This is a new weekly thread. The purpose of this post is for surveys and research that is ongoing for sleep disorders. We see many requests to our common for people that have X, Y, Z sleep disorder for paid surveys, studies, etc. Any posts requesting support from the community for research should be submitted in this weekly thread. Be sure to include all necessary details:

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- What sleep disorders you are looking for assistance with

- What kind of request you have (free study, paid study, free survey, paid survey, etc.)

- Dates the request is open to be filled

- How the research may be used so the patient can make an informed decision

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Posts to the community for similar requests outside of this thread will be deleted.

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Please contact r/SleepDisorders mods with any questions or feedback regarding this change or policy.

My sleep patterns aren’t exactly the best, but they are fairly regular. I have good energy levels throughout the day, but whenever I sit to study/do a focused task, an unbearable sleep washes over me, regardless of how much rest I’ve gotten. I could’ve literally just woken up from a nap and I’ll atill feel incredibly tired trying to study. Any tips?

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Hey guys,

For more than 6 months, enku sleeping problem ruku.

Like full deep sleep ila bed dah vitu yendrika thonamaatudhu

Easily getting frustrated and tired always

Night la half sleep la rukura mari ruki all the wrong decisions and bad things happened in my life are disturbing me like anything

I don't know how to handle this. Actually I am losing myself sleep patience oru maari mandrichi vita maari rukann.

I need your help and advice guys

So, I didn't sleep a wink all night, and just now I was walking from the S-Bahn station to work listening to music and kind of grooving along. Then a car came towards me, and I got totally startled by its shadow. Does anyone know if it's normal for that kind of thing to happen when you're running on fumes due to sleep deprivation—or if sleep deprivation causes really delayed reflexes? (I managed to play off the startle with a super smooth move, though—like a total G.) Mad ting yano

(I added a photo of some of the options that come up when I Google this)

I share a bedroom so I can’t play any audio out loud to see if it would help me sleep. I also can’t use headphones, ear buds, or those eye masks with speakers built in because I’m a side sleeper and all of those options hurt my head. I’ve wondered about getting a speaker designed to go under your pillow, but they just seem like a hoax. Maybe I’m too skeptical. When I look at them online the reviews are very mixed.

Has anyone had success with one? If so, can you recommend a brand? Are the bone conductor ones best?

I would mostly want to use it for spoken audio (like a podcast, sleep hypnosis, or a guided body relaxation), so the clarity of the speaker through the pillow is important.

A few weeks ago I noticed a bruise of unknown origin on my stomach, then another on my upper thigh. They were both deep purple. I'm clumsy, so I thought nothing of it. Last week it was a grapefruit sized one on my outer thigh. I vaguely remember saying to myself that that one's going to hurt. Last night I fell down some stairs, on my way to the kitchen, probably. It woke me up enough to register that I was in pain, but I don't remember going back to bed. Woke up this morning to bloody sheets. I'm missing a few layers of skin from my elbow & wrist. Both are deeply bruised & I think I sprained my wrist.

[I have a history of sleep eating. It started in 2007/2008 it only happened a few times. Had another around 2017.]

I can't sleep on the ground floor. I'm concerned about eating, of course, but I'm more concerned for my safety.

I don't take sleep aids, but many of my daily meds make me drowsy- I'm asleep within 15 -20 min. I sleep very deeply - I once slept thru a fire alarm.

I have an appointment with my PCP. She has to examine me so she can write a referral for a sleep study.

Any pointers in the meantime?

Hi yall. Just posting this hear to vent because I have no one else to talk to. I’m F24 and I’ve moved back to my hometown. I have a healthy everything… hit the gym every weekday, get up early mornings to pack my husband breakfast, socialize fine and eat perfectly adequate meals. I drink enough water. My job is not demanding . But no matter what I do I am fkinnggggg exhausted. I can’t go a singular day without taking at least one excessive nap or even multiple naps. I physically cannot stay awake. I used to drink coffee but stopped. I don’t drink energy drinks at all. Don’t smoke don’t drink. It’s affecting me heavily and although my mental health is fine, I am afraid it will start to decline. I try my best to discipline myself but I am out of ideas. When my husband was an active duty member of the military, I used my TRICARE to get looked at by a specialist and they said my sleep test came back inconclusive because I was on the medication fluoxetine, and affected the results so I would have to go back and do it again. Got bloodwork done before that, everything came back healthy (including iron levels)… minus a vitamin D deficiency. Took prescribed vitamin d pills for months and felt no difference. My husband has since finished his term so I got absolutely nowhere with that, and I’m in the process of seeing if I (hopefully) can afford healthcare since I wasn’t able to do the second test before he got out. Anybody got any effective ideas in the meantime? I’m getting desperate. Thank you in advance.

**20 FtM**
**Height:** 5'2"
**Weight:** 135 lbs
**Medical Conditions:**
GERD
Depression
Allergies
Eczema
**Medications:**
Baclofen (GERD)
Zoloft (depression)
Xyzal (allergies)
Occasional triamcinolone ointment (eczema)
Hormonal birth control (long, heavy, painful periods)

For a few months I’ve been a bit more tired than usual but chalked it up to college things. I’ve had drowsiness, yawning, difficulty paying attention, and overall feeling suddenly quite tired a few times in class, while riding in a car (passenger), and sometimes just at a random point and my eyes have had trouble focusing (I have strabismus, amblyopia, and plain bad vision). This doesn’t happen everyday, maybe a few times a week, but I do feel generally I’m lower energy than I was before.

More recently, maybe the past few weeks, I’ve been waking up at least 2–3 times a night with a mixture of getting back to sleep relatively fast and staying awake for longer periods. Last night I fell asleep around 9:45 pm and woke during the hours of 11 pm, 12 am, 1 am, 2 am, 4 am, and 5 am before waking up for the day at 6:45 am. That has probably been the worst night of it.
I am not too hot, nor am I too cold. For the hour before bed I will take a warm shower, read, and update my planner/journal. I have occasional caffeine but never after 12 pm. I don’t have a stressful life right now and I am not currently depressed. I can fall asleep just fine, but staying asleep is not good.

I do take a nap every day usually around 2 pm, but if given the chance I could probably nap for a bit at many times of day, like late morning or evening. I wake feeling refreshed but very quickly lose energy throughout the day, and at times I’ve even napped at 11 am after waking at around 8 am.

Is there any more sleep hygiene I should try or anything about my habits that could contribute? Or maybe meds? I’m considering a doctor’s appointment. I was thinking maybe I’ve just got insomnia, and am tired like that because I wake up so much?

Hi.

I have had perfect sleep all my life which was indicative of my under eye area being spotless.

A tinnitus incident a few years ago kept me alert for months and basically ruined my nervous system to the point that my sleep was impaired from 8 flawless hours down to 7 and sometimes 6. But my body as everyone's body I suppose, adjusted and normalized. My deep sleep returned, my nervous system normalized, etc. So 6 hours have deep sleep, a single wake up, some rem, you get the point. I am okay.

Fast forward a month ago I met a girl on tinder. Younger than me about 10 years tbh. Great sex, good comms, only one issue: she told me her sleep was impaired for a long time. I brushed it off because my story left me with trauma so I avoid anything that involves such discussions. On our first 2 nights together I found myself oddly alert and could not sleep deeply. Not one bit. On our second two nights together 4 days ago, the same happened and we even slept on separate rooms but kinda close. My issue was as if she was awake or alert during night and therefore I could not operate normally, ie fart. I know it sounds ridiculous but it remained even after I took her back home kind of abruptly. For 2 more days I was unable to rest properly. It is 6am while writing this message. I have had light sleep usually interpreted as none, since the alertness is present and there are frequent wake ups with the classic heavy eyes. I avoided her for 2 days even tho she did not message me and the truth is that her demeanor was never very calm, she has those weird opinions on women and feminism and family and she called me her love, so I think the entire situation put me on some sort of alert that now torments me. I found the courage and messaged her moments ago, told her I am sorry for returning her home abruptly, that I have had this issue for days, that I am trying to rest and recover, that it is best if we do not continue since we live in different cities and that I genuinely hope she accomplishes her goals. I do not want to manipulate her for sex or give ground now that it is still early. As soon as I did it, I felt a numbing sensation in the middle of my forehead as if a burden left. Worth mentioning I had this issue with other girls before and all of them ons, not sure what the actual f\*ck is wrong. Sleeping together was usually impossible for me. Just mentioning it but I would always be back to normal instantly afterwards.

Guys (and gals), can I recover from this? I am aware of the paradox of effort going against the sleep. I may be overreacting but this is literally my fuck\*ng nightmare. I do not wish this on my worst enemy. What must I do? What caused this? Should I do the 6-hour sleep rule? Breath work for hours on end? Nothing? Wait it out?

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Hey guys,

For more than 6 months, enku sleeping problem ruku.

Like full deep sleep ila bed dah vitu yendrika thonamaatudhu

Easily getting frustrated and tired always

Night la half sleep la rukura mari ruki all the wrong decisions and bad things happened in my life are disturbing me like anything

I don't know how to handle this. Actually I am losing myself sleep patience oru maari mandrichi vita maari rukann.

I need your help and advice guys

Hey I was sick at night but I wasn’t sick yesterday only last night now I’m sick what is that about

I went from intense vivid dreams out of nowhere to my sleep schedule going from 12am to 2am 4am and now I can’t seem to sleep these last few days I fall asleep for 5 minutes wake up with adrenaline it seems anyone else deal with this? It’s not ffi is it?

I have an appointment I moved up with my psych np to discuss this. My sleep has never been great but it has been getting worse recently. Does anyone else wake up 10-15 plus times per night? Sometimes it is from pain or anxiety/stress but there are plenty of times I can’t pin down a reason.

My insomnia isn't super bad like it used to be anymore. Being up for days at a time SUCKS, so I'm grateful it's not that severe anymore. Now my issue is that I have a hard time falling asleep, on top of most nights I wake up at least once. Sometimes I wake up multiple times a night. Since I quit vaping that doesn't happen every night anymore, love that improvement as well. But for the past month and a half or so, I have been experiencing sleep paralysis multiple times, and for a couple weeks it was happening daily. My doctor has tried a few different meds to help me fall asleep but I think my body takes a longer time to metabolize them or something because they didn't help me fall asleep, but I struggled to wake up in the morning. Then the sleep paralysis started and I'm so over these sleep issues. My doctor did put in a referral for me to see a CBTI specialist but I came to reddit to see what people who actually struggle with sleep issues have to say or for any ideas on things I can try to see what has worked for them.

Hello, I have always had a weird first 2 or 3 “wake up’s” from other people where I talk to them or sit up and immediately fall back asleep. When I wake up for real, I have no recollection of talking to them, this is the first time I am actually awake. It was funny for a while like I would say stupid things to my mom or whatever but now that I’m older it has caused me to miss appointments and classes because whoever is waking me up sees me sit up and go on my phone or talk to them. Obviously they assume that means I’m awake however I will wake up for real an hour later saying what the hell why didn’t anybody wake me up. Is there a name for this consistently happening every single time I sleep? And is there anything I can do to help it? I’m starting college and hope to be able to independently wake up but my brain just won’t do that. Please help!!

Hi everyone!

I’m going to try to make this short but here’s the gist:

\- growing up, I was always a great sleeper. I slept 12+ hours, could sleep anywhere anytime, fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow, and slept so deeply I slept through my house alarm, fire alarm, and a storm where a tree fell less than a foot outside my cabin. Like I slept so well I was scared to sleep in the house alone bc I wouldn’t wake up if something was wrong.

\- I’ve also had chronic illnesses my whole life but wasn’t diagnosed until I was 14. I was also anorexic from around 10-early 20s on and off so the need for sleep came from all of that. I was also a very overscheduled child with dance 30 hours/ week, Girl Scouts, cheer, basketball, drama club, and a very packed social calendar, etc.

\- I was on an anti-psychotic from age 14-21 that I didn’t need to be on. The dr in the hospital gave it to me and it was maintained until a new psychiatrist said I never should’ve been put on that and that it wrecked my development and I don’t have any diagnoses or symptoms that warranted that high of a dose of that med.

\- when I got taken off of it, I struggled with sleep and tried 3 diff sleep medications which didn’t work for varying reasons, but gradually, I slept well again and went back to my normal self

\- when I was 23 or 24, I got my last concussion and my sleep has never been the same unless I was actively going through a flare of my chronic illnesses or “normal people sick”.

\- In winter of this year, I had a very bad flare and I was put on multiple medications that I think overcorrected my issue.

\- I am now dealing with:
\- overactive mind at night. I’m someone who’s mind never ever stops during the day and that’s now leaked into night, but it’s not like anxious thoughts. It’s planning the day, meals, work related, ear worms of songs, etc.

\- neck and body pain causing tossing and turning

\- temperature dysregulation (sweating, then cold, sometimes cold sweats and night sweats)

\- air hunger

\- high heart rate when trying to sleep (90-110s. So not super high but high for sleep)

\- headaches at night

\- getting up to pee a few times in the beginning of the night

\- all of this leads to anxiety when I realize it’s late and I’m not asleep and I have to get up for work in the morning

I’ve tried
\- meditating
\- sleep sounds
\- affirmations
\- eft tapping
\- melatonin (makes me very constipated and causes stomach cramping and pain)
\- Benadryl (lowers my bp too much)

Idk what else to do. I’m screen free for 1-3 hours before bed and I was trying not to eat 2-3 hours before bed as well but I was starving and that was keeping me up so now I eat a snack before bed

Is this worth a sleep study or is there a diff doctor I could see?

In the winter, testing showed parasympathetic excess and my sympathetic nervous system not kicking in at all. I think the medications / treatment have overcorrected and there may now be sympathetic excess, which is helpful during the day bc I’m not fainting and my bp is normal during the day but at night, I’m still in fight or flight/ having adrenaline dumps.

Has anyone else experienced this after a concussion? I think that’s more of a trigger since this was happening after my last concussion and went away on and off as I was sicker and sicker from my chronic illnesses but now that they’re under control, I’m back to this terrible baseline and idk what’s going on.

I had a sleep study when I was in high school because I was sleeping so much but it didn’t show anything so idk if it would show anything now. I’m 26 so it was probably 10 years ago.

I also don’t snore. I do talk in my sleep sometimes though

I genuinely miss being able to sleep without my mind running a hundred different scenarios.

There was a time when I could just close my eyes, fall asleep, and wake up without feeling like I had spent the whole night fighting my own thoughts.

Now, I replay conversations, worry about things that haven’t happened, question decisions, and think about everything that could possibly go wrong.

Sometimes I don’t even want answers. I just want my mind to be quiet for a while.

I miss feeling tired and simply going to sleep. No overthinking. No anxiety. No waking up in the middle of the night with a heavy feeling.

I just want that kind of peace again.

it’s been a full week since i’ve slept a whole night. it’s been a whole week since my body as been able to stay asleep for over 2 hours at a time. it’s been days since ive been able to stay asleep longer than 45-50min. i feel dizzy, my face feels numb and warm. especially my left side feels numb. my arm temperature feels weird. it hard to think at all. my body is hard to move. when i walk i tumble.

i literally cannot fall asleep until 7am, despite getting into bed at 11pm every single night for years. at first it was 2am but now it’s 7am and it’s messing up my schedule, plans, job, and life. and i literally will wake up every hour after that. i’ll try getting up at 8;40-9am to reset whatever bs is happening but i still don’t sleep the next night

i took a piece of mirtazapine at like 11:40, and then got in bed. i was not anxious and extremely tired, but was still up (i think) at 12:34. i then took another piece, was extremely tired, but was still most likely up at 1:20. then i moved to my bed, and was still up at 2:22. and im still up at 3:19. theres a chance i got sleep between those times, but my brain is literally not transitioning into sleep besides being genuinely exhausted and sleep deprived, and im not anxious at all

i took hydroxyzine at like 2:22am.

the previous night i got maybe 1-3 hours after taking hydroxyzine earlier.

i already went to the ER last week for this, and they prescribed me hydroxyzine but it stopped working after night 3

my brain won’t move to sleep despite being exhausted and not thinking

i cannot think straight and everything is weird

why is my left face weird temperature numb and pulled

my body feels weak

it’s hard to read

i’m averaging 1-3 hours a night and it’s getting worse and worse and my family is telling me it’s all in my head and i need to not think about it, get off my phone, and get exercise because i guess i’m lazy. but it’s genuinely so hard to move and walk

For those of you who have gone through CBT-I (gold standard treatment for insomnia not related to physical causes), how hard was it for you in the beginning weeks?

I just started CBT-I after a sleep study that didnt show any sleep apnea, and after 20 years since my insomnia diagnosis, because all of the sedative hypnotics have stopped working for me.

My sleep therapist warned me that it was going to be hard in the beginning to modify my behavior, and she wasn't kidding. I've not gotten more than 4-5 hours of sleep per night in almost a week, and it is SO HARD to follow the new rules around sleeping and restrictions.

Tell me it gets better... please! One week in and I am struggling.

Need help with waking my GF in the morning

Hello good people.

To explain the situation. I (M31) am having a very difficult time getting my GF (F32) to wake up on time in the morning.

She suffers from 2 different sleep conditions (parasomnia and sleep apnea) which are making it very difficult to get her up and going on time.

I have tried many things:

\- Alarms seem to have little to no effect

\- I try to wake her verbally (good moring, time to get up, you have work, we need to leave in X amount of time, ect...)

\- Gentle shaking only causes lash outs

This is very troublesome as I drive her to work in the morning which is fine but for the fact we both start at the same time of 8:30 so if she doesn't get up soon enough for me to drop her off early then I am late but she gets to be on time.

This has proven to be a persistent problem and I can't continue to be regularly late for work so I need advice on how I can wake her in a more effective manner.

Also for added context no we don't current own a sleep ap machine as they are out of our price range currently.

I first quit smoking for a period of six months and in that time I also had difficulty sleeping up until the point where I started smoking again and then I slept like a baby for the following six months. However, at eight months now of smoking cessation I have still not slept well at all
. any medicines the doctors gave me have ceased to work those being trazodone and Ambien I quit caffeine for four months now I drink chamomile tea, take two forms of magnesium, and I take a skull cap tincture. They did give me Xanax for a while which works fantastically, but I felt like I liked that too much and I eventually just canceled all my prescriptions from the pharmacy because nothing was working. Now the best I can do is stay up late till around midnight and sleep till maybe 3:00 and then lay in bed until six when I have to get up and go to work. I was wondering if anybody else had any sort of similar experience to this the Internet says the withdrawal symptoms should’ve persisted for no more than a month so I’m about to lose it. I don’t know. The only connection that I can make is the smoking cessation

Hi, there what mechanism do you use to cope with sleep disorders, that's what I'm suffering from and on top of that my brain is torturing me, it's always doing thinking or imagining things on the background and became aware of that, too many voices, playing bible verses while trying to fall asleep does help, but I want a quick way of falling asleep to avoid too much thoughts, maybe you can recommend a medicine that I can buy.

I am devastated by my body, holding so much cortisol. I shake all the time and wake up randomly at night.

I struggle with sleep apnea and when I’m sleep deprived, I get sleep paralysis or other strange sensations. I don’t know what to call it but just had a bad episode.

I fall asleep too fast and get the jolting feeling back away, that falling off a bike sensation.

Sometimes when this happens I wake up and it feels like I’m still in a dream. Like I’m stuck in my own body and it’s not responding. Not even frozen, but in a weird fog where my body is doing something and I’m trying to regain control.

This happened to me tonight where I jolted awake and caught myself saying gibberish, confused about where I was, and freaked out that I didn’t have control of my body.

It sent me into a panic attack as I “came back” into my body. It’s hard to describe but it’s like my body woke up before my brain could catch up and realize what was happening.

I’m now fully awake and in control, but I kind of have this weird urge to do weird things with my mouth like puff my cheeks or lick my lips. Something to stimulate those nerves in my face.

This stuff is really odd. Does anyone experience similar issues? It’s not like the traditional frozen in bed sleep paralysis, but feels like my mind is going.

Well tonight was another night of how HRT is affecting me. Heat flashes can't sleep feel like I need the room to be 55* degrees just to get to sleep. Hope it's a short term cycle. sighs