[sixelalost]

I have an insanely hard time getting to sleep at night and always have. I toss and turn for hours before I fall asleep, and when I finally do fall asleep I sleep for 12 hours every single day. As you could probably guess this takes a serious toll on my life. I usually fall asleep around 7:00 or 8:00 AM and I usually wake up around 7:00 or 8:00 PM. I barely seen the sun anymore unless it is rising. As I type this I am excruciatingly tired because I did not sleep any last night. I am trying to stay awake all day so I can get my schedule on track, but as all of my other attempts, this one will probably fail. If I don't get 12 hours of sleep I feel tired and fatiuged all day. I would rather be tired than sleep my life away though. I fear there is nothing I can do about it. I take sleeping pills and they don't make me tired, I talked to my doctor and he just reccommended Melatonin which is a OTC sleeping pill. I can take eight of those suckers and still feel like I just woke up. I can't set alarm clocks to wake me up because I sleep right through them. When my parents try to get me up I talk back to the but have no reccollection at all later. I am tired of feeling like a vampire. I am home schooled and I'm getting behind on my school work, I did have a job but naturally my sleeping schedule did not allow that to happen long. Any suggestions?

[Perna]

It might be time to see a sleep specialist, see if you have a sleep phase disorder or are just out of whack because you've gotten in the habit of sleeping all day (of course you can't sleep at night if you have just slept all day).

I'd start asking my parents to get me up after 9 or 10 hours sleep and slowly get back in sync and then try to keep it that way.

[Gojamadar]

Hi,

I take sleeping pills and they don't make me tired, I talked to my doctor and he just reccommended Melatonin which is a OTC sleeping pill. I can take eight of those suckers and still feel like I just woke up.

Sleeping pills can affect different people differently. Try self disciline instead!
If you play video games, you can easily over do it, get yourself over excited and going to sleep is difficult. Try to work out a schedule for yourself and limit your activities to the normal daylight hours. Stop yourself doing anything at night.

[volatile]

I have the same problem! My friends joke that I am the epiphany of a vampire. I haven't seen the sun now in almost two weeks. I try the same things you've mentioned, trying to stay up all day to get my schedule back on track and it'll work for a while but then I'll slowly fall right back into the old pattern, or HAVE to change back because I'll become so exhausted that I DO feel like the living dead.
I know it's some kind of sleeping disorder because nothing I have tried has helped.

[RomanSunburn]

I also go through periods of time where I stop seeing the sun. It's especially bad in the winter. I also do like you do and will try to stay up all day after being up all night. The really, really annoying thing is, even if I am extremely tired all day, 10 at night hits, and for some reason I'm wide awake and can't sleep. I've always been a night owl, and I think my body just trained itself (or simply likes) to be awake at night more. I feel so much more comfortable. I've tried making lists of things to get done during the day, setting up to 5 alarms to go off at various intervals around the room. I don't know about you, but I'm also a very heavy sleeper, so when people tell me to put the alarm clock out of arms reach, I don't always hear it. I've had both my parents and my boyfriend call me in the mornings to get up (in addition to the alarm clocks) and I'm like you in that I don't even always remember I spoke to them. I used to take sleeping pills to try and regulate my sleep. I would NOT recommend Ambien.

I don't really have any advice to offer you, as the only thing that really, really seems to help is living with my boyfriend who has a job and has to get up at a certain time everyday and is naturally a morning person. I just wanted you to know that you are not suffering alone. I really wish this issue of inverted sleep schedules and sleeping too much would be studied more and sleep clinics didn't spend so much time on insomnia (not knocking it, just wish more could be done for those with opposite troubles).

Good luck! And if you find something that works for you, let us know!