights a week,even if its say 10pm...get yorself into a routine and your body should learn to follow this...?

i can understand how frustrating it must be feeling your just working,dealing with home life and then sleeping...

i know sean has had a lot of sleeping probs and from what he has said i would say it was related to worries he has...he wakes up with things on his mind,dunno if this may be something to think about...the sleep and depression thing is a viscious circle isnt it.

hope you get some well deserved sleep soon xxxx

Posted: 09 July 2007 at 9:46pm | IP Logged

I'm afraid I don't have any advice either... I'm the same.

I find that I can't go to bed before 11pm and I'm very lucky because both my girls sleep through the night. However, Cerys tends to wake anytime between 6.30am and 7.30am and I'm definitely not a morning person so I struggle for the first hour or so.

The biggest problem I'm having at the moment though is when I sit down to feed Seren. I'm still breastfeeding her and I find that it relaxes me so much I have trouble keeping my eyes open when she feeds early afternoon. It's not such a problem if Cerys is having a nap because I try my best ot fight it whilst Seren is feeding and then just have a nap on the settee once I have put Seren down. Although there are a couple of times I've dozed off whilst winding her.

I personally think that a lot of my problem could be down to diet although I try to eat as healthily as possible I find myself sacrificing meals for quick snacks which unfortunately involves chocolate most of the time  so I can get other things done and I hate it  because then I feel guilty because of feeding Seren and so try to make it up by eating a big healthy dinner after Cerys has gone to bed - so that doesn't help me at all.

Sorry not sure whether any of that has helped at all.

Nicki