falling asleep

I have noticed in the last several weeks I will suddenly become sleepy and fall asleep. sometimes I will be home and go to bed at any hour of the day but sometimes I fall asleep on the floor or in the car (not while driving) or just about any where. It's like I suddenly feel like I need to sleep and bam I'm sleeping. It's starting to bother me. Sometimes I am in the middle of something and next thing I know I am asleep. Sometimes it is only for a few minutes but other times it for an hour or so. I have started to keep track of it to see if there is a connection with when and why it happens. It's weird.

in my location someone suddenly wanting to sleep all the time is a symptom of a physical health problem (example anemia, epilepsy, blood pressure problems, dietary problems, )

that said there are sleep disorders where a person does what you posted called narcolepsy and Hypersomnolence disorders.

suggestion contact your treatment providers. they will be able to do some blood work and other tests that will tell you whether you have a physical health problems, a sleep disorder or other reasons behind your suddenly needing to sleep so much.

I suggest they check if you have diabetes, I used to sleep a lot when my sugars were out of control. I couldn't even watch a full movie without falling asleep.

Thanks all, I do have issues with my HBP so that could be it. I will start taking my BP again.

I do have one question. Could it be a part. Because before I fall asleep I hear a thought in my head that says "you have to sleep" And than I find a place to sleep and sleep. Just wondering if something like that is possible.

since this has only been going on for you with in the past few weeks my own treatment providers would look at physical health issues and sleep disorders not related to my dissociative problems.

i had a weird few weeks in recent times where i struggled with this very strange degree of sleepiness. i was eating okay and sleeping okay, so it wasn't at all normal for me. i never figured out what it was or if it was related to another part, but i recently learned more about a young part who is always really sleepy and wants to have a nap...though i only dreamed about her to learn about those things but did know she existed, her name, and age, etc., just nothing much about her until then.

sometimes, blood sugar also might be a factor; i am not 100% sure though.

as for it maybe being a part, i also don't know since you know your own system or probably more than anyone else anyway.

Thanks. It's just that I don't recall ever having to sleep. You know, like needing to put my head down and sleep. I will hide in the bed sometimes but this is not the same. When I was sleeping on the rug on the floor I had been looking through a bag of clothes trying to figure out what I was going to keep. All of a sudden I thought "you have to sleep", and I put my head down on the rug and fell asleep for about a half hour. It wasn't comfortable and I was in an awkward position. When I woke up I was achy and felt disoriented. That feeling stayed with me for a while. It didn't feel good, sort of emptiness, not present. Just writing this bothers me. This feeling was the first time I felt like that when waking up. It's just odd. I don't feel sick or like my BP is up. Maybe it's on my mind too much and I should just see if it happens again. Any thanks for your thoughts.

Switching a lot can make you need a sudden nap.

Since writing this I have been more conscious of my thoughts. The needing to suddenly sleep has lessened. It's more like it used to be where I will acknowledge feeling tied and than go lie down if needed. I did go through something similar several years ago and oddly enough it was after a move from one home to another. It's not like I feel physically tired, it's just an urgent thought that I need to sleep. And than I just curl up where ever I am and fall asleep. It is hard to fully explain but now that I am more consciously aware I will wait until I have gotten to a proper place to sleep before falling asleep. Thanks

Hello Lucidity11,

What you describe is very well known to me. This happened to me a lot when I was living in pieces with DID. I would nod off and had such a difficult time trying to pull myself awake again.

Also, you say you hear a thought in your head that says, "you have to sleep." Again, this is something very akin to what I expereinced. Automatic writing and finding printed messages of protective encouragement also were common. These things all started happening more and more as my various functions/alters struggled to come out and alsmost seemed to compete with each other. It was a the time when I was first off the drugsthat I ahd been given due to misdaignosis and my mind was free of chemicals for the first time in many many years.

I think that what you describe is aprt of the disorder and how this dsiorder can be expereinced. lik eI say, I know I experinced this when I was actively DID.

You should try and find some comfort in the fact that there is defineitly a part of you that is sort of a guardian angel of sorts.(not in a religious sense but in a psych sense) This part of you works to help you in your therapy and coping and getting better.

Looking back now that I am a ( hopefully ) permanently integrated person I can see that there was always a protective part of me and that my therapist referred to this as my executive function. That particualr function wasnt a like an alter, but rather like an overseer who was aware and seemed to guide and protect and at times direct all the rest of my parts.

I hope you can get soemthing out of what I have said. I am aware that everyone is different , but in this particular case, the bottom line is that I dont think you should be afraid of this, but rather, find some comfort in knowing that deep inside you is the will to make it through all this and that part of you is trying to guide you to take care of your needs and that includes sleep.

One last thing; when I was in the last years of my therapy I was having what I called " memory dumps.' I would relive and expereince things long outside my consious reach. I had a lot of dreasm and nightmares and because these dreams and nightmares were so filled with emotion and grief I was exhausted when I awoke. I would end up sleeping for days after having these dreams and nightmares, and it took me weeks to process what I saw and felt and lived in those dreams.

Life is pretty strange and surprising and the human brain is as well.
Take care. You are an incredible person.

from your post...

Since writing this I have been more conscious of my thoughts. The needing to suddenly sleep has lessened. It's more like it used to be where I will acknowledge feeling tied and than go lie down if needed. I did go through something similar several years ago and oddly enough it was after a move from one home to another. It's not like I feel physically tired, it's just an urgent thought that I need to sleep. And than I just curl up where ever I am and fall asleep. It is hard to fully explain but now that I am more consciously aware I will wait until I have gotten to a proper place to sleep before falling asleep. Thanks

.........
thanks for the update. yes sometimes when I am physically active I do sometimes get the urge and internal voice to lay down. my own treatment providers call this normal in me. on a normal basis people do have a conscience, internal critic...(this is when a normal non DID person will make judgement's, decisions and actions based on their morals, values, physical condition, sometimes these normal voices seem like coming from out of no where and can seem like not our own voices depending on health issues, fatigue, emotions. like when a person does something that doesnt work out or is contrary to what they are feeling a normal internal critic \judgement will hear or think well that was stupid, I should have, I shouldnt have, should a would a could a...)

sometimes the brain recognizes the physical like being tired\fatigued and my brain will send that normal internal critic thought\voice of you really need to get some sleep.

I cant count how many times after integration I have not paid attention to my physical needs and fell asleep in odd places. short version each of my alters had their own sense of agency (one of my links at the bottom of the page) before integration my alters who's sense of agency was to take care of my physical needs did that for me by taking over when I got too tired\fatigued. but after integration it was up to me to take care of noticing when I was tired\fatigued. if I didnt notice I would fall asleep just anywhere because there wasnt an alter to take over and do the go to bed routine.

like you that normal voice stops once I am back home in my own bed and back on my sleeping schedule that allows me to get the right amount and kind of sleep that I physically need. now when traveling or I know getting good sleep might not be an option I use an alarm clock, write out a routine that allows for getting good sleep.

great work on figuring what this problem was in you too.