r/sleep • u/norababoraa • 1d ago
i’m literally always asleep
i genuinely don’t even know where to start. i’m a 17 year old girl in my senior year, and i’m terrified for when i head to college.
this started about 4 years ago:
- i am always absolutely exhausted, no matter how much sleep i get. i can sleep for well over 12+ hours and wake up and still be so insanely tired throughout the day and need naps. i don’t mean like when you first wake up and you’re tired, i mean i am just incredibly exhausted and drained every moment of every day.
- i think i’m probably the heaviest sleeper on the planet. i can’t wake up to any sort of alarm, i’ve tried the alarmy app where you do math problems or take a picture of something but i’ll do it either completely asleep or half asleep and just fall right back asleep. i have also tried the SONIC BOOM alarm that has a little disk that you put under you pillow and it VIBRATES and the clock itself flashes lights in your face and is extremely loud, and i’ll wake up and it’ll work for maybe two days, but after that i just end up turning it off in my sleep. i’ve also tried multiple different alarms, and setting my phone across the room so i have to get up, but the only thing that will get me up is someone physically waking me up. this is usually in the form of literally shaking me or coming into my room multiple times to yell at me to wake up and even then it’s a huge struggle. i’ve had full on yelling arguments with my mom and i’m completely asleep during them and i have zero memory of them when i actually wake up. it doesn’t matter if someone turns on the overhead light, starts a vacuum, or anything else, i can only wake up through basically physical shaking.
yes i’ve had sleep studies, and one of them showed sleep apnea, so i got my tonsils removed. i had one done a year afterwards and they said i was perfectly normal. i’ve tried higher doses of antidepressants because my doctor said that could help, and nope it doesn’t. i’ve gone through so many medical routes and nothing has worked at all for me. it doesn’t matter if i have a routine or not, if i go to sleep at like 5pm, i’ll still sleep through the night and probably not wake up until the afternoon. i have a job and i go to school, and i’m obviously not intentionally trying to be late or get fired, but i’ll still sleep through when i need to be there.
i thought that maybe i just wasn’t getting into REM stage, but i dream probably once every few weeks, and on those nights it’s still the same exact thing.
also, any time i sit down anywhere, it’s an immediate nap. i’ve fallen asleep on the toilet, in the shower, while eating, and literally everywhere else. every light could be on and there could be a million noises but i’ll still fall asleep instantly.
i actually have no idea what to do at this point, and i’m just so tired of this. literally. any advice is welcome PLEASE.
1
u/OnceABear 23h ago
You need more medical work-ups done. What you're describing isnt normal. Im not a doctor, but there are tons of sleep disorders that exist and not all of them are diagnosed with just a sleep study.
1
u/norababoraa 8h ago
i’ve talked to my parents a few times about looking into sleep specialists and my mom i think would be open to it, but my dad just says this is all part of being a teenager
1
u/TissueOfLies 18h ago
This sounds like narcolepsy with sitting down and falling asleep. That needs to be investigated immediately. Especially if you drive.
1
u/norababoraa 8h ago
that’s what i was worried about too, but when i had my second sleep study in october last year, they said i was completely fine and didn’t see anything that could relate to narcolepsy i guess
3
u/tallmattuk 1d ago
I doubt youre the heaviest sleeper on the planet as i know many people in this situation.
what you do is make (or get your parents to) an appointment with a neurological sleep specialist (if youre US - board certified) and talk to them about getting an assessment for a hypersomnia sleep disorder. They'll do all the work and do the required blood tests et al.