How do you know when you're tired? I'm not a person that adheres to strict schedules...I just don't work that way. I have a basic framework but that mainly revolves around my daughter's needs, if I have an appointment, etc. I otherwise don't like schedules, at all.

Given that side note...this is for those who do NOT follow a strict schedule. How do you know when you are tired? I do have chronic pain and it worsens if I am fatigued...so that's a sign. My body gets fatigued. Mind does not.

I just don't find myself sleepy often? I rarely "nod off" or anything like that.

When I was a drinker - I would "get tired." Or pass out, I suppose. But I quit drinking so I'm much more "awake."

I easily operate on 4-6 hours of sleep. That's normal for me. Pdoc is happy if I get that amount of sleep ... anywhere from 5-7 hours a night. If I get less than 5 but 8 or more...he suspects an episode or one coming on. He tends to be correct, but cuts me slack if it is 4-5 each day. Not skipping days.

I can eat, take Geodon, and be asleep in 20 minutes for hours. My prescribed Klonopin doesn't put me to sleep (it's for anxiety, anyway). Geodon is the only med I take that sedates me. It's for psychosis and bipolar 1 mania....but has that sleep side effect.

Unless I'm in a depressive episode, I don't sleep unless there's Geodon. I take it, so all is well...although I've had some rare occasions where it didn't put me to sleep.

Sleeping pills are completely ineffective for me. I've been prescribed four different ones and I just get a hazy memory. But I could easily eat out at a restaurant on one. Obviously, I wouldn't drive but that's how ineffective they are for me.

WHY am I asking? I couldn't sleep the night before last so I took a Geodon when my daughter was at school and "caught up" on sleep. During the day. But now it's morning ... do I sleep? Stay awake? Geodon? Go Pokemon hunting?

I'm not manic. I'm just not a good sleeper. Even when I did a tight schedule balancing a law career, husband, and a baby...I'd be wandering the house at 3 am (occasionally encountering my three yr old daughter doing the same! She's an insomniac, too. Or we are vampires? Mom's side of the family...all of us.)

Maybe this isn't a problem. Comments? Anyone else like this? It's not troubling me except when I quit drinking and those "sleep queues" went away.

Based on my mom's family...I'm wondering if I am one of those people that don't need as much sleep as most people. I've been like this my entire life, even on a schedule. I'd just be awake ALOT earlier than my alarm for work or baby.