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Help Me Wake Up

by Tammy
(dtown)

I am 29 years old with 2 children. I work until midnight so I don't get home til about 12:30 am. I can never go straight to sleep so I usually stay up until 2 am to 4 am and sometimes not at all bc I'm scared I won't wake up to get my kids ready for school. When I do finally fall asleep I sleep at least ten hours and I still feel tired.


This problem is not only affecting me it's affecting my children and it kills me to know that they are late 4 out of 5 days a week sometimes even an hour. I have talked to my Dr and he just looks at me like I'm just lazy and its all in my head. He tried a bunch of different antidepresents which only made it worse now I'm on adderal. Worked for awhile but seems to be wearing off.

Kevin: Hey Tammy, thanks for writing in and sharing your story. Sorry to hear about your frustration and tough go of it, but hopefully some information on this website has proved helpful. I can see how hard it would be to get enough sleep when you work until midnight and have to get your kids to school on time in the morning. Not being able to fall asleep when you get home makes things even harder.

It's great that you've talked to your doctor about it but very frustrating you haven't gotten much of a response from him or her. If it's possible, maybe it would be advantageous to try to change doctors, and ask for someone who has experience with sleep-related problems if you're able to. Having a sensitive and experienced doc on your hand can definitely make a big difference, in addition to empowering yourself with the information throughout this site.

All the best!
Kevin

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Welcome! This site is continuously being created by students of Dr. William C. Dement's Sleep And Dreams course at Stanford University.

We made this site as a call to action for people all over the world to live healthier, happier, safer, and more productive lives by learning about their own sleep. We have faith that reading the information provided on this site will motivate you to be smart about your sleep deprivation and strategic about your alertness in order to live life to your fullest, most energetic potential.

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